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No Accounting for Taste

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  • Tom Franklin Brigance was born in Waco, Texas in 1913. His parents, John and Annie, worked at Wolfe Florist shop, which had been Annie’s family business since they came to America from England in 1892. John died just two days before Tom’s first birthday, and he and his sisters were raised by Annie who—purely speculation—I feel like was kind of a badass. She didn't marry until age 35, and Tom was born when she was 40. She ran the florist shop with her family and was active in the industry, giving talks like "Why Woman is Indispensable in the Florist Business." Wolfe Florist is still in business today. In 1931, Tom went to New York to study art and sculpture at Parsons, but pretty quickly discovered fashion was his strength. He worked in Paris and London before returning to New York in 1937, where he was hired by Lord & Taylor VP Dorothy Shaver as their sportswear designer in 1938. After several years exclusively with Lord & Taylor, he worked with other companies like Sportsmaker, Sinclair, Frank Gallant and Gabar, as well as under his own name alone. Image from the National Portrait Gallery by Aline Fruhauf of Brigance, 1939. // #fashionhistory #tombrigance
  • “Here, tartans in fine forms; both with well-shaped bras and the new modified bloomer that hits just below any possible bulge. One-piece suit, $25. Two-piece suit, $25. Both by Brigance of Sportsmaker, in Scottish woolen.” Photo by John Rawlings for Vogue, May 1, 1953. One piece just posted for sale in stories. // #1950sfashion #tombrigance
  • Navy linen top on the left and red Louella Ballerino skirt on the right just posted in my stories ✨
  • Louella Ballerino attended USC as an art student from 1918-1922. During her time there she worked as a fashion illustrator, followed by several years studying sculpture, raising her two children and working under Andre-Ani, a designer at MGM who worked on dozens of films in the 1920s and early 1930s. In 1927 she started creating original sketches for other manufacturers, and designed for an exclusive custom shop for a couple years, studying pattern drafting at night so she could eventually make her own clothing. In 1938, she opened her own custom business, while still designing for other manufacturers on the side. Eventually her own business took over, and by 1939 gained national acclaim for popularizing the dirndl skirt and creating “authentic California designs” for beach and otherwise. Ballerino was a true pioneer of California sportswear. Photo from 1941. // #louellaballerino #1940sfashion #bettedavis
  • “An instinctive leader and trend-setter, Mrs. Ballerino uses colors boldly, even finds new wonderful tones in rocks she collects from all over the world… In California she finds the eternal challenge: To create fashions as exciting as the life around her: Patio-fancies for the hostess, dramatic clothes for evening, for play, for the swim. Here at her own barbecue in Flintridge, previewing her new Lily Belle patio gown… right for the time, the place, the girl.” The Californian, April 1948 // #louellaballerino #affiliatedfashionists #1940sfashion #vintagecalifornia #fashionhistory
  • Every year when summer finally rolls around in California sometime in mid-July, I think that summer is my favorite season and I try to savor absolutely every moment until it’s like 90 degrees every day in October and I think WHERE THE F%&* IS FALL but for now I’m 100% in love with summer 🌈🙃 Skirt from @centurygirlvintage (miss you!) salvaged from a dress by Ted Shore for Frank Starr. // #1940sfashion #wearvintage #ootd #truevintageootd
  • Today’s outfit inspo: “Blazing white with blazing colour added: a fashion with a long career ahead—now, for where the winter sun shines hottest; later, for any summer sun… Tent-striped skirt, fresh white shirt. By Casino Classics. Skirt, about $13. Shirt, about $8.” Photo by Roger Prigent for Vogue, November 15, 1953 // #1950sfashion #vintageinspiration
  • Frank Starr was born in Lithuania in 1894 and came to New York in 1911, working his way up the garment business until he founded Frank Starr, Inc, a dress manufacturing concern specializing in semi-formal dinner dresses. After his death in 1961, his son Malcom Starr, who had studied electrical engineering in college, took over the business under his own name. Ted Shore, a New York native and the son of Jewish immigrants, began designing theatre costumes in the early 1940s and by 1945 was making a name for himself in ready to wear gowns and evening dresses. I couldn’t find out much about when or for how long Ted Shore worked for Starr; there were only a couple references from 1948-49 that linked their names. He worked under his own name and for other labels in the 1940s and 50s, most notably Will Steinman, until about 1954. This label belongs to what is now a skirt but was once a dress (the bodice was too badly damaged to be saved) and shawl that’s sorta similar to this Ted Shore design from 1947. // #1940sfashion #vintagelabel
  • In 1922, Lyle Griswold and her husband Harvey had just moved from St. Louis to San Francisco, where their daughter Gloria was born. Harvey was a textile salesman and in 1925 Lyle began working as a designer from M.R. Fleischman, a local manufacturer of women’s clothing (see previous post). It’s possibly this latter fact that contributed to the couple’s divorce in 1929; as liberated as women began to feel following WWI, it may have been a tough sell for Harvey that Lyle wanted to pursue her career. She stayed at Fleischman’s for 44 years, building a name for herself with quintessential California sportswear that included lots of denim separates and cotton playclothes called “Sunabouts.” She retired in 1968, a few years after her second husband’s death, and the company soon went out of business. “Mother was the reason for Fleischman’s success,” said Gloria. “They couldn’t manage without her.” Sketched here, a beach jacket by Griswold for Fleischman with a “puritan” collar as seen in The Californian, January 1948, now for sale in my stories. [edit sold] // #1940sfashion #vintagecalifornia #californiasportswear #fashionhistory

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My name is Jessica, and I love old things. I wear, collect, research and sometimes sell vintage clothing. This is some documentation along the way.

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No Accounting For Taste is a personal blog of Jessica Parker. All words and original photographs are copyright Jessica Parker, 2007-2018