A couple of days ago I posted a Mollie Parnis dress designed by Morty Sussman from the very early days that he joined the label (full history below for those interested) .... one of my amazing clients saw it and sent me these because my dress made her think of this time in her life when she had a dress made by Morty ... here is what her note said “Omaha (where I live) used to have an annual pageant where they honored members of the community. It was much like Mardi Gras Balls. In 1977 I was both a princess (there were also countesses) and the "queen" of this event. Morty custom designed the dresses for Mollie Parnis. There were about 20 each of the princesses and countesses. I thought you would enjoy seeing these sketches. On two of them you can see a swatch of the fabric. The queen's dress was a very heavy silver hued satin. They were all beautiful.” ..... and if sharing those was not fabulous enough she then followed up with two more photos taken of her and Morty in the Mollie Parnis show room in New York for her first fitting where the dress was just basted together. I think we now need to ask if there is a photo of the finished look don’t we?!?! And now the label history I promised! Mollie Parnis is one of my favorite American designers. She was known for having dressed numerous first ladies and her dresses regularly appeared in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Vanity Fair. She started a label with her husband in 1933 called Parnis Livingston Inc. and she quickly became know for her quality, fit and use of very good fabrics. She had a particular talent in dressing woman of every age and designed pieces that suited her older clients in a time when this was not a focus. Her husband died in 1962 forcing the label to shutter but she re-grouped and re-opened three months later under her own Mollie Parnis label. In 1970s she launched a ready-to-wear line hiring designer Morty Sussman to do the initial designs and then approved everything he did before it went into production. His name eventually went on the labels as well so that he was fully acknowledged as the designer for that part of her company #mollieparnis #mortysussman #fashionhistory