Adele Simpson (1903–1995) was an American fashion designer with a successful career that spanned nearly five decades, as well as a child performer in vaudeville who danced in productions with Milton Berle and other entertainers.
Fashion designs by Adele Simpson in the 1940s
Born Adele Smithline in New York City, Simpson was the fifth daughter born to Latvian immigrants. At 21, she completed her design curriculum at the Pratt Institute. She took the place of her older sister, Anna, as head designer for Ben Gershel, which was a prominent 7th Avenue ready-to-wear fashion house. Some years later, Simpson began work for Mary Lee, a business also based on 7th Avenue which she bought in 1949 and renamed Adele Simpson Inc. She introduced her medium-priced line of clothing in New York the same year.
Like many other American fashion designers who worked within a manufacturing context in New York’s Garment District, earlier in her career, Simpson adapted French couture and presented it with an American ready-to-wear translation.
Simpson continued to design into her 70s before she retired in 1985. Her daughter, Joan Raines, and her son-in-law, Richard Raines, maintained the business prior to selling out to Barron Peters in 1991. Based in Lowell, Massachusetts, the firm chose not to continue the Adele Simpson line. Barron Peters later filed for bankruptcy.
Take a look at these stunning photos to see portraits of classic beauties wearing fashion designs by Adele Simpson in the 1940s.
Selene Mahri in beautiful off-shoulder evening dress by Adele Simpson, Harper’s Bazaar, November 1944
Lisa Fonssagrives in dramatic short dinner dress of Enka rayon-crêpe by Adele Simpson, hat by John Frederics, photo by George Platt Lynes, Harper’s Bazaar, September 1945
Marilyn Ambrose in blue and black print dress of rayon jersey by Adele Simpson, photo by Constantin Joffé, Vogue, 1945
Model in a Hockanum wool suit in unbeatable navy with rayon-crêpe blouse in crimson and white by Adele Simpson, hat by Sally Victor, jewelry by John Rubel, photo by George Hoyningen-Huene, Harper’s Bazaar, February 1945
Model in a two-piece suit with a plaid top and rayon skirt by Adele Simpson at J.P.Allen & Co., Vogue, April 1, 1945
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