Styling synthetics: DuPont's marketing of fabrics and fashions in postwar America

Business History Review

Volumn 80, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 485-528

  Blaszczyk, Regina Lee ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

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[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33845355211     PISSN: 00076805     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/s000768050003587x     Document Type: Review

References (299)

1. Gomer H. Ward, "Status Report on Stretch," speech delivered in New York City, 5 May 1964, box 73, ace. 84.259, Public Relations Files, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, New York, in Pictorial Collections, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Del. [hereafter cited as PR-HML];
2. "Big Gains Predicted for Stretch Fabrics," New York Times [hereafter cited as NYT], 10 May 1964.
3. "Stretch and the American Concept of Comfort in Fashion," American Fabrics [hereafter cited as AF] 63 (Winter/Spring 1964): ii-iii.
4. On casual living, see Barbara Ehrenreich, The Hearts of Men: American Dreams and the Flight from Commitment (New York, 1983);
5. and Thomas Frank, The Conquest of Cool: Business Culture, Counterculture, and the Rise of Hip Consumerism (Chicago, 1997).
6. The United States dominated world chemical production during the postwar era. For 1962, global output divided as follows: U.S., 44.9 percent; U.S.S.R., 13.1 percent; Germany, 8.2 percent; Japan, 7.3 percent; U.K., 6.9 percent; France, 5.6 percent; Italy, 5.6 percent; the rest was produced by Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Canada, and Spain. See Thomas L. Ilgen, "'Better Living Through Chemistry': The Chemical Industry in the World Economy," International Organization 37 (Autumn 1983): 655;
7. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970 (Washington, D.C., 1975), 674.
8. On the New York office, see "DuPont to Stay at Empire State," NYT, 1 Sept. 1964.
9. Edwin A. Gee to Executive Committee, "Textile Fibers Department," 8 July 1976, box 2, series 2, ace. 2232, Edwin A. Gee Papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington.
10. Throughout this article, I use the term "fashion" in reference to the prevailing styles in clothing, interior decoration, and industrial design, and "fashion business" for the complex network of firms making textiles, clothing, and other style goods.
11. On DuPont fibers, see David A. Hounshell and John K. Smith Jr., Science and Corporate Strategy: DuPont R&D, 1902-1980 (New York, 1988), chs. 13, 18-19;
12. Donald F. Holmes, "The History of the Textile Fibers Department," rev. ed., 1982, box 81, acc. 1771, papers of the Textile Fibers Department, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington [hereafter cited as TF-HML];
13. Amy L. Hardin, "Industry Structure and the Marketing of Synthetic Fibers," Business and Economic History, 2nd series, 19 (1990): 213-22,
14. and "Miracle Fiber to Commodity: Polyester, 1950-1975" (M.A. thesis, University of Delaware, 1988);
15. and John K. Smith Jr., "Innovating in Synthetic Materials: Case Studies in DuPont R&D, 1900-1940" (Ph.D. diss., University of Delaware, 1986).
16. R. M. Busche to E. B. Yelton, "Development and Commercialization of New Products," 22 July 1968, box 15, series 8, ace 2091, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Executive Committee Papers, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington;
17. Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 274.
18. On competitors, see Ashish Arora et al., eds., Chemicals and Long-Term Economic Growth: Insights from the Chemical Industry (New York, 1998);
19. and Alfred D. Chandler Jr., Shaping the Industrial Century: The Remarkable Story of the Evolution of the Modern Chemical and Pharmaceutical Industries (Cambridge, Mass., 2005).
20. For the cultural history of synthetic fibers, see Susannah Handley, Nylon: The Story of a Fashion Revolution (Baltimore, 1999);
21. and Kaori O'Connor, "The Body and the Brand: How Lycra Reshaped America," in Producing Fashion: Commerce, Culture, and Consumers, ed. Regina Lee Blaszczyk (Philadelphia, forthcoming).
22. On business and consumer society, see, for example, Kathy Lee Peiss, Hope in a Jar: The Making of America's Beauty Culture (New York, 1998);
23. Regina Lee Blaszczyk, Imagining Consumers: Design and Innovation from Wedgwood to Corning (Baltimore, 2000);
24. Roy Church and Andrew Godley, eds., The Emergence of Modern Marketing (London, 2003);
25. and Marina Moskowitz, Standard of Living: The Measure of the Middle Class in Modern America (Baltimore, 2004).
26. Blaszczyk, Imagining Consumers;
27. Regina Lee Blaszczyk, "The Colors of Modernism," in Seeing High and Low: Representing Social Conflict in American Visual Culture, ed. Patricia Johnston (Berkeley, 2006), 228-46;
28. and "The Importance of Being True Blue: The DuPont Company and the Color Revolution," in Cultures of Commerce: Representation and American Business Culture, 1877-1960, eds. Elspeth Brown et al. (New York, 2006), 27-50.
29. On the importance of fiber companies to mass-market fashion, see Ann R. Lyon, "Marketing: The Latest Thing in Fashions," Printers'Ink, 26 Apr. 1963,
30. republished in Inside the Fashion Business, eds. Jeannette A. Jarnow and Beatrice Judelle (New York, 1965), 80-84.
31. On the northeastern market, see Carpet Institute, Basic Facts about the Carpet and Rug Industry (New York, 1956), Joseph W. Lynch Papers, Chemical Heritage Foundation, Philadelphia [hereafter cited as JWL-CHF].
32. Anna Petersen, "'Fashions of the Times' to End Run Today," NYT, 3 Nov. 1950.
33. By 1963, DuPont had some 350 textile customers with offices in the New York metropolitan area. See "The Leader Can Never Stop Running," Better Living [hereafter cited as BL] 17 (Mar.-Apr. 1963): 22.
34. On New York fashion, see Caroline Rennolds Milbank, New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style (New York, 1996);
35. Nancy L. Green, Ready-to-Wear and Ready-to-Work: A Century of Industry and Immigrants in Paris and New York (Durham, 1997);
36. Teri Agins, The End of Fashion: The Mass Marketing of the Clothing Business (New York, 1999);
37. and A Perfect Fit: The Garment Industry and American Jewry, 1860-1960 (New York, 2005), 81-95.
38. For parallels, see Thomas Hine, Populuxe (New York, 1986).
39. Writing about contemporary New York fashion, geographer Norma M. Rantisi has documented innovation networks among designers, retailers, textile mills, forecasters, trade shows, and the press. See "The Local Innovation System as a Source of 'Variety': Openness and Adaptability in New York City's Garment District," Regional Studies 36 (2002): 587-602;
40. and "The Ascendance of New York Fashion," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 28 (Mar. 2004): 86-106.
41. Fiber manufacturers are absent from her discussion, perhaps due to the industry's globalization that began in the mid-1960s and accelerated in the 1980s. See Ralph Landau, "The Process of Innovation in the Chemical Industry," in Chemicals and Long-Term Economic Growth: Insights from the Chemical Industry, eds. Ashish Arora et al. (New York, 1998);
42. Textile Organon 37 (Jan. 1966): 22-23;
43. Textile Organon 41 (Jan. 1970): 22-23;
44. Textile Organon 52 (Nov. 1981): 202-7;
45. Fiber Organon 61 (Sept. 1990): 208-13.
46. Historical Statistics of the United States, 229, 297.
47. For style and social class, see Shelley Nickles, "More Is Better: Mass Consumption, Gender, and Class Identity in Postwar America," American Quarterly 54 (Dec. 2002): 581-622.
48. As I have argued elsewhere, the meanings that consumers assign to different products vary over time. See Blaszczyk, Imagining Consumers;
49. Regina Lee Blaszczyk, American Consumer Society, 1865-2005: What Made It Tick (Wheeling, Ill., forthcoming).
50. Jeffrey L. Meikle, American Plastic: A Cultural History (New Brunswick, 1995);
51. Donald C. Coleman, Courtaulds: An Economic and Social History, 3 vols. (Oxford, 1969-80).
52. On household technology, see Ruth Schwartz Cowan, More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave (New York, 1983).
53. Gertrude Brooks Dixson, "The New Synthetics-Pretty and Practical," American Home 49 (Apr. 1953): 50-52, 110-11;
54. "Wash and Wear," Good Housekeeping 146 (May 1958): 86-101.
55. Institute for Motivational Research [hereafter cited as IMR], Report No. 1051, "A Motivational Research Study of the Sales and Advertising Problems of Nylon Bed Sheets," Aug. 1957, 75. in Ernest Dichter Collection, Fachbibliothek am Institut für Publizistik-und Kommunikationswissenschaft, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria [hereafter cited as ED-UV].
56. Tomas Maldonado and John Cullars, "The Idea of Comfort," Design Issues 8 (1991): 35-43;
57. Ellen Lupton and Jane Murphy, "Case Study House: Comfort and Convenience," Assemblage 24 (Aug. 1994): 86-93.
58. Katherine C. Grier, Culture and Comfort: Parlor-Making and Middle-Class Identity, 1850-1930 (Washington, D.C., 1997).
59. Claudia Kidwell and Margaret C. Christman, Suiting Everyone: The Democratization of Clothing in America (Washington, D.C., 1974).
60. Florence Byerly and Ben E. Graves, "What a Difference Decorating Makes," Better Homes & Gardens 33 (Nov. 1955): 78-91.
61. Blaszczyk, American Consumer Society.
62. Paul H. Nystrom, The Economics of Fashion (New York, 1928), 376-81;
63. Rob Schorman, Selling Style: Clothing and Social Change at the Turn of the Century (Philadelphia, 2003).
64. Milbank, New York Fashion, 100, 105-9;
65. Frank, The Conquest of Cool;
66. Handley, Nylon.
67. Kirse Granat May, Golden State, Golden Youth: The California Image in Popular Culture, 1955-1966 (Chapel Hill, 2002);
68. Jo Lauria and Suzanne Baizerman, California Design: The Legacy of West Coast Craft and Style (San Francisco, 2005).
69. Blaszczyk, Imagining Consumers, chs. 3, 7;
70. Lauria and Baizerman, California Design;
71. Bill Osgerby, Playboys in Paradise: Masculinity, Youth, and Leisure-Style in Modern America (New York, 2001);
72. Nicola White, Reconstructing Italian Fashion: America and the Development of the Italian Fashion Industry (New York, 2000);
73. William C. Scott, "Dressing Down: Modernism, Leisure, and the California Men's Sportswear Industry, 1930-1960" (Ph.D. diss., University of California-Berkeley, in progress).
74. On synthetic materials and malleability, see Meikle, American Plastic.
75. "Progress Report on Nylon," AF 61 (Summer 1963): 89.
76. Andrew E. Buchanan Jr., "Textile Progress from Fundamental Research," paper presented at the Textile Research Institute, New York, 2 Dec. 1949, 5, box 81, TF-HML.
77. "Ernest Dichter, 84, a Consultant on Consumer Motivation, Is Dead," NYT, 23 Nov. 1991;
78. Daniel Horowitz, The Anxieties of Affluence: Critiques of American Consumer Culture, 1939-1979 (Amherst, 2004), 51-64.
79. On "Better Living," see Crawford H. Greenewalt, "The Sunny Side of the Street," speech to J. P. Stevens & Company, New York, 8 Jan. 1963, box 81, TF-HML;
80. Roland Marchand, Creating the Corporate Soul: The Rise of Public Relations and Corporate Imagery in American Big Business (Berkeley, 1998);
81. and William L. Bird Jr., Better Living: Advertising, Media, and the New Vocabulary of Business Leadership, 1935-1955 (Evanston, Ill., 1999).
82. Buchanan, "Textile Progress from Fundamental Research," 3-6;
83. Andrew E. Buchanan Jr., "The Technology of Our Business," talk at the Educators Conference, Wilmington, 20 June 1950, 7, 10-11, box 81, TF-HML.
84. Horowitz, The Anxieties of Affluence, 51-64.
85. Ernest Dichter, "Nine Ways to Vitalize Textile Sales," AF 43 (Summer 1958): 54.
86. Ernest Dichter, AF Ibid., 55.
87. Ernest Dichter, "The World Customer," AF 50 (Spring 1963): 89;
88. Hine, Populuxe,
89. and Handley, Nylon, ch. 3;
90. Ehrenreich, The Hearts of Men;
91. Lizabeth Cohen, A Consumers' Republic: The Politics of Mass Consumption in Postwar America (New York, 2003);
92. Frank, Conquest of Cool;
93. Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., Not June Cleaver: Woman and Gender in Postwar America, 1945-1960 (Philadelphia, 1994);
94. and James Gilbert, Men in the Middle: Searching for Masculinity in the 19505 (Chicago, 2005).
95. IMR, Report No. 1052, "A Motivational Research Study of the Sales and Advertising Problems of Nylon Sheets on the Retail Level," May 1958, 51, 81, 87, ED-UV.
96. IMR, Report No. 1051.
97. Arthur M. Saunders, "Selling Becomes Marketing under the Impact of the Man-Made Fibers,"AF 57 (Summer 1962): 88-89.
98. Blaszczyk, "The Colors of Modernism";
99. Philip A. Sykas, The Secret Life of Textiles (Bolton, U.K., 2005);
100. Paul T. Cherington, The Commercial Problems of the Woolen and Worsted Industries (Washington, D.C., 1932), 123-48;
101. Philip B. Scranton, Figured Tapestry: Production, Markets, and Power in Philadelphia Textiles, 1885-1941 (New York, 1989).
102. Melvin T. Copeland and W. Homer Turner, Production and Distribution of Silk and Rayon Broad Goods (New York, 1935), 6.
103. Saunders, "Selling Becomes Marketing under the Impact of the Man-Made Fibers," 88-89.
104. Saunders, "Selling Becomes Marketing under the Impact of the Man-Made Fibers," 88-89. Ibid.
105. Holmes, "History of the Textile Fibers Department," 195;
106. Lyon, "Marketing: Latest Thing in Fashion," 83;
107. "Change in the Market," BL 17 (Nov.-Dec. 1963), 14-15.
108. Jeannette A. Jarnow and Beatrice Judelle, eds., Inside the Fashion Business, 2nd ed. (New York, 1974), 88-89.
109. Holmes, "History of the Textile Fibers Department," 13, 24-26;
110. Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 420-21.
111. "New Baby," BL 5 (Jan.-Feb. 1951): 1-7;
112. Holmes, "History of the Textile Fibers Department," 69-76;
113. Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 394-407;
114. "Acrilin Wins a Second Chance," Business Week [hereafter cited as BW], 26 Jan. 1957: 53-58.
115. Holmes, "History of the Textile Fibers Department," 69-76, 91;
116. Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 394-407;
117. press releases and photographs, "Orlon Becomes a Man" promotion, Feb.-Mar. 1953, box 74, PR-HML.
118. Holmes, "History of the Textile Fibers Department," 77-87, 181;
119. Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 407-20, 694;
120. Andrew E. Buchanan Jr., "It Ain't the Individual," address to Commercial Chemical Development Association, New York, 28 Mar. 1957, 7;
121. and talk before the American Association of Textile Technologists, New York, 28 Feb. 1951, 4-5, both in box 81, TF-HML.
122. Historical Statistics of the United States, 670-71;
123. "The Fickle Consumer," BL 10 (Sept.-Oct., 1956): 2-6;
124. "Hot Competition in the Making," BW, 1 Nov. 1958: 106.
125. Gordon. H. Kester, "Idea Fabrics," DuPont Magazine [hereafter cited as DM] 49 (Oct.-Nov. 1955): 2-3;
126. Amory M. Sommaripa, Diary of a Mad Russian: A Tribute to Alexis Sommaripa, 1900-1945 (New York, 2005), 8, 10-11, 13-14, 24.
127. "Blended Synthetics Offer Any Cloth You Want," BW, 19 Apr. 1952: 33.
128. Herbert T. Pratt to D. M. Schlerf, "The Contribution of Customer Service in the Development of Dacron Polyester Staple and Tow," 24 Sept. 1953, box 74, TF-HML.
129. Kester, "Idea Fabrics," 4.
130. Kester, "Idea Fabrics," 4 Ibid.
131. By 1963, Stevens was the second largest U.S. textile manufacturer, and one of DuPont's biggest customers, purchasing $36.7 million worth of goods from the Textile Fibers Department. See M. C. Huston, "Robert T. Stevens Visit," 30 Mar. 1964, box 28, ace. 1814, papers of Crawford H. Greenewalt, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington [hereafter cited as CG-HML].
132. "Foreign Fabrics," DM 44 (Sept.-Oct. 1950): 31; press release,
133. "Collection of 100,000 Foreign Fabrics Opened by DuPont," 13 Apr. 1950, box 2, PR-HML;
134. "Synthetic Fabrics Make Dress Preview," NYT, 9 June 1954.
135. Robert M. Bednar, "Showcase of Fashion Fabrics," DM 59 (Jan.-Feb. 1965): 16.
136. Robert M. Bednar, DM Ibid., 16, 18.
137. A. J. Dallas to Dorothy Liebes, 20 Jan. 1955, folder: special letters, box 17;
138. Dorothy Liebes, "My Story," typescript, n.d., 444-46, box 4;
139. Dorothy Liebes-T. Nash Broaddus letters, 1, 4 Feb. 1960;
140. and Dorothy Liebes to P. D. Atwood, 18 Jan. 1961, in folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, all in Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. [hereafter cited as DL-AAA].
141. Paula Adler, "Five Designers-Five Approaches," Craft Horizons 24 (Mar. 1964): 43-47;
142. Nell Znamierowski, Dorothy Liebes: Retrospective Exhibition Sponsored by the Textile Fibers Department, E. I. du Pont de Nemours & Company (New York, 1970); Dorothy Liebes to Arthur Wingate, 17 Nov. 1962, folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, and Dorothy Liebes interview, typescript, 16 Oct. 1945, 8, folder: special letters, box 17, DL-AAA
143. Dorothy Liebes to L. R. Blackhurst, 15 Aug. 1962, folder: DuPont, 1962, box 1, DL-AAA.
144. A. H. Freeman, "The Market for Bedspreads," MR-53-9, 8 Dec. 1953, box 78, TF-HML.
145. Carpet Institute, Basic Facts about the Carpet and Rug Industry, 10-11.
146. Liebes to Blackhurst, 27 May 1960, folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, DL-AAA.
147. Harry Palfreeman, "Fibres and Carpets," Canadian Textile Journal (28 Nov. 1958): 71.
148. Liebes to Blackhurst, 28 June 1960, folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, DL-AAA.
149. Holmes, "The History of the Textile Fibers Department," 14, 26, 35-38;
150. Don W. Gay, "Concept Marketing," 15 Dec. 1976, 12, JWL-CHF; L. R. Blackhurst Jr. to R. W. Jones, 25 March 1964, folder: March-April 1964, and Dorothy Liebes to Everett Brown, 28 July 1964, folder: July-Aug. 1964, both in box 7, DL-AAA.
151. L. R. Blackhurst to P. R. Price, "Membership Luncheon," 15 Dec. 1960, folder: DuPont, 1960, box 1, DL-AAA.
152. Liebes to Blackhurst, 15 Aug. 1962; Dorothy Liebes Design to L. R. Blackhurst et al., "Activities Report, July 1962," folder: DuPont 1962,
153. and Judith Mortenson to Mary McLoud, 12 Aug. 1960, folder: DuPont 1960, both in box 1, DL-AAA.
154. Charles E. Petty, "New Media for Art Underfoot," DM 59 (Nov.-Dec. 1965): 16-19.
155. W. A. Hooper to Dorothy Liebes, 18 Jan., 12 May 1960; W. A. Hooper to Ralph Higbee, 7 Sept. 1960; Dorothy Liebes to Arthur Wingate, 27 Jan., 2 Feb., 26 Nov. 1962, all in folder: DuPont, 1960, box 1, DL-AAA;
156. "Theta at the N.Y. Fair," Kappa Alpha Theta Magazine 79 (Summer 1965): 4-5; press release,
157. "Dorothy Liebes' Glamour Curtains for DuPont Building at the Fair," 23 Mar. 1964, folder: March-April 1964, box 7, DL-AAA.
158. Dorothy Liebes to L. R. Blackhurst, 22 Oct. 1964, folder: Oct. 1964, box 7, DL-AAA.
159. Dorothy Liebes to Al Freeman, 23 Apr. 1962, folder: DuPont, 1962, box 1, DL-AAA.
160. Dorothy Liebes to C. B. Tyson, 25 Jan. 1960, folder: DuPont 1960, box 1, DL-AAA.
161. G. D. Hobbs, "The Dress Industry," Textile Fibers Department [1952], box 78, TF-HML.
162. "Weaving New Fabrics," NYT, 28 Sept. 1951;
163. "Fashion Show at Opera," NYT, 30 Oct. 1954.
164. The fiber industries had been sponsoring fashion shows to promote cotton and rayon since the early twentieth century. Conversation with Dilys E. Blum, curator of Costume and Textiles, Philadelphia Museum of Art, 1 Aug. 2006.
165. On Paris, see Lois W. Banner, American Beauty (Chicago, 1983);
166. Valerie Steele, Paris Fashion: A Cultural History (New York, 1988);
167. Diana Crane, Fashion and Its Social Agendas (Chicago, 2000);
168. Alexandra Palmer, Couture and Commerce: The Transatlantic Fashion Trade in the 19505 (Vancouver, 2001);
169. and Dilys E. Blum, Shocking! The Art and Fashion of Elsa Schiaparelli (Philadelphia, 2003).
170. Herbert Brean, "High Style Cash and Carry," Life, 26 Jan. 1953,
171. reprinted in Inside the Fashion Business, eds. Jarnow and Judelle, 151-56;
172. "C'est Si Bon, U.S. Buyers Say of Paris," NYT, 12 Feb. 1958.
173. For DuPont's 19305 experience with designers, see Madame Marge Collection, Special Collections Department, Gladys Marcus Library, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.
174. L. Mehrmann to E. B. Winn, "Introduction of Qiana through the Parisian Couture," 8 Aug. 1968,
175. and Lyn Stevenson to Helen Gray, "Fall Paris Collections-July 1968," 9 Jan. 1968, both in box 18, PR-HML.
176. On DuPont and French fashion, see Regina Lee Blaszczyk, "DuPont et la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne," in La Mode des Sixties, eds. Michèle Ruffat and Dominique Veillon (Paris, forthcoming).
177. Holmes, "History of the Textile Fibers Department," 19, [23f], [23g].
178. Richard Martin, ed., The St. James Fashion Encyclopedia (New York, 1997), 152-54;
179. Jean-Noël Liaut, Hubert de Givenchy: Entre Vies et Légendes (Paris, 2000).
180. Holmes, "History of the Textile Fibers Department," 13.
181. Press releases, "American Man-Made Fiber Featured in Givenchy's Collection," 5 Feb. 1954.
182. and "New Givenchy Collection Features Surah with Orlon," 18 Feb. 1954, box 2, PR-HML.
183. Holmes, "History of the Textile Fibers Department," 14;
184. photographs of Chanel designs, Mar. 1954, box 74, PR-HML.
185. "Parisians Pour Plaudits on Synthetics," Chemical Week 74 (26 June 1954): 24;
186. "Synthetic Fabrics Used by Parisians," NYT, 12 July 1954.
187. Photographs and captions of Givenchy's Orlon sweaters, Jan.-Feb.igss, box 71;
188. press releases, "Orlon Stars in Paris in Special Givenchy Collection," 5 Feb. 1955,
189. and "First Fashion Show in United States of Paris-Designed Costumes in Orlon," 17 Mar. 1955, box 4;
190. "ParisDesigned Costumes Containing Orlon Acrylic Fiber," fashion show by the DuPont Company, Hotel Plaza, New York, 17 Mar. 1955, box 4, all in PR-HML. Palmer
191. [Couture and Commerce, 183-94] describes strategies developed by 19505 couturiers to benefit from the mass market, including licensing, boutique lines, and ready-to-wear. Givenchy's Orlon sweaters, shown in the weeks after his regular collection, may have fit one of these models.
192. Photograph of Balmain's Nymphea gown, 29 Feb. 1956, box 71;
193. press releases, "Use of Nylon at Dior Expected to Influence American Fashions," 25 Feb. 1958, box 2,
194. and "Paris Shows Spectacular Late-Day Fashions in Fabrics Containing Man-Made Fibers," 12 Aug. 1958, box 2;
195. photographs of Paris collections, 26 Aug. 1958, box 69, all in PR-HML.
196. Gay, "Concept Marketing," 14-15.
197. Photographs showing displays of multifibers in Paris fashions, Mar. 1958, box 69, PR-HML.
198. "Keeping the Accounts," BL 11 (Nov.-Dec. 1957): 1.
199. Photographs, "Orlon in Paris" fashion show, Sept. 1955, box 71;
200. "Paris Couture Costumes with Orlon Acrylic Fiber," 21 Sept. 1955, box 4;
201. script for Paris fashion show, 21 Sept. 1955. box 4, all in PR-HML. The disposition of DuPont's couture models is unknown. Generally, models imported as design sources were shipped out of the U.S. within six months in order to avoid paying customs duties, but this may not have been an issue for DuPont. See "C'est Si Bon,"
202. and Palmer, Couture and Commerce, 135-47.
203. Eleanor Parrish to Crawford H. Greenewalt, 26 Aug. 1957; Andrew E. Buchanan Jr. to Greenewalt, 13 Sept. 1957, both in box 27, CG-HML.
204. For French designs and American copies, see materials for the "Paris in America" promotion, Mar. 1959, box 64, PR-HML. In some instances, couturiers created models using DuPont fibers, but prohibited reproduction; see folder: "Sample of Orlon and Other Fibers Combinations," 1961, box 18, PR-HML. American firms importing Dior originals to make spin-offs that retailed for less than $100 were forbidden to use the couture house's name to market them. Dior sanctioned the use of the pseudonym "Monsieur X" for these moderately priced copies. See Gloria Emerson, "What's in a Name?," NYT, 16 Sept. 1960;
205. and Palmer, Couture and Commerce, 174-75.
206. William M. Freeman, "News of the Advertising and Marketing Fields," NYT, 4 Nov. 1956;
207. "Hot Competition in the Making";
208. "Beating the Drums for a New Fiber," BW (12 Nov. 1960): 134-38;
209. Louis F. Laun, "Forward Looking Marketing Techniques at the Fiber, Mill, and Manufacturing Levels," speech given at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, 17 Nov. 1969,
210. in Inside the Fashion Business, 2nd ed., eds. Jarnow and Judelle, 90-94.
211. Press releases, "Givenchy Sweater Collection Launches New Orlon Filament Yarn," 26 Jan. 1959,
212. and "Givenchy Sweater Collection Presented to Press by DuPont," 17 Feb. 1959, both in box 1, PR-HML.
213. Charles H. Rutledge to Mrs. A. T. Lubin, 12 Feb. 1957, box 27, CG-HML.
214. "Hot Competition in the Making";
215. "Too Many Fibers Spoil the Miracle," BW (29 Oct. 1966): 165-70.
216. Textile Organon 52 (Oct. 1981): 176;
217. Gee, "Textile Fibers Department";
218. Holmes, "History of the Textile Fibers Department," 91, 95.
219. DuPont Fiber Facts (Wilmington [ca. 1965]);
220. Rutledge to Lubin; DuPont's Biggest Customer," BL (May-June 1967): 1-7.
221. Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 419; photos 416-25 and 416-35:
222. "Orlon Becomes a Man," 24 Feb. 1953, box 74, PR-HML.
223. Roswell Magill to Crawford Greenewalt, 20 Oct. 1959, box 27, CG-HML.
224. "Blended Synthetics Offer Any Cloth You Want," 32-34;
225. "Wardrobe Revolution," BL 14 (Nov.-Dec. 1960): 16-18;
226. Milestones in the DuPont Company's Textile Fibers History, 13th ed. (Wilmington, 1980), 5.
227. On Ward, see Textile Distributors Institute, Men's Wear Fabric Styling Clinic Work Kit, 24 Feb. 1955, Special Collections, Paul J. Gutman Library, Philadelphia University, Philadelphia;
228. Holmes, "A History of the Textile Fibers Department," 98, 102, 110.
229. Untitled press release, 8 Apr. 1959, box 1, PR-HML.
230. "Wardrobe Revolution," 12-15.
231. "The Sweater Girl," BL 13 (Jan.-Feb. 1959): 12-15.
232. Press release on sweaters, untitled, 2 Oct. 1959, box 4, PR-HML.
233. "The Leader Can Never Stop Running," 21.
234. "DuPont Sees Rise in Textile Needs," NYT, 15 Sept. 1959.
235. Gomer H. Ward, "Where the Action Is," 5-6, speech to the Textile Salesmen's Association, New York, 13 Apr. 1967, box 83, TF-HML.
236. E. B. Weiss and Richard E. Weiss, 1010 Tested Ideas that Move Merchandise (New York, 1962);
237. and E. B. Weiss, Management and the Marketing Revolution: Merchandising Strategies for the New Era (New York, 1964).
238. E. B. Weiss, "The New American Consumer," AF 62 (Fall-Winter 1963): 43-44.
239. "Fabrics on the Move," DM 56 (July-Aug. 1962): 20-22.
240. "Dealers Cautioned on Apparel Trends," NYT, 21 Oct. 1966.
241. Blaszczyk, Imagining Consumers, chs. 3-4.
242. "From Miami to Mount Tremblant," DM 57 (Mar.-Apr. 1963): 23-25.
243. See "Where Did Stretch Fabrics Begin?"AF 63 (Winter-Spring 1964): iv-v.
244. Valerie Steele, Fashion, Italian Style (New Haven, 2003), 25-27;
245. Emily Heine, "New Fabrics Are Shaping Sportswear," DM 55 (Sept.-Oct. 1961): 4.
246. Press release on Lycra, 28 Oct. 1959, box 80, PR-HML;
247. Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 431.
248. Press release, "Lycra Spandex Fiber" [1959-60], box 29, PR-HML;
249. "Lycra: Sheer Strength in an Elastic Fiber," DM 56 (May-June 1962): 8-9.
250. J. T. Phillips Jr. et al., "The Women's Apparel Industry," report by the Corporate Research Division, Morgan Guaranty Trust Company, N.Y., 19 Apr. 1967, 1-6, 9-10, box 28, CG-HML;
251. "Gossard's Color Live-in Keeps America Beautiful," Corset, Bra, and Lingerie Magazine 145 (Mar. 1968): cover.
252. On intimate apparel and feminine identity, see Valerie Steele, Fashion and Eroticism: Ideals of Feminine Beauty from the Victorian Era to the Jazz Age (New York, 1985).
253. Mrs. Arthur E. Bobert, Janesville, Wis., to DuPont Show of the Week, New York, 16 Dec. 1962, box 79, TF-HML.
254. W. H. Ayers, "The Shirt Industry," MR-52-2, 11 July 1952, box 78, TF-HML.
255. W. H. Ayers, "The Shirt Industry," Ibid.
256. Press release, "Flexible Spring Fashions Have New Built-in Action," 3 Feb. 1964, box 14, PR-HML.
257. Photographs for suit by Palm Beach and casual wear by Esquire and Amho, 3 Feb. 1964, box 14, PR-HML.
258. White, Reconstructing Italian Fashion;
259. Christopher Breward, Fashioning London: Clothing and the Modern Metropolis (New York, 2004).
260. "A Tale of Gods and Fashion" (Wilmington, 1962), Archives Center, Smithsonian National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C., cited by Scott in "Dressing Down."
261. Nora Ephron, "The Man in the Bill Blass Suit," NYT, 8 Dec. 1968.
262. "Fall 1964 Resource List-Men's and Boy's Wear Containing Lycra Spandex Fiber" [1964], box 73, PR-HML.
263. Clement A. Norton to DuPont Company, 13 Nov. 1963, box 79, TF-HML.
264. "New Stretch for Men's Clothing," BW (25 Jan. 1964): 86-87.
265. Martin, St. James Fashion Encyclopedia, 405-7;
266. press release, "Teen Girls See What's Right-as Well as Wrong-in Fashions Just for Them," 12 Feb. 1963, box 74, PR-HML;
267. "Visitors to Fair Will Be Greeted by a World of Fashion," NYT, 17 Apr. 1965.
268. "Yoga Inspires Maker of Casual Styles," NYT, 2 May 1964.
269. Press release, "World's Fair Guides' Uniforms Showcase Fibers by DuPont," 6 May 1964,
270. and photograph RS-WFDP: "World's Fair Hostess Uniform," both in box 17, PR-HML.
271. Press release, "DuPont Offers Retailers Stretch Corps 1965," 3 Aug. 1964, box 17;
272. Stretch Your Sales. . . Comfortably. . . (Wilmington, [1964]), box 73, both in PR-HML.
273. "13 Women Triumphing Vicariously," NYT, 5 Feb. 1995;
274. Martha Ackmann, The Mercury 13: The Untold Story of Thirteen American Women and Their Dream of Space Flight (New York, 2003);
275. Stephanie Nolen, Promised the Moon: The Untold Story of the First Women in the Space Race (New York, 2003).
276. "Biography of Mrs. Geraldine Sloan," 1964, and untitled press release on John Weitz's wardrobe for Sloan, July 1964, both in box 17, PR-HML.
277. "Biography of Mrs. Geraldine Sloan," 1964, Ibid.
278. Ward, "Where the Action Is," 4;
279. Ernest Dichter, "The Peacock Revolution: The Psychology of the Young Men's Market," speech delivered at Scottsdale, Ariz., 18 Feb. 1966.
280. Holmes, "The History of the Textile Fibers Department," 93;
281. Alfred E. Brown and Kenneth A. Reinhart, "Polyester Fiber: From Its Invention to Its Present Position," Science 173 (23 July 1971): 287;
282. Textile Organon 52 (Oct. 1981): 176.
283. Gee, "Textile Fibers Department."
284. Bruce J. Schulman, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics (New York, 2001);
285. Geoffrey Jones, Multinationals and Global Capitalism: From the Nineteenth to the Twenty-first Century (New York, 2005).
286. Hardin, "Miracle Fiber to Commodity";
287. Jane Schneider, "In and Out of Polyester: Desire, Disdain and Global Fibre Competitions," Anthropology Today 10 (Aug. 1994): 2-10.
288. Handley, Nylon.
289. Sears Apparel and Decorator Fashion Fabrics, Fall and Winter 1974 (Chicago, 1974), author's possession.
290. Textile Organon 52 (Oct. 1981): 176;
291. Textile Organon 52 (Nov. 1981): 185-199;
292. Fiber Organon 61 (Sept. 1990): 201-16;
293. Ann Marie Murphy to DuPont Company, 3 Apr. 1976, box 79, TF-HML.
294. Hounshell and Smith, Science and Corporate Strategy, 328, 504, 538;
295. This Is DuPont: Man-Made Fibers (Wilmington, 1951), 1.
296. Pauline Arnold and Percival White, Clothes and Cloth: America's Apparel Business (New York, 1961), 160.
297. "Dupout's Fashion Show Is Designed to Sell Fibers," NYT, 24 Jan. 1971.
298. James J. Hackett, "The Outlook for Man-Made Fibers and Yarns in Textile Products," typescript of an article for Journal of Commerce, 16 June 1964, box 28, CG-HML.
299. "Stretch and the American Concept of Comfort in Fashion," iii.