The New School Archives And Special Collections

Dora Mathieu (1909-1980) taught fashion drawing in the Parsons School of Design Fashion Illustration Department, 1964-1966. The Kellen Design Archives holds twenty-nine of Mathieu's sketches, depicting notable designers of the mid-twentieth century. Although the earliest dated portrait is from 1938, the bulk of the collection was created between 1965 and 1968.

Donald Brooks (1928-2005) was a prominent American fashion designer who, in addition to creating ready-to-wear collections and custom apparel, designed costumes for film, television, and theater. He taught at Parsons School of Design for approximately forty years. The collection includes photographs, publicity materials, and original fashion and costume design sketches.

Mildred Orrick (1906-1994) graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School for Design) in 1928 and went on to a career as a fashion and costume designer and illustrator, and designed part of the Futurama exhibition at the 1939 New York World's Fair. Orrick was a visiting critic at Parsons from 1947 to 1962. The collection consists of Orrick's fashion and theater costume sketches, 1920s-1950s.

Norman Norell (1900-1972) was the first American fashion designer to compete successfully with French couture. In 1943, he received the first Coty American Fashion Critics Award, and was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame in 1956. Norell served as a visiting critic at Parsons School of Design from 1943 to 1972. The collection includes biographical material, clippings, sketches, photographs, scrapbooks, and five examples of Norell's clothing.

A leading figure in the development of American ready-to-wear clothing, John Weitz (1923-2002) created one of the first American signature menswear lines. Weitz was a visiting lecturer at Parsons School of Design from 1975 to 1995. The collection includes design drawings, exhibition files, scrapbooks, clippings, photographs, and audiovisual recordings of promotional campaigns, fashion shows and television commercials.

In 1950, fashion designer James Galanos (1924- ) started Jimi Originals with Mary Scourby. The company only existed for a short time, but it was the first company to market Galanos' creations under his name. The collection consists of twelve Jimi Originals fashion sketches as well as invoices and notes. Galanos was a critic at Parsons School of Design from 1962 to 1968.

Mary Adrienne Steckling Coen (1934-2006) graduated from Parsons School of Design's Fashion Design Department in 1958. In 1966, "Adri" --her professional name-- created her own line, designing under her own labels for the rest of her career. The records document Adri's professional life, with items arranged by year and season. Includes clippings and tear sheets, photographs, press kits, sketches, swatches, and video recordings.

After graduating from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School of Design) in 1934, Tom Brigance (1913-1990) became a fashion designer specializing in women's swimwear and sportswear. The collection includes scrapbooks of clippings and photographs of Brigance's designs, sketches, publicity materials, and four original fashion illustrations of Brigance swimwear by Dorothy Hood, produced for Lord & Taylor.

Collection mainly consists of publicity photographs, press clippings, fashion show programs, and other materials related to the fashion design career of Stephen Walton Biddle Mason, Jr., known professionally as Stefan, between the mid-1940s and early 1960s.

Claire McCardell (1905-1958) graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Art (later, Parsons School of Design) in 1928 and later became a pivotal figure in American ready-to-wear fashion. In 1944, McCardell returned to Parsons as a critic and instructor, a position she held for the rest of her life. The collection contains roughly 9,000 of McCardell's sketches, dated 1931 to 1958; mostly produced for Townley Frocks.