Biography
Artist Ethel Berley Rabin was the founder and owner of Berley Studios (the first subscription service of its kind in the U.S., circa 1919), later expanding the business worldwide. For 20 years she supplied sketches of dresses, coats, suits, furs to numerous retailers, manufacturers, model makers, dressmakers, movie companies, wherever design inspiration was required. She employed a staff of 38 artists and designers providing her subscribers with weekly collections of sketches including such designers as Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Lanvin, Lelong, Molyneux, Patou, Schiaparelli, Vionnet, Worth, and specialty shops/ department stores including Bergdorf's, Bonwit's, Hickson, Jay Thorpe, Lord & Taylor, Russeks, Tailored Woman, Saks, B. Altman. She gained inspiration from visits to Paris, fashionable resorts, museums, and works from her own library. She was trained in fashion design sketching at several schools of fine arts. The company was located at 9 East 48th Street in New York City and was dissolved in 1940.
"Ethel Berley Rabin (1892-1981) was a painter and sculptor in New York City, New York. Rabin began her career working as a fashion designer and owned Berley Studios, a subscription service which provided copies of sketches to the fashion industry. Studio artists created original designs and also copied the Paris fashion shows, and Berley Studios was one of the leading forerunners of today's fashion forecasting and reporting businesses."
Found in 3 Collections and/or Records:
folder
Identifier: SC.1.2.2.17-20.x03
Scope and Contents
Directional folder contains 51 black and white photocopies of Coats and Wraps sketches from 1920's. Original sketches are glued in the 1916 scrapbook [SEE--US.NNFIT.SC.1.2.2.1-3 for originals]. Sketches come from Berley Studios (subscription service), signature of Ethel Rabin can be seen on some, but for the most part the Berley Studios imprint is covered by that of Lucile Ltd., in some cases the signature of Ethel Rabin (of Berley Studios) is scratched out or otherwise obscured. They seem...
Dates:
1920s
Found in:
Special Collections and FIT Archive
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Lucile, Ltd. records, 1910-1925
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Sketches, phototransfers of, and original drawings, circa 1915-1925
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Sketches, original drawings, circa 1915-1925
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Sketches, Coats and Wraps, circa 1920-1925, v.75
Collection
Identifier: SC.1
Scope and Contents
Collection is comprised of model photographs, sketches, photographs of sketches, show programs, some newspaper and magazine clippings with articles about or by Lucile, order forms, advertisements, and fashion plates. Garment designs include theatrical costumes, wedding gowns, day and evening wear, tea gowns, lingerie and pajamas. Bulk of the collection consists of model photographs, fashion sketches, photographs of sketches and official phototransfers. In addition there are clippings of...
Dates:
1863-1935
volume
Identifier: SC.1.2.2.1-3
Scope and Contents
Disbound scrapbook, 182 sketches from 1916, 3 folders in 2 containers. Sketches are named, numbered according to the line(s) sequence(s). Drafted in pencil and painted with gouache, and watercolor. There are 20 unannotated sketches; 62 sketches have fabric swatches. Numbering implies 3 lines. At the end of the 1st folder there are some childrens clothing designs. In the second folder #3 "Brighton South Shore", #40 "Flo, Flo" In addition to these consistently numbered and annotated sketches...
Dates:
1916
