SIMPSON, ADELE 1903-

FASHION DESIGNER

Quintessential New York Designer

Adele Simpson exemplified the finest in American fashion design for nearly five decades, turning out collections of flattering, tasteful, and functional clothing for women. She was best known for her matching ensembles of coats and dresses. She served her apprenticeship in a New York ready-to-wear house and studied at the Pratt Institute of Design in Brooklyn before becoming a top-paid designer in the 1920s. Throughout the 1930s and 1940s she had her own label as designer for Mary Lee Fashions. In 1949 she established her own firm.

Natural-Born Talent

The youngest of five daughters, Simpson became interested in sewing at an early age, designing and making the outfits she and her sisters wore to school. After graduating from the Pratt Institute of Design, she became the head designer of a New York ready-to-wear clothes house at age nineteen. After she moved to Mary Lee Fashions her designs won the industry's top prizes, including the Coty American Fashion Critics' Award in 1947.

New Applications for Cotton

Simpson's reputation during the war was as a pioneer of inexpensive sportswear in an expensive age. In 1946 she was one of the first designers to use cotton for both day and evening wear. Most clothing manufacturers considered cotton suitable only for work clothes, but she disagreed. In using cotton in a variety of clothes she opened the fashion world to its versatility, which won her the acclaim of the cotton industry. Other firsts for which she was credited include couturier raincoats, day and evening boots, matching coats and skirts, and dresses that can be stepped into rather than pulled over the head. Simpson also outfitted first ladies Mamie Eisenhower, Lady Bird Johnson, and Pat Nixon.