1912-1961
Fashion Designer

Starting from Scratch.

In 1942 Pauline Trigere started to design clothes in a New York loft and produced a small, yet eye-catching collection of a dozen dresses. She then invited buyers to her loft to see her designs, which she hung from rafters and light fixtures. In 1944, due largely to her persistence and good taste, her ready-to-wear clothes won notice from the press. In 1949 she won the first of her three Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards. Although her creations tended to be conservative, she pioneered many fashions, including reversible coats and wool evening dresses, collars that moved and folded, black dresses with sheer tops, sleeveless coats, and cape-collared coats and tunics.

Early Life.

Trigere was born in Paris in 1912 to a tailor and a dressmaker. At age ten she could operate the Singer sewing machine and help her mother with custom tailoring. At fourteen...