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Wouldn’t it be nice if I could get a tweed by spinning
together a bird’s nest and a spider’s web?
Bonnie Cashin
One of the most critically acclaimed and commercially successful American fashion designers active during the second half of the 20th-century, Bonnie Cashin (1908–2000) was revered for her intellectual, opinionated, and independent approach to ready-to-wear. Through clothing design, she combined work and private life into a storybook tale of discovery and madcap adventure and ranked among the century’s design icons.
...A “nomad by nature,” Cashin grew up in a string of California cities, fascinated by the jostling of Asian and Latin American communities. She adored Chinatowns and fairy tales, and dreamt of becoming a dancer, a painter, or a writer. These early passions – for travel, “ethnic” exoticism, dancing, drawing, and storytelling – combined with her extraordinary design talents and modernist spirit to form a series of creative careers on both American coasts. Prior to her mid-century launch as a “name” on Seventh Avenue, Cashin’s credentials included, but were not limited to, a decade of designing costumes for New York’s “Roxyette” chorus girls, an under-cover assignment to design women’s uniforms for World War II, and a stint in Hollywood designing wardrobes for over 60 films at Twentieth Century-Fox.
...At the vanguard of high fashion for nearly 40 years, Cashin’s design hallmarks are still heralded as welcome sartorial innovations. They regularly reappear on 21st-century runways and in collections at every price point. With a personality that was at times summed up as “difficult,” Cashin was an outspoken advocate for originality in fashion design. Of her copyists, she shrugged off as much of the frustration as she could, realizing “the moment you think an idea, it is no longer yours exclusively,” and declaring “let them be copyists – let us be better.” She also scolded those in the fashion industry that kept their “noses pressed against the rear view mirror . . . seriously pronouncing it all new, creative and beautiful! All hail the emperor’s new suit of clothes!” She advised designers to read the book of that title at least once a month.
...Without lapsing into redundancy, “the Cashin look” is instantly recognizable, regardless of its date of manufacture. Her credits range from establishing the accessory firm Coach in 1962 to launching the concept of “Seven Easy Pieces” of mix-and-match separates in 1975. Aware of her contributions to the fashion world, she felt “intense satisfaction in feeling one is helping mold the look of our century.” Cashin’s oft-stated credo, “chic is where you find it,” summed up her belief that a “habit of wonder” and an ability to see relationships between objects and ideas far removed from the fashion world were vital tools for the generative designer. Rather than look at fashion history, she was apt to cite the rhythm of poetry, a new mathematical theorem, or a bird’s nest as inspiration. That Cashin avoided gimmickry, and instead imaginatively translated these unrelated source materials into decades of consistent, connected, and highly functional garments, is a testament to her belief that the enthusiastic pursuit of individuality is always timeless...
From the forthcoming biography “Chic is Where You Find It,” Stephanie Lake, Creative Director The Bonnie Cashin Foundation. All rights reserved. For more information: BonnieCashinFoundation.org
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