Vera Maxwell
Encyclopedia
Vera Huppe Maxwell was a legendary sportswear and fashion designer until her retirement in 1985.

She was the first American designer to make clothes with Ultrasuede material. She won the Coty American Fashion Critics' Award in 1953, the Neiman Marcus Award in 1955 and was honored in 1970 with a retrospective exhibition at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

Born to Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 parents, she traveled to Europe with them as a child and lived for a while in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

. She attended Leonia High School
Leonia High School
Leonia High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grade from the Borough of Leonia in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Leonia Public Schools...

 in Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia, New Jersey
Leonia is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 8,937. It is located near the western approach to the George Washington Bridge....

 and studied ballet in New York. She was a member of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet from 1919 until 1924 when she married Raymond J. Maxwell. They divorced in 1937. She married Carlisle H. Johnson, an architect, in 1938 and divorced him in 1945.

Maxwell became known as a designer in the 1930s and became famous for her innovative designs. After years of designing for other manufacturers, she founded her own company, Vera Maxwell Originals, in 1947. Her heyday was in the 1950s. By 1960 her clothes were being sold in 700 stores around the country, but during that decade with its huge upheavals her classic style waned and she "decided to lie fallow for a while".

She resurfaced in 1970 with a collection that was introduced at B. Altman. Until her retirement in 1985 she continued to turn out the tasteful classic suits, coats and dresses that her loyal customers would wear for years.

Death

She died on January 15, 1995, in Rincon, Puerto Rico
Rincón, Puerto Rico
Rincón is a municipality of Puerto Rico founded in 1771 by Don Luis de Añasco . It is located in the Western Coastal Valley, west of Añasco and Aguada. Rincón is spread over 8 wards and Rincón Pueblo...

, aged 93, following a brief illness. She was survived by a son and daughter-in-law, Dr. R. John Maxwell and Rhea Maxwell, and their extended family.

External links

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