Porges, Lucie, 1926-2011 (1926-2011)

Dates

• Existence: 1926-2011

Biography

Born in 1926, Lucie Porges and her family fled their homeland of Vienna, Austria in 1938 to escape World War II. Settling in Switzerland in 1942, by 1945 Lucie Porges was studying drawing at École des Beaux-Arts. In 1948 she moved to Paris to work under couturiers such as Maggy Rouff. She was also creating illustrations for the fashion magazine L’Art et la mode. In 1951 she moved to New York City with her fiancé the cartoonist Paul Peter Porges. It was here that she connected with fashion designer Pauline Trigère, who would be her associate for 43 years. Porges not only contributed sketches but she also organized shows, booked models and chose photographers. The two women would travel to Europe yearly to purchase fabrics for their collections. The different styles of Pauline Trigère and Lucie Porges worked together to create the new distinct American mode influenced by European designs, combining more casual clothes with elevated eveningwear. After the closure of Pauline Trigère's fashion house in 1994 Lucie Porges worked as a teacher at Parsons, where she taught a class titled “Fashion Atelier” for 14 years. In 2000 depictions of her work and early sketches were featured alongside cartoons by her husband in an exhibition in Vienna entitled “Lucie and Paul Peter Porges: Style and Humor.” At first hesitant to exhibit in Vienna, she concluded: “I feel this show is like rounding out the circle. A way of showing them we won.'' Lucie Porges died in 2011 at the age of 85.

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