16 Facts About Bill Blass

1.

William Ralph Blass was an American fashion designer.

2.

Bill Blass was the recipient of many fashion awards, including seven Coty Awards and the Fashion Institute of Technology's Lifetime Achievement Award.

3.

Bill Blass spent his salary of $30 a week on clothing, shoes and elegant meals.

4.

Bill Blass served in this unit at several major operations including the Battle of the Bulge, and the Rhine River crossing.

5.

Bill Blass was a protege of Baron Nicholas de Gunzburg.

6.

Bill Blass is largely credited with creating the relaxed, elegant look that American fashion favored in the late 20th century.

7.

Bill Blass's looks would incorporate Golden Age Hollywood's glamour with sportswear, taking sportswear silhouettes, and creating them with luxurious materials such as mink, silk, and cashmere, or blending pieces traditionally found in sportswear with dramatic ball skirts.

8.

Bill Blass was the first American to incorporate fabrics traditionally only found in menswear, such as pinstripes and houndstooth, into womenswear.

9.

Bill Blass's clothing was always very wearable, a characteristic that set him apart from his contemporaries, as most of them were focused on creating fantastical clothes.

10.

Bill Blass was one of the first designers bold enough and recognizable enough to star in his own advertisements.

11.

In one such campaign launched during the 1960's, Bill Blass was pictured alongside two models wielding machine guns.

12.

Text proclaiming "They can't knock off Bill Blass" was emblazoned across the image.

13.

The 1979 through 1983 Mark series Bill Blass models were available with a "carriage roof" giving a convertible top look to the cars.

14.

Bill Blass was named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame List.

15.

In 1994, Bill Blass gave $10 million to the New York Public Library.

16.

Bill Blass collected art and was a connoisseur of antiquities and in his will bequeathed half of his $52 million estate, as well as several important ancient sculptures, to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.