Mollie Parnis
Mollie Parnis was an American fashion designer of the 20th century who neither sketched nor sewed, but still designed outfits for numerous First Ladies and other fashionable women, ran a very profitable dress business for over 50 years, and was well-known in New York City for her philanthropy and her lively weekly salons with journalists, politicians, and celebrities.
Born in the late 1890s or early 1900s (she never confirmed, but estimates include 1897, 1902, and 1905), Parnis came from a lower-middle-class Jewish Austrian immigrant family in New York City. She had only a high school education when she began working as a salesperson in a blouse shop, where she became known for her finishing touches and her suggestions for blouse styles. In 1929 she worked briefly as a stylist for David Westheim’s dress house, before marrying Leon Livingston, who also worked in the textile industry, in 1930 and having a son, Robert.
In 1933 she and her husband opened Parnis-Livingston, where she designed garments for women and he ran the business. Despite the Great Depression, Parnis-Livingston became a success, and by the end of the 1940s Parnis’ designs were regularly featured in Vogue and other magazines. Her popularity with the American elite continued for decades as First Ladies Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, and Rosalyn Carter all wore her outfits. As her business grew, she hired designers but remained the fashion editor and very much in charge of all the designs.
Parnis’ garments were elegant and fashionable, made of refined fabrics and styled for middle-aged and older women. She emphasized versatility and comfort over fads and produced beautiful, polished outfits. During the 1950s she designed full-skirted shirtwaist dresses and suits with boxy jackets and straight skirts, though her styles changed over the decades to suit the times. She appreciated bold, geometric pattens and garments that fit well.
The business closed briefly in 1962, when her husband died, but after a few months she re-opened. Similarly, in 1984 she retired from her multimillion-dollar dress empire and closed her Seventh Avenue showroom, but the next year launched the “Mollie Parnis at Home” line for a company owned by her nephew, Neal Hochman. She died in 1992 of congestive heart failure.
(Gerald_Ford_Library).jpg){kind=link}