Rabin, Ethel Berley
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."