1. Norman David Levinson known professionally as Norman Norell, was an American fashion designer famed for his elegant gowns, suits, and tailored silhouettes.
46 Facts About Norman Norell
1. 2.
Norman Norell amassed numerous private clients, including Hollywood stars and entertainers, wealthy socialites, and the wives of politicians and industrialists.
3.
Norman Norell considered his greatest contribution to fashion was the inclusion of simple, no-neckline dresses.
4.
Norman Norell was the first recipient of the American Fashion Critics' Award, later known as the Coty Award, the first designer inducted into the fashion industry critics' Hall of Fame, and a recipient of an International Fashion Award from the United Kingdom's Sunday Times.
5.
Norman Norell is among the first American fashion designers to be honored with a bronze plaque along New York City's Seventh Avenue.
6.
Norman Norell was a founder of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and a member of the Parsons School of Design's board of trustees, as well as a critic and teacher in the fashion design department at Parsons and a mentor to younger designers.
7.
Norman Norell continued to design fashions until his death in New York City in 1972.
8.
Norman Norell David Levinson was born on April 20,1900, in Noblesville, Indiana.
9.
Norman Norell was the second son of Nettie and Harry Levinson.
10.
Around 1905 Norman Norell's father opened a men's hat store on Pennsylvania Street in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the family moved to Indianapolis about a year later.
11.
Norman Norell attended Indianapolis's Benjamin Harrison School and Shortridge High School.
12.
Frail and frequently ill in his early childhood, Norman Norell recuperated in bed, amusing himself by drawing.
13.
Norman Norell saw three or four theater performances a week and entertained himself by sketching costumes and theater sets.
14.
Norman Norell's brother returned to Indianapolis after his enlistment in the military during World War I, but Norman Norell attended a military school in Kentucky.
15.
In 1919, at the age of nineteen, Norman Norell traveled to New York City to study fashion illustration at Parsons School of Design.
16.
Around the same time, Norman adopted his professional surname of Norell.
17.
In 1922 Norman Norell joined the Paramount Pictures studios based in Astoria, Queens, New York, where he designed clothes for Gloria Swanson, Rudolph Valentino, and other stars of silent-film stars.
18.
Norman Norell designed costumes for Zaza starring Swanson and was one of three costume designers for A Sainted Devil starring Valentino.
19.
Norman Norell lost his job when the film industry relocated to California.
20.
Norman Norell remained in New York and found work as a costume designer for the Broadway theater.
21.
Norman Norell made costumes for the Ziegfeld Follies, as well as for the Brooks Costume Company.
22.
The Carnegie-Norman Norell duo created fashions for celebrities and film stars such as Joan Crawford and Constance Bennett.
23.
When Norman Norell left Carnegie's fashion house in 1941, he was not yet in the financial position to open his own fashion-design business, but he had earned a strong reputation for his designs within the industry.
24.
Traina would look after the business while Norman Norell designed the fashions.
25.
Norman Norell was the first among the New York designers to introduce a full collection of fashions, rather than an assortment of separate pieces.
26.
In 1943, Norman Norell became the first recipient of the American Fashion Critics' Award, later known as the Coty Fashion Award.
27.
Norman Norell maintained a close relationship with the school until his death in 1972.
28.
Norman Norell mentored younger designers such as Bill Blass, another fashion designer from Indiana, and Stephen Sprouse.
29.
Norman Norell contributed to the war effort as a volunteer on the weekends in New York's hospitals to help care for wounded soldiers.
30.
Norman Norell turned down an offer from Harry Cohn, head of Columbia Pictures, to move to Hollywood and create costume designs for the film studio.
31.
Norman Norell received his second Coty Award in 1951 and became the first winner of the fashion industry critics' Hall of Fame award in 1956, the same year Norman Norell designed Marilyn Monroe's wedding dress for her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller.
32.
Norman Norell retained ownership of fifty-one percent of the company's stock.
33.
Norman Norell held his first solo fashion show in June 1960.
34.
Norman Norell amassed numerous private clients, including Hollywood stars such as Monroe, Lauren Bacall, Judy Garland, Carol Channing, Dinah Shore, and Lena Horne.
35.
In 1968 Norman Norell became the first American fashion designer to launch his own brand of perfume, marketed by Revlon.
36.
Norman Norell maintained a lifelong relationship with his Indiana family, returning to Indiana for Christmas holidays and annual summer vacations for many years and keeping in touch via telephone.
37.
Norman Norell's voice remained a hoarse whisper for the remainder of his life.
38.
Norman Norell continued to design fashions until his death in October 1972.
39.
Norman Norell never regained consciousness and died on October 25,1972, at the age of seventy-two.
40.
Norman Norell's remains are interred at Crownland Cemetery, Noblesville, Indiana, along with other members of the Levinson family.
41.
In 1972 the director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art remarked that Norman Norell was an "inventive pacesetter," who was well known for his high quality, tailored fashions.
42.
Norman Norell was especially known for his sailor-inspired clothes, chemise dresses, wool jersey dresses, and Empire-line dresses, as well as culottes and sequin-covered, "mermaid" evening gowns and sheath dresses.
43.
Norman Norell believed that his greatest contribution to fashion was the inclusion of simple, no-neckline dresses.
44.
In 1941 Norman Norell became the first recipient of what became known as the Coty Award, the industry critics' top honor for fashion design.
45.
In 1956 Norman Norell was the first designer inducted into the fashion industry critics' Hall of Fame and in 1962 the Pratt Institute awarded Norman Norell an honorary fine arts degree.
46.
Norman Norell was a founder of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and a member of the Parsons School of Design's board of trustees.