RARE "Fashion Designer" Vera Maxwell Hand Written Note COA For Sale

In the late1920s, Maxwell began modelling at B. Altman and other New York City stores. Asshe explained, "When the opera season ended in May, the fashion houses onSeventh Avenue were just opening their collections. I would just walk acrossthe street and hire on as a model." Around 1929, Maxwell began sketchingfor the fashion houses she modeled for. After years of designing for othermanufacturers, she founded her own company, Vera Maxwell Originals, in1947. Her first collection was sporty, featuring after-ski clothes, tennisoutfits, and riding apparel. Maxwell was part of a pioneering group of Americandesigners creating more relaxed and quintessentially American clothing. Hercontemporaries included Claire McCardell, Clare Potter,Carolyn Schnurer, and Tina Leser.Maxwell gave her clothing distinctively American names like "DanielBoone" for Western wear. By the 1950s, she also was designing eveningwear. Maxwell was the first American designer to make clothes of Ultrasuedeand the synthetic fabric Arnel. One of her earliest best-sellers was a wrapblouse over a permanently pleated skirt made of Arnel meant for travelers.In1935, Maxwell released a "weekend wardrobe" of two jackets, twoskirts and a pair of trousers. Inspired by AlbertEinstein, the jacket was collarless with four patch pockets in tweedand gray flannel. The jacket could be mixed and matched with all threeaccompanying pieces: a short pleated flannel tennis skirt, a longer tweedskirt, and a pair of flannel cuffed trousers. In 1999, the New York Times wrote that the "weekendwardrobe" was "so classic they could still be worn today." Inthe 1940s, she designed a cotton coverall uniform for war workers at the SperryGyroscope Corporation. Known as the "Rosie the Riveter" jumpsuit orcoveralls, they received an "E" for excellence rating from the UnitedStates government.They were a forerunner of the modern jump suit.Maxwellalways created her designs in a range of sizes, generally going up to a size 18or 20 at a time when it was unusual for a designer to design clothes above asize 8.Her use of wrap-and-tie closures and supple fabrics suiteda range of body types and allowed for weight fluctuations. According toMaxwell, "The most fashionable women will always be the ones who knowthemselves." Maxwell won the Coty Awardin 1953. Maxwell met Grace Kelly in 1955 when they were bothreceived Neiman Marcus Fashion Awards and shefrequently visited the Royal Family in Monaco.Maxwelldesigned for First Ladies RosalynnCarter and Pat Nixon, as well as performers such as Martha Grahamand Lillian Gish.By1960, Maxwell's clothes were being sold in 700 stores around the country. Butin the 1960s, her star waned as fashion's attention shifted to swinging Londondesigners like Mary Quant.After the debut of an unsuccessfulcollection in 1964, Maxwell withdrew from the industry. She resurfaced in 1970with a collection that was introduced at B. Altman.She was honored in 1970 with a retrospective at the Smithsonian Institution[2] and in 1980 with an exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York..