NEW YORK, NY.- In occasion of New York Fashion Week this September, Christie's announced Bill Blass: American Elegance, an auction and special exhibition celebrating the enduring influence and legacy of inimitable American fashion designer, Bill Blass. This event will present collectors and fashion enthusiasts with a rare opportunity to view and bid on items that shaped the language of modern American style, with important vintage pieces, sketches and letters that outline Blass's storied career. The auction is open September 9 - 23, with a special preview of select highlights on view at Christie's New York September 8 – 13 and the full exhibition on view at Bill Blass's New York townhouse in midtown Manhattan September 18 -22.
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Bill Blass: An American Designer
By Helen O’Hagan
Explore the world of Bill Blass through American fashion, elegance, design history, personal style, and the refined legacy of one of the country’s defining designers.
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Peter Som, a curatorial consultant for the project as well as a former Creative Director of Bill Blass, remarks, “The decades that Bill Blass spent designing — from the late 1950s through the end of the century — were decades in which the American woman was reinventing herself at lightning speed. She was entering the workforce in numbers that had no precedent, moving from the living room to the boardroom, from the charity luncheon to the corner office. The question of what she should look like while doing all of this — how to dress for a life that no longer fit neatly into any single category — was one that Blass answered.”
Peter Kim & Bill Kim, Owners, Bill Blass Estate, remark, “This auction represents far more than a collection of fashion—it is a celebration of Bill Blass, his remarkable life, and the lasting impact he had on American style. Bill stands among the most important architects of modern American fashion, with an extraordinary influence extending well beyond the clothes he designed. He represents elegance, sophistication, wit and an unmistakably American point of view. As owners and stewards of the Bill Blass Estate, we feel an enormous responsibility to preserve his legacy while also introducing it to a new generation and we could not be more delighted to open the archives this fall through Christie's and allow collectors, fashion historians and admirers from around the world an opportunity to own a tangible piece of history."
Elizabeth Seigel, Head of Private and Iconic Collections, Christie's New York, remarks: “We are delighted to present Bill Blass: American Elegance this September during NYFW, a sale and exhibition that will delight fashion lovers of all generations, with an array of items that encompass the breadth of Blass's timeless legacy, from impeccably tailored daywear to glamorous evening looks that embody his signature blend of ease and refinement. The pieces in this sale truly reflects Mr. Blass's unwavering commitment to craftsmanship, clarity of line, and the understated luxury that defined his career. We are particularly honored to bring this to life among the yearlong celebrations of America's 250th anniversary, paying tribute to a brilliant American creative who was instrumental in laying the groundwork for fashion as we know it today.”
Sale highlights include: A plaid suit identical to a look worn by Nancy Reagan deplaning from Air Force One with her husband, President Ronald Reagan in February 1988 during her tenure as First Lady; a multi-colored gown from Bill Blass's S/S 2004 RTW show, identical to a look worn by Beyonce for InStyle Magazine; letters to Blass from various designers including Giorgio Armani, Geoffrey Beene, Ralph Lauren, Elsa Schiaparelli, Pauline Trigere, Emanuel Ungaro, and Vera Wang; and a collection of letters and card to Blass from Nancy and Ronald Reagan.
Blass's trajectory from a humble midwestern upbringing to an in-demand designer for Hollywood's elite exemplifies the American dream realized. Blass was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the son of a traveling salesman and even in childhood knew fashion was his calling, sketching designs in his school notebooks in lieu of taking notes in class. In the late 1930s, then-teenaged Blass moved to New York to study fashion design; shortly thereafter he enlisted and served in the war. Upon returning to New York after the war had ended, he began his meteoric rise the fashion industry. Following stints at various houses, in 1959 Blass joined Maurice Rentner Ltd. and eventually bought the company in 1970 and renamed it Bill Blass Ltd. Herein marked a turning point in American fashion; his eponymous label that would go on to break boundaries and reshape perceptions of fashion, and well over half a century later, remains a household name.
Blass became the first designer to step out from behind the anonymity of the workroom and build a fashion house around his own persona, a bold move that redefined the role of the American designer and their place in society. He was revolutionary in his investigation of the division between menswear and women, and was visionary in developing tailored suiting for women, and brought elements like houndstooth and pinstripes into the realm of women's apparel for the first time in history.
Throughout his career, Blass dressed some of the most influential and admired women in American culture. His clients included: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Brooke Astor, Gloria Vanderbilt, Nan Kempner. These women pillar of American society, culture, and public life, gravitated toward Blass for his refined tailoring, understated glamour, and intuitive understanding of how modern women wanted to dress. Their patronage helped cement his status as a defining voice in American style. To fashion insiders, Bill Blass's name has come to be synonymous with timeless elegance, practicality, and sophistication, and his lifetime of achievement has earned him a place among the twenty‑eight esteemed designers honored on the Fashion Walk of Fame in New York's garment district, where he is remembered as “the hardest working man on Seventh Avenue.”
