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Fashion Legend Bill Blass Dies
Friend Helen O'Hagan told the New York Times Blass died of cancer at his home in New Preston, just 10 days short of his 80th birthday.
Over six decades, Blass went from sketch artist to fashion legend, heading a $700 million-a-year clothing empire and placing his famous moniker on sportswear, menswear and designs that set trends for upper-crust American women.
"Bill Blass was the gentleman of American fashion--the perfect gentleman. And they are few and far between these days," John Fairchild, former publisher of Women's Wear Daily, told the Times. "He had a sense of being all-American--very attractive and great fun to be with. Basically he was one of the few designers who didn't talk about himself. What a pleasure."
By dressing everyone from first ladies such as Reagan and Barbara Bush, to Streisand, Candice Bergen, Brooke Astor, Nancy Kissinger and Gloria Vanderbildt, Blass became a major figure in the world of women's fashion. His sweaters could fetch as much as $800, while evening gowns went for upwards of $1,000.
"I love his clothes, because they are comfortable, wearable and pretty," Reagan once said of Blass.
Blass' designs were sporty and conservative, without being boring. By the mid-1990s, Blass' company had 97 business licensing agreements, and his name had adorned everything from men's and children's wear to jewelry, shoes, furs, bed linens and luxury car interiors.
He won the Coty American Fashion Critics Award three times (1961, 1963 and 1970), he was given the first Coty Award for men's wear in 1986, and he picked up the Council of Fashion Designers of America Award in 1986.
Blass was born June 22, 1922 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the son of a traveling hardware salesman and a dressmaker. He left Indiana soon after finishing high school in 1939, after winning second place in a Chicago Tribune design contest. His first move to New York came in 1940, studying at the McDowell School of Fashion and working as a sketch artist for clothes designer David Crystal.
After serving in the Army during World War II, Blass returned to Manhattan, where he was hired by Anna Miller and Company. In 1959, he joined Maurice Rentner Limited, and two years later, he became vice president. The company became Bill Blass Limited in 1970. (In 1999, he sold the company to two fashion executives for $50 million.)
"I thought the end of the year, beginning of the new century, was the perfect time," Blass said. "After all, I'd been doing it for 60 years."
Since then, Blass lived in Connecticut and took up a number of causes, including local preservation efforts, and he also was an early supporter of AIDS-related charities.
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