Born 1899 in New York City, American fashion designer Mollie Parnis and her husband, Leon Livingston, started a company called Parnis Livingston Inc. on Seventh Avenue in the Garment District that sold women’s suits and blouses. This business drew from Parnis’ design expertise and her husband’s experience with fabrics and textiles. In the 1940s she began designing under her name only.
Mollie Parnis’ fashion designs in the 1950s and ’60s
Parnis belongs to the first generation of American designers to be known to the public by name rather than by affiliation to a department store and is best known for designing clothing worn by many First Ladies, as well as the uniform of the Cadet Nurse Corps in World War II. Parnis died in 1992 at the age of 93.
These stunning photos show beautiful Mollie Parnis’ fashion designs worn by classic beauties in the 1950s and 1960s.
Dovima in bouffant silk taffeta skirt with separate square-cut taffeta top by Mollie Parnis, Coro earrings, Hattie Carnegie fan, photo by Richard Avedon, Harper’s Bazaar, February 1951
Eva Gerney wearing a suit of silk taffeta with peplum and velvet collar by Mollie Parnis, photo by Horst P. Horst, February 1951
Georgia Hamilton in dress of white and pink striped silk by Mollie Parnis, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper’s Bazaar, April 1952
Jean Patchett wearing pale pink poodle coat by Swansdown over dress of pleated silk Shantung by Mollie Parnis, jewelry by Miriam Haskell, photo by Horst P. Horst, 1952
Liz Pringle in pale silk dinner dress with small matching jacket by Mollie Parnis, photo by Louise Dahl-Wolfe, Harper’s Bazaar, October 1952
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