Title

Project of the Fashion Industries Oral History Series: Bonnie Cashin 1982

Contributor Names

Cashin, Bonnie

Finger, Mildred (Interviewer)

Date

1982-05-26

Date Digitized

2020

Description

This interview is done by Mildred Finger who talked to designer Bonnie Cashin about her life from her early years in California and her experiences in her career in New York, London and Scotland. Cashin attended The Art Students League for painting and later, The New School for social research. She was working in the world of the Seventh Avenue Garment District before pulling away from mass manufacturing ideals of the industry and was more interested in producing quality garments. She began designing for Philip Sills and then moved to designing sportswear for Adler and Adler in 1950, when she also won the Neiman Marcus Award at the Coty Awards. They also discuss Cashin's move to London to work with Mr. Arthur Stuart Liberty of Liberty's of London who in 1960 opened a Bonnie Cashin Shop inside the department store for custom ready-to-wear fashion. Bonnie's true love for handcrafted techniques and fabrics lead her towards her biggest project inspired by her "impossible dream" to create the Innovative Design Fund. This non-profit fund is discussed towards the end of the interview and Bonnie describes her inspirations for creating this program that supports artists in various stages of their design career and helps them make their ideas marketable.

Bonnie Cashin, born in Fresno, California in 1907, had a very successful costume and clothing design career spanning sixty years. In 1951 she started Bonnie Cashin, Inc declaring herself independent from the garment industry. She began working with Philip Sills, of Sills and Co. in 1952, for the 1953 fall season. By then she was known for her ability to use design ideas and take inspiration from her extensive travels.

Type

Moving Image

Oral histories

Sound

Subject

Cashin, Bonnie

Clothing trade

Fashion designers

Fashion design

Liberty of London, Inc.

Innovative Design Fund

New York (State)

New York (State)--New York

England

London (England)

Related Materials

Finding Aid

Rights

In Copyright

This video was produced by the Fashion Institute of Technology ("FIT") and is the property of FIT. FIT expressly prohibits the copying, displaying, or uploading to a website of any portion of this video, except for the purposes of fair use as defined in the copyright laws, without express written permission from FIT. This video has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for content in this video and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].

Identifier

FIT Repository ID: aod_000828

SPARC reference code: US.NNFIT.SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.1.26