Exhibit - Donald Brooks
 
overview 4 of 4
Jean Guilder
From Model to Editor
(Continued)

He then went on to work in the theater, which of course, was not for the average consumer. He did special clothes for celebrities but for the consumer, his stay at Townley was all too brief. What he exemplified seems to have been lost in today's world in the area of design.

The period that Donald designed in was a very excited period for a lot of designers because they all came to the forefront and the fashion magazines applauded them. Their names became household names to the retail stores and consumers.

Donald's merchandise was not in the designer department; it was in the higher priced sportswear department.

It was very exciting when the new lines came in and people flocked to the stores and went through the racks to see what was special.

He designed with an awareness of the female figure and the active woman; the younger women who worked and were running around the city, doing things and traveling and who didn't have maids to iron for them.

While at Glamour, around 1963, a couple of the girls who were editors were pregnant and in search of stylish maternity clothes.

Geraldine Stutz, at Bendels had a group of designers doing special things. She asked Donald Brooks to do maternity clothes. They were expensive, but they were glorious. They looked very much like the sleeveless dresses he designed for Townley.

I remember the girls in their 1960's hairdos and those dresses. The front was just like a bell; perfectly balanced. The way he could drape and the way the fabric would fall and hang on both sides was absolutely superb. I have never seen maternity clothes like that since. They were fabulous designs.

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