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TRIGERE, PAULINE 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 she made her own clothes, which were the envy of her friends. While in college she was an apprentice in the salon of Martial et Armand, where she claimed she learned the subtleties of bias cuts and fabrics. In 1937 she moved to New York, where she worked with designer Hattie Carnegie. In 1942 Trigere started her own business, with her brother in charge of the business end of the company. He took her first collection of outfits cross-country by bus to sell to department stores. They soon were selling more than they could produce.

Unusual Techniques

Trigere designed her clothes in an unusual way, cutting material directly on a live model, which resulted in clothes characterized by imaginative tailoring. Her clothes stood out in the 1940s because she did not rely on traditional techniques to give interest or movement to a narrow dress but instead let the cut stand on its own. Her fortes were coats, wool dresses, cocktail dresses, and evening dresses that were dramatic without being fussy. Her price range in the 1940s started at ninety dollars. She was inducted into the Fashion Hall of Fame in 1959.