Leslie Morris (designer)

Leslie Morris was an American fashion designer who headed the couture department at Bergdorf Goodman between 1931 and 1967.

She was born in New York.[1] After attending a finishing school, Morris worked as a designer for Harry Collins before being employed in 1928 by Bergdorf Goodman department store to create couture-level clothing in their made-to-order salon.[1][2][3] Unusually for a department store, Bergdorf actively promoted their in-house designers by name, despite Morris being notably publicity-shy.[4][5] Her fellow designers at Bergdorf's included Russian royalty Grand Duchess Marie, and a Paris couturier called Valentine Tukine, before she was named head designer of the couture department in 1931.[6] She also worked alongside Mark Mooring while he was at Bergdorf's between 1933 and 1948, and in 1941, Morris, Mooring and Mary Gleason were cited as the store's three best-known designers.[7] Mooring, Morris and Gleason were regularly acknowledged as a strong design team while they were working together.[8][9]

In 1957 Morris won that year's main Coty Award for fashion design, along with the ready-to-wear designer Sydney Wragge.[10] At the time, her work was featured in Life magazine including an evening dress from 1951, with a note that the customers who commissioned her "quietly tailored suits" and luxurious ballgowns did so with the intention to wear them for six or more years; and also that it was rare for any Morris design to be made more than six times with many being further individually customized for the client.[10]

Morris presented her last made-to-order collection at Bergdorf Goodman in March 1967, after 39 years in the industry.[5] Two years later, Bergdorf closed their couture salon.[3]

  1. ^ a b Lambert, Eleanor (4 October 1957). "Coty 'Winnie' Awards go to Three Top Designers". Corpus Christi Times. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  2. ^ Fifty Years on Fifth, 1907-1957. Fifth Avenue Association. 1957. p. 60.
  3. ^ a b Walford, Jonathan (10 October 2012). 1950s American Fashion. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 978-0-7478-1280-7.
  4. ^ Mendes, Valerie D.; de la Haye, Amy (2010). Fashion Since 1900. Thames & Hudson. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-500-20402-3.
  5. ^ a b Klemesrud, Judy (3 March 1967). "Leslie Morris in a Tearful Farewell". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  6. ^ Milbank, Caroline Rennolds (1989). New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style. Abrams. p. 116. ISBN 978-0-8109-1388-2.
  7. ^ Crawford, Morris De Camp (1941). The Ways of Fashion. G.P. Putnam. p. 239.
  8. ^ Pope, Virginia (7 March 1946). "Suave Charm Seen in New Fashions". The New York Times.
  9. ^ Pope, Virginia (6 September 1946). "Simple Elegance Marks Style Show". The New York Times. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Winner for City Wear". LIFE. Time Inc. 7 October 1957.