About
From the CFDA:
03/03/20 by Marc Karimzadeh
Remembering Kasper
“Over a lifetime of designing, I’ve evolved a philosophy that comes from creating clothes for a particular kind of American woman…adventurous and vital with a lifestyle that demands she play many different roles throughout the day.”
His name was Herbert Kasper, but like Halston, a contemporary, people knew him only Kasper. The fashion designer, who served as President of the CFDA from 1977 to 1979, died on Sunday. He was 93.
After studying English and Advertising at New York University, Kasper ventured into fashion design at Parsons School of Design. He spent two years in Paris, studying at l’École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and honing his craft at couture houses Jacques Fath, Christian Dior, and Marcel Rochas.
When he returned, he worked milliner Mr. Fred and sold some of his designs to Lord & Taylor and one of his dresses became the department store’s all-time bestseller. Lord & Taylor sought to promote Kasper as one of its emerging talents, and he subsequently staged a fashion show that landed him the front page of fashion bible Women’s Wear Daily. The rest, as they say, is fashion history.
Working for Joan Leslie, who had a dress and women’s sportswear company, helped cement his reputation and when Leslie died, he was named Head Designer (and eventually Vice-President) for the Leslie Fay Co. Inc. He left the company in 1985.
Considered a craftsman of clothes that looked exquisite and expensive, Kasper received multiple honors in his lifetime including three Coty American Fashion Critics awards.
He was an avid art collector, and in 2011, the Morgan Library and Museum devoted an exhibition, called “Mannerism and Modernism: The Kasper Collection of Drawings and Photographs,” to the designer.
