Bill Blass

Blass was diagnosed with oral cancer in 2000, which later developed into throat cancer.

He died at the age of 79 at New Preston, Connecticut.

He also wrote a memoir ‘Bare Blass’ which he completed six days before his death.

Blass was born to Ralph Aldrich Blass, an itinerant salesman and Ethyl Easter Keyser, a seamstress. He was just five when his father committed suicide.

From a very young age, he showed a considerable interest in fashion and would often draw sketches of dresses worn by the actors and models (the way they appeared in the movies or in magazines) of his day.

As he grew up he began stitching and selling his own designs of evening gowns to some dress manufacturers based in New York.

In 1939, when he was 17, he left Midwest for New York where he was enrolled to the Parsons School of Design to study fashion designing.

After his graduation he worked for David Crystal, a Sportswear manufacturer, as a sketcher.

In 1945, the war ended and Blass began his career in fashion designing by joining Anna Miller and Cio. By the time the head of the company Mrs. Miller retired in 1959, he had become its chief designer.

As the chief designer of Anna Miller and Cio, which was renamed as Maurice Rentner Ltd. following a union, he came up with a number of highly successful designs which helped him establish himself in the fashion industry.

After amassing immense fame as well as fortune, he bought the Maurice Rentner Ltd. in 1970 and changed its name to Bill Blass Limited. For the next three decades he launched a stunning collection of fashion wear for women.

His collection was seen at the most prestigious fashion events and was worn by the famous women like Nancy Davis Reagan, the wife of the former U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Famous journalist Barbara Walters and singer-songwriter Barbra Streisand also wore his collection.

During the course of time his brand expanded and also dealt in swimwear, furs, luggage, perfume, and chocolate. By 1998, his company had an annual turnover of $700-million

From 1976 to 1992, Ford Motor Company took Blass’s services to design the interiors and the exteriors of its limited edition the ‘Continental Mark’ series. His most famous design was the "carriage roof" top of the Mark series cars which rendered the look of a convertible.