Bernstein, Aline Frankau (22 December 1880–07 September 1955), set and costume designer and author, was born in New York City, the daughter of Joseph Frankau, an actor, and Rebecca Goldsmith. Joseph Frankau, who was of German-Jewish ancestry, first named his daughter Hazel, but her mother changed it to Aline. Educated in the New York public schools and raised in the theater, as a child Aline wanted to be an actress, but her father encouraged her talent for drawing instead. After the early deaths of her parents (both had died by 1897), Aline became the ward of her aunt, Rachel, a drug addict. She attended Hunter College as a student of fine art. Tom Watson, a family friend and a member of the board of directors of the New York School of Applied Design, arranged for her to study drawing on scholarship at the school. She later studied portrait painting with ...
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Bernstein, Aline Frankau (1880-1955), set and costume designer and author
Kathleen M. Robbins
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Demorest, Ellen Curtis (1824-1898), publisher and businesswoman
W. Farrell O’Gorman
Demorest, Ellen Curtis (15 November 1824–10 August 1898), publisher and businesswoman, was born Ellen Louise Curtis in Schuylerville, New York, the daughter of Henry Curtis, a farmer and manufacturer, and Electa Abel. She attended local schools and graduated from Schuylerville Academy at age eighteen. Exposed to the fashion industry from an early age—her father’s factory made hats, and the nearby resort at Saratoga Springs regularly featured dapper visitors from across the nation—she established a prosperous local millinery business immediately after graduating. Within a year she had moved on to larger markets in Troy and finally—by the early 1850s—to New York City. Settling in Brooklyn, she met merchant William Jennings Demorest during a business transaction. They were married in 1858. In addition to raising two children from her husband’s first marriage—he was a widower—Demorest would have two of her own. Unlike most couples of their era, the Demorests became equal partners in professional as well as domestic life....
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Johnson, Eunice W. (4 April 1916–3 January 2010), fashion show producer and director, publishing company executive, and philanthropist
Margena A. Christian
Johnson, Eunice W. (4 April 1916–3 January 2010), fashion show producer and director, publishing company executive, and philanthropist, was born Eunice Walker, one of five children to Nathaniel Walker and Ethel McAlpine Walker in Selma, Alabama. Her father was a prominent physician in Selma, while her mother was a high school principal, who additionally taught art and education courses at Selma University, a private historically African American Bible college. Her maternal grandfather, Rev. Dr. William H. McAlpine, was the university’s co-founder and its second president, as well as the first president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., Inc. (...
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Mainbocher (24 Oct. 1890–27 Dec. 1976), couturier, theater costumer, and magazine editor
Daniel Delis Hill
Mainbocher (24 Oct. 1890–27 Dec. 1976), couturier, theater costumer, and magazine editor, was born Main Rousseau Bocher in Chicago, Illinois. His father, George Bocher, was a dry goods salesman, and his mother, Luella Main Bocher, was a homemaker who occasionally taught china decoration from home. In grade school Bocher pursued dual interests in the arts. His mother encouraged his artwork and his father supported the boy’s music training....
