Interview of Lawrence Abrams about his mother Miriam Abrams, 2018 January 9, 2018 January 9

Lawrence Abrams met with April Calahan of FIT Special Collections on January 9, 2018 to discuss his mother Miriam Abrams' career in fashion. Ms. Abrams grew up in the industry; her family owned and operated a girls coat manufacturing business, but lost it during the depression. To bring in extra money to help her family, Abrams found a position sketching designs for Billy Gordon, an American couturier. After leaving Billy Gordon, Abrams worked for other influential American designers, such as Hattie Carnegie and Adele Simpson. Lawrence Abrams imparts that even though his mother’s designs were big sellers, she was relatively unknown because before the 1970s, designers rarely had their name on the label; most often it was the manufacturer/owner of the business’s name inside the garments. Miriam Abrams was particularly successful designing for the half size market (garments for a “mature” figure). Later in the interview, Lawrence Abrams reveals that he too is a designer, starting out designing jewelry before moving into fashion. His jewelry was sold at major department stores, including Macy’s, Altmans, and Lord and Taylor. After leaving the jewelry/accessory business to take care of his mother in her old age until her death in 1993, Lawrence joined an Italian fashion house and worked with them creating one-off garments.