Born 1908 in New York City, American fashion designer Carolyn Schnurer was a pioneer in American sportswear. Her designs have been featured in the magazines Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Life as well as in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Schnurer has also received awards for her designs from Coty, The Cotton Council, International Sportswear, Miami Sportswear, and Boston Sportswear. In 1956, her fashion line was reportedly making seven million dollars a year in sales.
Schnurer’s fashion career spanned twenty years, lasting from 1944 until her retirement in 1964. She died in 1998 in Palm Beach, Florida, aged 90. Here are some of fashion designs by Carolyn Schnurer in the 1940s.
Elise Daniels in short black shorts and Cholo coat very square and long-sleeved with scalloped yoke and hem by Carolyn Schnurer, cover by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper’s Bazaar, May 1945
Bijou Barrington in a Mother Hubbard beachcoat in white rayon trimmed with lace ruffles by Carolyn Schnurer, photo by Serge Balkin, Vogue, April 15, 1945
Model in a yoked Cholo coat of Cohama cocoa rayon with Peruvian pink shorts by Carolyn Schnurer, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper’s Bazaar, May 1945
Betty Bridgers in black-and-white gingham with white collar with matching shorts, Bobby Munroe in plaid gingham, black-green-and white also with matching shorts, both by Carolyn Schnurer, Harper’s Bazaar, May 1946
Bobby Munroe and Betty Bridgers in black-and-white gingham playsuits by Carolyn Schnurer, thong sandals by Mackey, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper’s Bazaar, May 1946
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