Anne Klein
(1921-1974)
Anne Klein was born Hannah Golofskyin in Brooklyn, New York on June 7, 1923. She studied fine arts and design at the Girls Commercial High School in New York and would earn a scholarship to Traphagen School of
Fashion in New York City.
From the early age of fifteen, Klein was already working as a freelance sketcher. She would later marry her first husband Ben Klein who was a garment manufacturer in 1948, with whom she founded Junior Sophisticates. She divorced Klein in the 1960s but continued to work with him until 1965. However, in 1963, Klein married Mathew Rubenstein with whom she started another company; Anne Klein & Co.
Anne Klein's ambitions were focused mainly on sportswear with a touch of elegance. Her lines often exhibited interchangeable clothing and accessories. She was the first of her kind to establish the concept of separates dressing, matching dresses and jackets, wasp-waisted dresses, blazers and battle jackets, hooded blouson tops and slinky jersey dresses. In 1967, Klein patented a girdle specific to the constraints of the short skirt. Her clothes were smart, practical and fashionable. Klein was also responsible for the designs of belts, chains, shoes and scarves.
In 1954, Anne Klein received the Mademoiselle Merit award. In 1959 and 1969, Anne Klein became the first designer to win two Neiman Marcus’s awards for her fashion leadership. In 1964, Klein received the Lord and Taylor Award; in 1965, she received the National Cotton Council award; and was also awarded the Coty American Fashion Award Hall of Fame in 1971.
In 1971, she introduced Takihyo Co. Ltd. of Japan as a new investor. After her death in 1974 the Takihjo Company bought the firm. Donna Karan and Louis Dell ‘Olio, designers for Anne Klein at the time of her death, took over the direction of the company making significant contributions to fashion in her name, but later left to pursue their own careers.
