Hide Article Text (OCR)
Nefth Rosensfein Showedwoman lor almost any occasion, tc;It became her trademark. StilloStyle Knowledge at Age 7is.{What is known tfbtwt the personalities responsible for America's /umoiis fashion labelsY f/ou; did they oain their reputations7 This article, third of six, tells of another of the people who havefrom 1927 to 1929 when her husband urged her to retire and relax.Eut the chaise longue was not for Nettie. She had been working- . - r . . , at sewing since she was 9.made American faknown faX^c ownfir3 a drythe iacrid over.) goods store uptown at the turnof the century, and as so on ashis child was old enough to runBy Phyllis Battelle.’“sw*YORK--II anyone h8dfelt;Ls shE was fascinated byToday, the designer still does at least half of the designing herself, aided by hlt;*r sister-in-law, b co-designer and manager, Eva Rosencrans. With that technique she started to develop at age 7,Mrs. Hosersstein ‘:aker. the raw' fabric and drapes, snips and constructs till she finds the desiied result.The result is a nice effect, don't you think?**whflt;oasked her New York neighbors some 40 years ago if 10-year-old Nettie Rosencrans might sometime design a bali gown for the First Lady of the land—the neighbors wouldn’t have been much surprised,Probably,” they probably would have said.That's because Nettte Rosen- fecu don’t you think?”fashion.Her older sister, Pauline (who slatted Madame Pauline”, a still famous millinery business in New York), remembers Nettie at age ”, draping a length of lace across her shoulders and con- ,fronting a dry goods customer By Muriel LawrenceSelf-Pity Is Not Method To TeachTot Self DefensebV.]lt;aHJ]nbiitwith the query;l^iis would makeit.*a niceef-erans, now the famed Nettie Ros-enstein, was' rather dramaticallytalented ever, in those; days when she had to stand at her mother's sewing machine because her little legs couldn't reach the purr.per pedals.Her first creation—made at ago 9 — was an all-around pleated skirt with bib and suspenders in 1Q0 percent wool, and a luft’led cotton blouse.One of her latest—Mamie Eisenhower’s inaugural ball gown— was a voluminously skirted poult de soie model rich with jewels and sequins,# * lt;¥The two originals'* were comparable in one respect—their simplicity of basic design and their “agelessness These are the characteristics that have made Nettie Rosenstein the hishest-priced wholesale dress designer in New York, selling frocks from $S5 to $800.A big-store buyer once pointed out that Mrs. Hosensteir* could get more money for four seams than any ore she knew. But she said it with reverence—reverence for the designer's ability to make simplicity an architectural wonder.When she was being interviewed for this story, Mrs. R. unwittingly gave out what appear.-* to be the secret of her success.JiH*GLORIA is six. She lives on the ^ same street as Peggy who is-six, too. I];The other day Gloria was out sin the jazzy Twenties, Mn.|™Rosenstoin really began to makeicam^:e' Sheher name as the architect of !waj leaning *n • fashion by introducing to Amer- j under the car-ican mass production the littlepJaj*e5-hoodblack dress”, which served aand didn’t seePeggy run overAm «-■ «■lt;* A ■■ r L. A -i ■* * m —•VcVIAn argument started just outside her office door. Designersand superintendents were vehemently arguing about a cusiom-er's complaint that a belt on a Rosenstein dress bad developed a frazzle: the customer wanted a replacement.Rosenstein employes said indignantly—“That was a beautiful belt made by a man who never makes anything but beautiful belts!”Mrs. Rosenstein excused herself and walked to the door. Calmly and in a deceptively soft voice she said: “I don’t care how beautiful the belt is. II il doesn'tlast, it's no gouu,“* * *The tiny Nettie has been in busings lor herself since 1915, with only a brief interruption•iri11ctiriIVt;
Newspaper Details
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Cedar Rapids, Iowa, US
Tue, Mar 31, 1953
Page 5
Full Page
Clipped by
Daniel M.
GB 15 Jun 2022
Other Publications Near Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Cedar Rapids Gazette
Cedar Rapids Republican and Times
Cedar Rapids Republican
Cedar Rapids New Cosmos
Cedar Rapids Cosmos
