Helpern, Joan, 1926-2016 (1926-2016)
Dates
- Existence: 1926-2016
Biography
Joan Helpern was an American shoe designer. She was the head designer of the Joan & David line of shoes, a company she co-owned with her husband David Helpern. Joan & David popularized elegant, comfortable — and non-high-heeled — shoes for working women in the 1960s.
Joan Evelyn Marshall was born on October 10, 1926 in the Bronx. She attended Hunter College in Manhattan, majoring in economics, psychology and English. She earned a master's degree in social psychology from Columbia University and a doctorate in psychology from Harvard University.
Joan and David married in 1960. David Helpern worked in his family's clothing stores and for a time, Joan was a child psychologist in the New York City school system. Joan began her second career as a shoe designer in the 1960s, working for a small Boston shoe company and as a consultant to a firm that operated several chains. Eventual she and David decided to start the Joan & David shoe label.
“We had noticed that women were running through airports,” Ms. Helpern told The New York Times in 2012. “We decided to make shoes for women who run through airports.”
Within two decades, Joan & David, founded in Cambridge, Mass., was selling shoes and men and women’s apparel, bags and belts in about 100 outlets in the United States and Europe and grossing about $100 million. It had boutiques in the Ann Taylor retail chain and a flagship store on Madison Avenue in New York, where the company was later based.
In 2000, after five years of financial difficulties, the company sought bankruptcy protection and was sold to the Maxwell Shoe Company for $16.8 million.
David Helpern, from whom Joan was legally separated in 1998, died in 2012.
Found in 15 Collections and/or Records:
1993 March, 1993
This folder contains a column on shoe designers Joan and David Helpern and black and white portraits of the Helperns and color photos of the Helperns' shoes and accessories and black and white photocopies of these photos.
April 19-20, 1997, 1997
This folder contains a Joan Halpern and color photos of shoes by Joan and David and black and white photocopies of photos of shoes by Joan and David.
April 20-21, 1996, 1996
This folder contains a column on Joan and David shoes and black and white photos of ensembles and shoes by Joan and David.
December 17-18, 1994, 1994
This folder contains a column on Joan Halpern and black and white and color photos, with press releases attached, of ensembles and hats by Joan & David and one black and white portrait of Joan and David Halpern.
January 11-12, 1997, 1997
This folder contains a column on Joan Halpern and color and black and white photos of Joan and David Halpern and photos of ensembles and shoes by Joan and David and black and white photocopies of photos of ensembles and shoes by Joan and David and press materials.
January 13-14, 1996, 1996
This folder contains a column on Joan Halpern and black and white photocopies of photos of ensembles and accessories by Joan and David.
January 24-25, 1998, 1998
This folder contains a column on the little black dress and color and black and white photos by Bill Blass, Joan Halpern, Oscar de la Renta, Isabel Toledo and Calvin Klein.
January 31- February 1, 1998, 1998
This folder contains a column on leather and color and black and white photos of leather clothing by Ralph Lauren, Joan Helpern and color reproduction of a photo of a leather shawl by Joan Helpern.
July 19-20, 1997, 1997
This folder contains a column on classic fashion and color and black and white photos of ensembles by Badgley Mischka, Donna Karan, Fernando Sanchez and Joan Halpern and 8x10" negatives.
June 10-11, 1995, 1995
This folder contains a column on Joan and David and color and black and white photos of ensembles by Joan and David and black and white photocopies of photos of ensembles by Joan and David.