Sally Milgrim
{{short description|American fashion designer and businesswoman}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Sally Milgrim
| image = Sally Milgrim LCCN2014713771 (cropped).jpg
| caption = Milgrim in the 1920s
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1898|04|21}}
| birth_place = New York, USA
| death_date = {{death date and age|1994|06|16|1898|04|21}}
| spouse(s) = {{married|Charles Milgrim|1914}}
| children = Franklin, Richard, Paul
| occupation = Dressmaker
| notable_works =
| education =
| years_active =
| honors =
}}
Sally Milgrim (née Knobel; April 21, 1898 – June 16, 1994) was an American businesswoman and fashion designer. She notably designed the dress Eleanor Roosevelt wore to her husband's first inaugural ball.
Early life and education
Milgrim was born as Sally Knobel on April 21, 1898, to immigrant parents Philip and Tillie Knobel.{{cite book |author1=Delbert Unruh |author2=Ione C. Unruh |title=Forgotten Designers Costume Designers of American Broadway Revues and Musicals From 1900-1930 |date=November 6, 2018 |publisher=Page Publishing Inc |isbn=9781640827585 |pages=404–409 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SZh2DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT404 |accessdate=November 13, 2019}} She was married to Charles Milgrim in 1914, who co-operated a family suit business on the Lower East Side of New York City.{{cite web |last=Vafakos |first=Jennifer |date=June 23, 2021 |title=Sally Milgrim |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/milgrim-sally |access-date=April 4, 2022 |website=The Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women}}
Career
File:Clear as Sunshine - Fine Feathers Hosiery, 1940.jpg
At her husband's business, Milgrim began displaying her own dress designs to appeal to the female consumers. By 1922, her dress designs were sold across twenty-nine states{{cite journal |last1=Shin |first1=Jooyoung |title=Sally Milgrim: A Pioneer of American Fashion, 1920–1935 |journal=The Journal of the Costume Society of America |date=December 11, 2018 |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=83–104 |doi=10.1080/03612112.2018.1497845 |s2cid=187229802 }} and she was recruited to design clothes for Broadway productions. Milgrim eventually opened her own store on 57th Street near Fifth Avenue in 1927.{{cite news |title=Sally Milgrim, 103, A Clothes Designer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/06/16/obituaries/sally-milgrim-103-a-clothes-designer.html |accessdate=November 13, 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=June 16, 1994}} Due to her popularity, Milgrim was forced to move into a larger space on Fifty-Seventh Street to sell her designs. Her building was designed by architect L. H. Friedland and the interior by the Paris Studio of New York.
In 1933, Milgrim was asked to design a dress for Eleanor Roosevelt to wear to her husband's first inaugural ball.{{cite web |last1=Neuman |first1=Johanna |title=From Ghetto to Glamour |url=https://momentmag.com/from-ghetto-to-glamour/3/ |website=momentmag.com |accessdate=November 13, 2019 |date=September 29, 2014}} The light blue dress would later go on display at the Smithsonian Institution.{{cite web |title=Smithsonian's "First Ladies" collection |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/smithsonians-first-ladies-collection/15/ |website=cbsnews.com |date=January 15, 2017 |accessdate=November 13, 2019}} Milgrim also designed dresses for Marilyn Miller, Ethel Merman, Pearl White, Louise Brooks{{Cite web |title=Louise Brooks Evening Gown - a Sally Milgrim Design |url=https://www.pandorasbox.com/louise_brooks_archive/louise-brooks-evening-gown-a-sally-milgrim-design/ |access-date=July 5, 2024 |website=Louise Brooks Society}} and Mary Pickford. In March 1936, Milgrim was honored by the New York League of Business and Professional Women for her achievements.{{cite news|title=Noted Women|date=March 17, 1936|newspaper=Berkeley Daily Gazette|location=California|page=14|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-mar-17-1936-1432715/}}{{free access}}
In 1941, Milgrim unveiled a new collection called "Arabesque," as it was inspired by their modest fashion. The clothes in this collection emphasized women's "tent-pole Silhouette," which means she combined many styles into one.{{cite news|last1=Young|first1=Marguerite|title=Harlem Skirt, Tent Pole Silhouette and 9-inch Length for Semi-Formal, New Style Trend|date=September 9, 1941|newspaper=Athens Messenger|location=Ohio|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-sep-09-1941-1432738/}}{{free access}} She also created a "ready to wear" clothing line labelled "Salymil."{{cite book |last1=Walford |first1=Jonathan |title=1950s American Fashion |date=October 10, 2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9780747812807 |page=31 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggvDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA31 |accessdate=November 13, 2019}} Vogue described this label as "fresh young clothes."{{cite book |author1=Daniel Delis Hill |title=As Seen in Vogue: A Century of American Fashion in Advertising |date=2007 |publisher=Texas Tech University Press |isbn=9780896726161 |page=60 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MvilOZhaRkAC&pg=PR64 |accessdate=November 13, 2019}}
Later life and legacy
Milgrim retired from the fashion industry in 1960, and eventually died on June 16, 1994. A collection of her hats is in an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.{{cite web |title=Miss Sally Milgrim |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/169648 |website=metmuseum.org |accessdate=November 13, 2019}}
References
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Category:20th-century American designers
Category:Clothing companies established in 1927
Category:20th-century American Jews
Category:20th-century American businesswomen
Category:20th-century American businesspeople
Category:Jewish women in business
Category:American women fashion designers