Charles Kleibacker
Charles Kleibacker, American fashion designer
Charles Kleibacker with Mount Mary fashion design student
Charles Kleibacker (1921-2010), a prominent New York designer, had an immense impact on Mount Mary College's fashion program. He was involved since the early days of the program, and over the course of roughly 40 years, he provided advice, expertise, financial support, and industry connections to the program staff and countless students.
Charles Kleibacker commentating at a Mount Mary College fashion show
Mount Mary's fashion shows highlight his many contributions. According to the fashion show programs, he was involved with the fashion shows from 1969 until at least 2008, serving many different roles including that of commentator, consultant, designer critic, and donor. He was listed as a visiting professor for several years and then as faculty in the fashion design program.
Kleibacker couture sewing clinic notes
One of the signature courses in the fashion design curriculum, couture construction, was developed and taught by Kleibacker and Sister Aloyse Hessburg. In this class students were exposed to four-ply silk crepe; learned to piece fine lace so that the seams were invisible to the eye; fit a sleeve into a high cut armhole by adding a gusset; and sculpt a uniquely shaped collar using silk gazaar as interfacing. Students spent hours learning to hand roll a hem, to turn the thinnest bias tubing, and to lovingly hand overcast their seams - all techniques that Kleibacker had learned while working in Paris under Antonio Del Castillo at the House of Lanvin and that he continued to use in clothes designed under his own label. Notes from a couture sewing clinic he taught at Mount Mary involving a high armhole can be seen to the left (click the image for more detail), and garments used in the couture class are available online.
Fashion show program 1978
The 1978 fashion show program (to the right) records that "He visits Mount Mary College monthly to critique and assist in the designs of the junior and senior fashion students." The images below, from 1970 and undated, show some of that work (click each image to see more detail).
He also provided monetary support; by 1997, the Charles Kleibacker Scholarship had been established, as one of a variety of scholarships to which he donated.
Kleibacker contributed in other ways as well. As Sister Aloyse was beginning the program in 1965, he advised her to collect historic garments, in what became known as the Historic Costume Collection, to provide fashion students with hands-on experience to enhance their design and technical abilities. He donated many items himself, helping to build the 10,000-item Fashion Archive (as it's known today). Many of these items have been digitized as part of the Digital Fashion Archive, thus expanding the audience who can benefit from his recommendation.
Sister Aloyse Hessburg, Hildegarde, and Charles Kleibacker at Hildegarde's 1982 fundraiser for Mount Mary
Through Kleibacker, the network of individuals supporting Mount Mary's fashion program continued to grow. He was a friend of and designer for Hildegarde, a famous cabaret singer, who became friends with Sister Aloyse and performed on campus at least three times between 1974 and 1993, including in 1982 as a fundraiser for the campus.
Fashion show program 1971 (with Gold Needle Award information)
In 1971 Mount Mary presented Kleibacker with the Gold Needle Award, "in recognition of professional excellence and academic contributions in the field of fashion design" (see program to the left). The letter he wrote to Sister Mary Nora Barber, president of Mount Mary College, later that year (see below) expresses both his appreciation of the award and how he was "elated" to be returning to the fashion design program for the 1971-72 academic year. He wrote that "Working with Sister Mary Aloyse [Hessburg] and the Program has been, I repeat, one of the high-lights of my life." Certainly working with Kleibacker was a highlight for the Mount Mary fashion design program as well!
Letter from Charles Kleibacker to Sister Mary Nora Barber, May 16, 1971
