|
THE RUDI GERNREICH BOOK |
|
Rudi as a young dancer during the early 1940s. (photograph © William Ricco, collection Lilly Fenichel) In 1951, through the Academy Award-winning costume designer Jean Louis, "the only designer to help me by writing letters of introduction," Gernreich was granted an appointment with New York designer Hattie Carnegie, who told him to go back to California, make some samples, and send them to her. He did, and she responded by sending him checks-"no other communication, justchecks ... Once in a while I'd recognize one ofmycollars or pockets in her designs." In later 1951 Gernreich took a job with Morris Nagel Versatogs, "a schlock house with a name to match." When he took the collection to New York to show to Lord & Taylor's Marjorie Griswold, she told him the clothes were not for her. Gernreich was especially upset because this was the store that pioneered American fashion (Gernreich's idol, Claire McCardell, as well as Vera Maxwell and Clare Potter were all "discovered" by Lord & Taylor), and its president. Dorothy Shaver, was the first to shatter the unwritten law that all fashion must be French. The bright side of that trip was Gernreich's first meeting with Diana Vreeland, who was then fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar. "I finally justwent there with a bag of samples. I remember that I got off on the wrong floor and a charming little messenger girl brought me to the right floor and the right editor, who asked, with disdain that's peculiarly instinctive with fashion people, 'What do you want?' When Itold her Iwas a designer from California, she said to show her what I had in my bag. I said I would need a model. She said she knew clothes and a model would definitely not be necessary. Isaid Iwouldn't show her without one. It was a standoff but I finally opened up the garment bag and took out a couple of things. She disappeared and in what seemed to be only a second later came back with word that Mrs. Vreeland would like to see me. "Her first words were, 'Who are you, young man? You're very gifted.' Itold her about myself, briefly showed her my things, and she said if ever I needed a job in New York to call her." When Gernreich returned to California, Morris Nagel decided the Gernreich designs were too advanced and asked him to start producing the safe and saleable clothes for which the firm had always been known. Gernreich left.
|
