ILLUSTRATIONS

Figure 1. Traphagen in 1933 at age fifty-one. Source: The Silhouette (New York: Traphagen School of Fashion, 1933).

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Figure 2. Traphagen’s mother, Mrs. William Conselyea Traphagen, in a Worth

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wedding gown on her wedding day in 1874. Source: Fashion Digest, Fall/Winter, 1959-1960, 29.

Figure 3. Ethel Traphagen, age 30. Source: Edward Bok, “Prize Winners in the Time’s American Fashions Contest,” New York Times, February 23, 1912, 86.

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Figure 4. Fashionable beach ensembles. Source: “New Outfits are Unique,” New York Times, June 28, 1928, 107.

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Figure 5. Traphagen in 1921 at the age of 39. Source: Margery Rex,“Lives Next Door to Hubby: Artist Bride Tells Why,” Sandusky Register, Oct 30, 1921, 1.

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Figure 6. James Abbott McNeil Whistler (American, 1834-1903), Nocturne: BlueAnd Gold-Old Battersea Bridge, 1872-1877. Oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, London.

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Figure 7. Traphagen’s winning design in the New York Times’ American Fashion Contest. Source: Ethel Traphagen, Costume Design andIllustration, 2nd ed. (New York: John

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Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1932), 95.

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Figure 8. “The American Indian Dress,” Ladies’ Home Journal, November 1913,

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Figure 9. “The American Indian Dress,” Ladies’ Home Journal,

January 1914, 31.Figure 10. Submissions for Vogue’s 1914 “Fashion Fête” included designs by Traphagen’semployers and could potentially be her work, such

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as this evening trouser ensemble from Maison Jacqueline. Source: “New York Fashions Are Adjudged Smart,”Vogue, December 1, 1914, 38.

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Figure 11. A day ensemble by Thurn, one of Traphagen’s employers, for Vogue’s 1914 “Fashion Fête.” Source: “New York Fashions are Adjudged Smart,” Vogue, December 1, 1914, 38.

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Figure 12. The latest designs from Paris, 1915. Source: “ParisHolds Fashion Openings Despite War,” New York Times, February 28, 1915, X3.

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Figure 13. An array of articles published in the World Magazine featuring designs by Traphagen’s students. Source: The Silhouette, 82.

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Figure 14. More articles published in the World Magazine featuring designs by Traphagen’s students. Source: The Silhouette, 83.

Figure 15. Illustrations by Traphagen’s students featured inthe Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Exhibition of Industrial Art, 1919. Source: Ethel Traphagen, “Vogue, “Old Silhouettes for New,” May 19, 1919, 96.

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Figure 16. Illustrations by Traphagen’s students featured inthe Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Exhibition of Industrial Art, 1919. Source: Ethel Traphagen, “Old Laces Inspire Costumes,” Vogue, September 1, 1919, 138.

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Figure 17. A George Barbier illustration reprinted from La Gazette de Bon Ton, 1913, featured in Traphagen’s Costume Design and Illustration, 1st ed. (1918), 72.

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Figure 18. An illustration, likely by Traphagen, featured inher book Costume Design and Illustration, 1st ed. (1918), 69.

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Figure 19. Traphagen’s students’ designs featured in her first Cooperative Trade Exhibition in 1920. Source: “Is America to Have a Fashion Art?”

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New York Times, July 18, 1920, 76.

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Figure 20. Traphagen and her husband William R. Leigh soon after their marriage in 1921. Source: June Dubois, W. R. Leigh: The Definitive Illustrated Biography (Kansas City: Lowell Press, 1977), 186.

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Figure 21. First advertisement for the Traphagen Co-operative School of Fashion. Source: Vogue, September 1, 1923, 28.

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Fig. 22. Five prize-winning costumes featured in the Traphagen School of Fashion’s annual fashion show of 1933. The garment at far left was purchased by a manufacturer following the show. Source: “The Fashion Show,” The Silhouette, 74.

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Figure 23. Winning student designs in Arnold Constable’s 1930 design contest.Source: The Silhouette, 85.

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Figure 24. William R. Leigh, lion diorama in the Akeley Hallof African Mammals, American Museum of Natural History, New York. Source: http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/mammal-halls/akeley-hall-of-african-mammals.

Figure 25. William R. Leigh, gorilla diorama in the Akeley Hall of African Mammals, American Museum of Natural History,New York. Source: http://www.amnh.org/

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exhibitions/permanent-exhibitions/mammal-halls/akeley-hall-of-african-mammals.

Figure 26. Traphagen students studying the school’s recent African acquisitions as inspiration for their designs, c. 1928. Leigh, who taught at the school at the time, is standing in black. Source: Traphagen, Costume Design and Illustration, 2nd ed. (1932), 104.

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Figure 27. Traphagen (top left) in an article about her African acquisitions.

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Source: Cumberland Evening Times, February 6, 1929, 16.

Figure 28. An extensive article featuring Traphagen students’ designs, as well as an interview with Traphagen. Source: Margaret M. Lukes, Galveston Daily News, March 28, 1929, 12.

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Figure 29. An Arnold Constable ad featuring Zanbaraza printsdesigned by Traphagen students. Source: New York Times, January 9, 1930, 9.

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Figure 30. One of five designs by Traphagen students featured in the windows of Knox department store. The designs were displayed in the store’s windows alongside the designers’ sources of inspiration: African textiles and objects from the Traphagen School’s museum collection. Source: Ethel Traphagen, “Zanbaraza Prints,” The Silhouette, 91.

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Figure 31. One of many articles highlighting the African-inspired designs of Traphagen’s students. Source: “Making Women Dress Like Savages,” Olean Times, April 5, 1930, 7.

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Figure 32. Examples of Zanbaraza silk designs by Traphagen students, featured in the American Silk Journal. Source: Traphagen,Costume Design and Illustration, 2nd ed. (1932), 108.

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Figure 33. Two designs by Cheruit that exemplify the new long-skirted, high-waisted silhouette of 1929. Source: “The Mode for Evening,” Vogue, October 12, 1929, 89.

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Figures 34 and 35. Traphagen student designs featured next to the African pieces that inspired them: camel bells carvedby caravan drivers of the Sahara (top left) and a shield and

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staff of the Maasai tribe (bottom left). Source: Traphagen, Costume Design and Illustration, 2nd ed. (1932), 105-106.

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Figure 36. This photograph of Traphagen, taken by renowned photographer Dr. Arnold Genthe in 1932, was featured in a 1936 exhibition of his work in New York. An article in the New York Times on December 13 of that same year highlighted the “picture exhibit of famed women” that also included

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photographs of actress Greta Garbo, costume designer Irene Sharaff and couturière Valentina. Source: “Traphagen, Ethel, Portrait Photograph,” The A.M.I.C.A. Library, http://www.amica.davidrumsey.com.

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Figure 37. An advertisement for Lord & Taylor “Three Young American Designers” campaign. Source: The New York Times, April 17, 1932.

Figure 38: An advertisement and window display for Arnold Constable’s “Three Young American Originals” campaign featuring designs by Traphagen students. Source: The Silhouette, 36.

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Figure 39. Front cover of The Silhouette. Source: Special Collections & FIT Archive, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York City.

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Figure 40. A picture of students in the school’s Clothing Department, circa 1933. Source: The Silhouette, 64.

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Figure 41. Student’s designs sold by the school’s Design Service, circa 1933. Source: The Silhouette, 70.

Figure 42. African pieces from the school’s museum collection. Source: The Silhouette, 96.

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Figure 43. Norman Norell is pictured here utilizing the Traphagen collection of jewelry as inspiration for a line hecreated while working for Hattie Carnegie in the late 1930s.Source: Fashion Digest, Spring/Summer 1956, 56.

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Figure 44. A suit in the museum collection once owned by the Bavarian King Ludwig II. Source: Fashion Digest, Spring/Summer 1947,

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23. Figure 45. Two Worth gowns created for opera singer Lillian Nordica featured in the Metropolitan Opera’s exhibition entitled “Souvenirs and Echoes of the Metropolitan Opera” held at the Traphagen School of Fashion in 1947. Source: Fashion Digest, Spring/Summer 1947, 27.

Figure 46. A “China Poblana” ensemble from the school’s collectionfeatured in the school’s1965 exhibition on Mexican dress. Source:

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Fashion Digest, Spring/Summer 1965, 62.

Figure 47. Irene Dunne in a dress designed by Bernard Newmanfor the film Roberta (1935). Source: Turner Entertainment Networks, INC., “Irene Dunne,”

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http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/54426|72982/Irene-Dunne/archives.html#.

Figure 48. An article highlighting the achievements of former Traphagen students Gladys Parker (above left) and Clare Potter (bottom center). Designer Elizabeth Hawes is also shown (top right). Source: “Young American Designers RobeParis of Its Thunder,” Laredo Times, February 10, 1935, 21.

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Figure 50. A Gladys Parker design featured in Vogue magazine, 1940. Source: “Designers in the West,” Vogue, July 15,

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Figure 49. A “Flapper Fanny” cartoon by Gladys Parker. Source: Chester Times, April 6, 1936, 12.

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Figure 51. The inaugural issue of Fashion Digest, 1937. Traphagen foundedFashion Digest in an effort to promote American fashion designers. It featured

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designs by working designers and her students. Source: Thomas J. Watson Library Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

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Figure 52. Silhouette drawings by Traphagen students. Source: Fashion Digest, Spring/Summer 1938, inside cover.

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Figure 53. A design by Traphagen alumna Clare Potter. Source: Fashion Digest, Spring/Summer 1947, 18.

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Figure 54. Traphagen alumni Mary Angela Luddy and friends outside the Traphagen School of Fashion, circa 1939. Source: Elaine Luddy Klonicki, All on Account of You: A True WWII Love Story (North Carolina: Lulu, Inc., 2007), 70.

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Figure 55. One of the few books Luddy was given during her time as a student at theschool. Source: Luddy Klonicki, All on Account of You, 29.

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Figure 56. Student designs featured in the school’s 1941 fashion show. Source: “Pan American Show Given by Traphagen Students is Epoch-Making in the History of Fashion,” The Agitator, April 30, 1941, 3.

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Figure 57. Student designs featured in the school’s 1942 annual fashion show. Source: “Wartime Fashions for Factory or Farms on Display for Women Called for Duty,” New York Times, January 8, 1942, 25.

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Figure 58. Student designs featured in the school’s 1943 fashion show. Source: “Style Inspirations Seen in Rag Bag and ‘Make-Do Fashions’ Prove Chic,” New York Times, April 29, 1943, 24.

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Figure 59. Advertisement for the Traphagen School of Fashion, circa 1942. Source: http://www.juneandart.blogspot.com.

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Figure 60. “Bar Suit” by Christian Dior from his debut Spring/Summer 1947 collection. Source: “Christian Dior: ‘Bar’suit,” in Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/C.I.58.34.30_C.I.69.40.

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Figure 61. Cartoon by Traphagen alumni Gladys Parker in reference to the debut of the “New Look” in 1947. Source: Fashion Digest, Fall/Winter 1947, 43.

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Figure 62. Three designs featured at a fashion show celebrating the school’s twenty-fifth anniversary. The dressat left is one of Traphagen’s 1914 designs for Ladies’ Home Journal. Source: Fashion Digest, Fall/Winter 1948, 21.

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Figure 63. Ethel Traphagen, circa 1950. Source: Dubois, W. R. Leigh, 188.

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Figure 64. Traphagen alumni received Coty Awards three yearsin a row. Source: Fashion Digest, Fall/Winter 1955-1956, 40.

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Figure 65. Designs by Luis Estevez, 1956. Source: New York Times, October 16, 1956, 53.

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Figure 66. William R. Leigh’s obituary in the New York Times, March 13, 1955, 87.

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Figure 67. Leigh and Traphagen showing their jewelry collection to staff members from the Museum of Natural History, date unknown. Source: Dubois, W. R. Leigh, 188.

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Figure 68. An article in Fashion Digest covering a 1953 exhibition of Leigh’s work at New York’s Grand Central Art Galleries. Leigh’s work was a regular feature in the magazine. Source: Fashion Digest, Spring/Summer 1953, 19.

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Figure 69. Leigh and Traphagen, circa 1950. Source: Dubois, W. R. Leigh, 192.

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Figure 70. Designer Geoffrey Beene receiving the first EthelTraphagen Fashion Award in 1966. Source: Fashion Digest, Spring/Summer 1966, 19.

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Figure 71. Winners of Butternick’s “Young America Creates” contest includes twoTraphagen students: John Steinbeck (far left at bottom) and Bonnie Rosen (secondfrom right on bottom). Source: Women’s Wear Daily, August 25, 1970.

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Figure 72. Advertisement for the school three years before it closed. Source: New York Times, August 21, 1988, 20.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arnold, Rebecca. The American Look: Fashion, Sportswear and the Image ofWomen in

1930s and 1940s New York. New York: I.B. Tauris, 2009.

Bok, Edward. “Name of the Nine Prize Winners and Descriptions of Their Designs.”

New York Times, February 23, 1913, 84-88.

Chase, Edna Woolman and Ilka Chase. Always in Vogue. New York: Doubleday, 1954.

Davies, Jessica. Ready-Made Miracle: The American Story of Fashion for the Millions.

New York: Putnam: 1967.

Dubois, June. W. R. Leigh: The Definitive Illustrated Biography, Kansas City: Lowell

Press, 1977.

Ehrmann, Beatrice S. “The Fashion Furore.” North American Review 229, no. 3 (March

1930): 384.

Gleason, Clare M. “Bernard Newman: The Forgotten Designer ofNew York and

Hollywood.” M.A. thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, 1998.

Hawes, Elizabeth. Fashion is Spinach. New York: Random House, 1938.

Hastreiter, Kim. Geoffrey Beene: An American Fashion Rebel. New York: Assouline,

2008.

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Klonicki, Elaine Luddy. All on Account of You: A True WWII Love Story. Morrisville:

Lulu, Inc., 2007.

Mears, Patricia. American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion. New Haven:

Yale University Press, 2009.

Mears, Patricia. Impact: 50 Years of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. New

York: Abrams, 2012.

Milbank, Caroline Rennolds. New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style. New

York: Abrams, 1996, c1989.

The National Cyclopedia of American Biography. Vol. I, 1953-59. New York: James T.

White & Company, 1960, 90-92.

The Silhouette. New York: Traphagen School of Fashion, 1933.

Stevens, Rebecca A. T., Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada. The Kimono Inspiration: Art and

Art-to-Wear in America. California: Pomegranate Artbooks, 1996.

Traphagen, Ethel. Costume Design and Illustration, 2nd ed. New York:John Wiley &

Sons, Inc., 1918, c1932.

Traphagen, Ethel, ed. Fashion Digest. New York City: Traphagen School of Fashion,

1937-1966, vol. 1-17.

Traphagen, Ethel. “The French Fashion Factory.” North American Review 229, no. 1 (January 1930): 19-22.

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Webber-Hanchett, Tiffany. “Dorothy Shaver: Promoter of the ‘American Look.’” Thesis

submitted to the University of Rhode Island, 2003.

Whitley, Lauren D. “Morris De Camp Crawford and the ‘Designed in America’

Campaign, 1916-1922.” Paper presented at the annual Textile Society of America

Symposium, 1998.

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