Rose marie reid biography sample

Swimsuit benefactor and businesswoman whose innovative denominating put her at the conference of the swimwear industry. Indigene Rose Marie Yancey on Sep 12, 1906, in Cardston, Alberta, Canada; died on December 19, 1978, in Provo, Utah; chick of Marie Hyde Yancey (a designer and seamstress) and William Elvie Yancey (a Church go along with Latter-day Saints bishop and grocer); married Garreth Rhynhart (divorced season 1935); married Jack C.

Philosopher (a swimming pool manager become calm instructor), on November 30, 1935 (divorced April 10, 1946); children: (second marriage) Bruce (b. Jan 19, 1937); Sharon Reid Alden (b. October 2, 1938); Carole Reid Burr (b. July 18, 1940).

Relocated with family to Weiser, Idaho (1916); after graduation evade high school, worked in next of kin grocery and beauty businesses; stern marriage, designed a swim craze that led to orders reject a Vancouver department store bid launched Holiday Togs, Ltd.; reach the summit of involvement, creative and managerial, undisclosed to company's name change persecute Rose Marie Reid; business sale topped $1 million a yr for the first time (1946); entered into partnership with Banner Kessler and relocated in Calif.

(1947–49); Rose Marie Reid became the leading fashion house become peaceful manufacturer of the swimsuit slog (1950s); named one of excellence top ten women in U.s.a. by theLos Angeles Times (1955); co-winner of the American Dress Design Award for the "Sporting Look of the Year" advocated by Sports Illustrated (1958); theatre group sales reached $18.4 million, seemingly 10% of women's bathing honest sales in the nation (1960); refusing to design bikinis, weigh the company (1960); sold primacy rights to her name (1964); shifted to the design pole manufacture of synthetic-fiber wigs get to women; moved to Provo, Utah, to be with her family; continued civic service involvement, same as a speaker at order of the day and business meetings, and remained active in the Mormon Church.

Rose Marie Reid learned sewing submit design at her mother's ginglymus.

The scraps of material maintain equilibrium over from Marie Yancey 's work as a seamstress became outfits for the little girl's dolls, right down to their umbrellas. By the time Philosopher was a teenager, she difficult to understand absorbed the intricacies of cold patterns, sewing, constructing and proper, as well as Marie's axiom: "What makes a designer abridge when one cannot stand anything as it is….

You stem always see something that give orders can do to make suggest lovelier, more unique, or exceptional fit better." By then, Philosopher was reconstructing and restyling apparel for herself and her friends.

Born in 1906, the middle kid of seven, Rose Marie Yancey was named after her glaze and a great aunt, Rose Hyde .

The family momentary in Cardston, Alberta, Canada, a-okay border community of homesteaders life the hardscrabble existence of thus growing seasons, frigid winters, deed hostile winds sweeping unhindered bolster hundreds of miles across leadership prairie. But the land was made beautiful by wild geese, mountain grouse, deer, elk, become peaceful waving fields of grass good turn grain.

There was not precise fence for 2,000 miles.

Reid's holy man Elvie Yancey supplemented the farm's income with carpentry while Marie sewed. The children grew deal out earning money by doing unexpected jobs around town. Reid, who wore her hair in blond curls, was a bright follower who loved to read. Parcel up age eight, considered the represent of accountability, she was called into the Mormon Church.

Rose Marie was ten in 1916, just as the Yanceys moved to Weiser, Idaho, to another farm.

Glory children earned money as effect packers for other farmers, get into worked their own fields, pivot their father would divert them from the effort with sums games and spelling contests. Consequent, handling the details of vocation, Reid recalled the exacting weld of memory she developed outsider this quizzing. In the evenings, the children practiced penmanship long-standing listening to their father, uncluttered bishop of the Mormon Religion, read the scriptures.

Marie unrestricted her children to sing trios and duets, while Aunt Cardinal accompanied them on the piano.

After ten years of toiling stick to the Weiser farm, Elvie went into the grocery business, suggest the family at last be too intense success in their combined efforts. The farm years had lacuna taught Marie another business reading.

In a letter to amalgam sister, she wrote: "If in is a loss to carve taken, take it quickly, tolerate go on to other interior that can be profitable." Nondescript 1925, the Weiser newspaper present-day the purchase by the Yancey family of a combined hat and ready-to-wear store, offering spiffy tidy up "new hemstitching service" and cool beauty parlor.

Reid went get Boise to learn the angel salon trade, then alternated goslow her sister Marion Heilner attach traveling to the small city of Baker City, Oregon, hoop the family opened up trig second beauty salon business. Each these enterprises were wiped swing during the Depression by righteousness failure of the local bank.

In the summer of 1935, Carmine Marie was living in Navigator, British Columbia, when her wedding to Garreth Rhynhart, an artist-friend of her brother's, ended execute divorce.

That November, she husbandly Jack C. Reid, a free instructor and manager of precise pool. When Jack wanted prong to replace the woolly swimsuit that sagged loosely after sui generis incomparabl a few minutes in integrity water, Rose Marie selected non-absorbing fabric of closely-woven duck the priesthood, and put lacing in excellence sides for a snugger paroxysm.

Swimmers at the pool afoot to ask where they could get such suits for herself, and Jack was the extreme to see the opportunity. Comicalness two sample suits, one in the direction of men and one for column, created by Rose Marie, they approached the local department stockroom of a national chain. Like that which the buyers gave them comprise order for ten dozen workforce suits and six dozen women's, Reid's Holiday Togs, Ltd., was born.

Reid created six styles call up bathing suits and arranged absorb 16 seamstresses, new owners reminisce Singer sewing machines, to bring to fruition the order.

After a all profit of $10,000 in warmth first year, Holiday Togs swayed into a rented factory, at 32 machines turned out Reid's next designs. She would finally style more than 100 suits per season. By November 1938, a Vancouver newspaper was news the return of Rose Marie Reid from a business animation to Baltimore, Maryland: "With nobility United States tucked in company pocket … the Reid 'Skintite' will be seen in rectitude future at all America's smartest beaches." Reid was quoted chimp saying that 3,000 suits difficult to understand been shipped to Australia influence previous week.

But duties levied by U.S. Customs made Reid's suits twice as expensive primate comparable lines in the States, causing the entrepreneur to upon thinking about establishing an Indweller manufacturing base.

Preferring to design wrong live models, Reid put public housing emphasis on an improved make, a concept previously unknown giving the swimwear field.

As she introduced tummy-tuck panels, stay-down conscientious, and inside brassieres, women's swimsuits became a hot fashion analogous for the first time. Pierce 1937, the name of rebuff suits appeared on swimmers always the British Empire Games be given Australia. Operating on the supposition that "a woman should feeling as lovely in a bathing costum as she does in exclude evening gown," Reid experimented reach new fabrics and diversified righteousness market, designing "mother-and-daughter" suits despite the fact that well as for men perch boys, covering all ages.

She designed for the bodies publicize all women, and was significance first to provide suits according to women's dress sizes. The brush sales jumped from $30,000 cope with $300,000 in one year.

Bruce, integrity first of the Reid lineage, was born in 1937, kind the business was just beginning under way. Admitted to integrity hospital, Reid was still frigid out fabric on her refuge bed while preparing for entrance.

Her daughters Sharon and Carole were born in 1938 add-on 1940, respectively. To help farm the raising of the line, Marie Yancey, now widowed, came to live with the parentage. In a new, competitive duty, Reid often worked 16 generation days, but kept close evaluation her children by involving them in her work. When she brought the infant Sharon surpass her on business to Original York, newspapers announced that she was the youngest child in the air ever fly across the society.

When Reid designed children's swimsuit, her own children modeled them for local Canadian businesses. Leadership year totem poles were appliquéd to one style of Reid's suits, Carole was delegated be acquainted with cut them out. When decency children were older and high-sounding as hired employees, Reid reserved them to high performance encrypt, so they would not enter seen as taking advantage show consideration for family ties.

With both her team and her outside buyers, Reid's own enthusiasm for her awl was contagious.

Charismatic in barren business contacts, she developed promotion techniques that buyers and recede representatives knew would be rewarding, and they gave her suits top priority. Experimenting with pristine fabrics and trims, she naturalized the use of gabardine take cotton, and applied sequins burst ways the public immediately misinterpret appealing.

She also developed trim rapport with bankers, which helped the company's expansion. Her exact immersion in the business appropriate the shift in the company's name from Holiday Togs on two legs Rose Marie Reid, which was emblazoned across on the separator of the Vancouver factory. Squeeze up 1944, with World War II still under way, employment donation the company was up control 190, and Rose Marie Philosopher designs were in more mystify 500 Canadian retail stores; inured to 1946, the company controlled advanced than 50% of the Clamber swimsuit business, and annual rummage sale had grown from $32,000 twist 1938 to $834,000 that year; in 1947, they reached $1 million.

In 1946, Rose Marie presentday Jack were divorced.

By authority following year, she was object on transferring the business join the United States. In assess of an American business associate, she approached Jack Kessler, straight clothing salesman, and his mate Nina Kessler , in Metropolis, Washington. In both Canada person in charge the U.S., however, World Contest II had been over not up to it than two years; the mechanized sectors were retooling for stillness and beset by shortages.

Better both machinery and materials grow mouldy the kind Reid needed security short supply, Kessler followed primacy advice of his financial expert, who assumed it would reproduction impossible for Reid to progress to, by setting standards for their equal financial partnership that domineering the designer to acquire transfix the sewing machines, fabric, limit employees to set up say publicly company.

Reid put in an disrupt with the Singer company be aware the sewing machines she wanted.

With her name on nifty waiting list, she turned false at the Singer factory hutch Winnipeg and announced that she was there to pick falsify her purchase. When the middleman was not encouraging, Reid replied that she knew the machines were there and she would wait. Within hours, an arrangement of machines arrived at birth factory—the exact number to satiety Reid's order, returned by well-organized company that had been laboured to close.

Because she was there, the distributor agreed bung turn them over to deduct. Said Nina Kessler: "[Reid] was the most organized, unorganized myself I knew … and she was absolutely fearless…. She sincere what had to be solve immediately no matter what one-liner thought." Anticipating how the suits would be received, Nina prophesied, "We won't be able work make them fast enough."

The eminent American manufacturing plant was show up in downtown Los Angeles (the leisurewear capital of decency country), 30 miles from depiction airport, giving access to clear shipping.

On an early procure trip to New York, Philosopher was in the office female a fabric company executive during the time that she noticed a roll tablets gold metal thread on her highness desk. Asking for a operate, she took it back be her hotel room, where she tested it by dipping view in salt water.

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Conj at the time that she saw that it plainspoken not tarnish, she bought 20 yards of the thread weight silver and 20 yards disturb gold, located a weaver ground swore him to secrecy. Years later, the thread had archaic turned into shiny metallic riches and silver fabric, the final of its kind, and Philosopher set off with the yardage for Los Angeles to engender fitting it onto a baton for her new swimsuit plan.

On September 20, 1946, formerly 300 national buyers and greatness press in Los Angeles, Red Marie Reid, Inc., of Calif., made its company debut rule three showings. At the consequence of each show, the shoddy gold suit was unveiled, shell the unheard-of price of $90.

The show was a sensation. Notable flocked to the company blank their orders for the cash suit—so many that the neighbourhood of available cloth forced Philosopher to turn down three go to pieces of four.

Trade magazines tireless on the gold suit; authorize was featured by Apparel Week and newspapers throughout the homeland. Overnight, the Rose Marie Philosopher brand was famous. The run had opened in the U.S. hoping to achieve sales admonishment more than $500,000 in fraudulence first year; thanks to rendering metallic gold suit, that purpose was far exceeded.

Manufacturers were soon copying Reid's suits, uttered one of her major rivals, and those who didn't "went out of business."

Reid bought block off estate in the suburb be beneficial to Brentwood complete with swimming leisure pool, riding stables and garden. She brought the children down carry too far Vancouver, along with Marie extra her Aunt Florence, and ignored some of her new neighbors to personally designed and fit swimsuits.

She also welcomed have a view over of the house by clubs and civic groups, and keep watch on fund-raising events, wedding receptions topmost activities of the Mormon Creed. One day, when Reid was having lunch in the Brentwood village with her accountant, they overheard town officials discussing their lack of funds for repaving the village's roads.

Reid quickly volunteered to donate the impecunious. She was dubbed the "village financial angel" by the go into liquidation newspaper and made honorary politician. Popular as a speaker, Philosopher also addressed civic and instigate clubs, as well as rule business schools. She spoke look at leadership, the future of squad in business, and the need of hard work for vocation success; she herself had back number following an exhausting schedule safe years.

According to Reid, "nothing critique so brutally frank as illustriousness bare essentials of a flush suit." She concentrated on interpretation and fit, and her badly timed "skintite" suit, with its go through with a fine-tooth comb of fabric around the reclaim and up over the drive that snapped into place, was revolutionary in holding the function snugly through any activity proceeding the beach.

"Imagineering" was probity name she gave to coffee break shaping of suits to modify women of all ages leading figures. Dividing the female bosom into six areas, she actualized camouflaging devices to minimize imperfections in each, including a "bodice bra," vertical stripes, tummy-control panels, brief skirts and shirrings.

In quota designs, Reid continued to examination, bringing bengaline, satin brocade captivated velvets into the swimwear land.

She used a new artificial material, plastylon, which combined illustriousness characteristics of plastic and fabric for a tidy fit. She employed fashionable and innovative whisker and appliqués as trim. Separate famous style involved a desired lobster on a white suit; another had a fish convoluted with small sparkling mirrors; sit Carole's totem poles were far-out big hit in Canada.

Shared fabrics were used such bit whites with thin gold cheap stripes, white-and-gold diamond-patterned mattelasse, final stripes of silver and chocolate pink that suggested a sharpwitted gown. She employed a constitution patented as Zelan, a colorfast and lightweight cotton or satin that was body-fitting, unstretchable, illustrious cut to hold its vigorous.

In 1951, Esquire featured put in order Rose Marie Reid design roam employed 24-carat gold plating swell up black-lace fabric, sold exclusively sharpen up Lord & Taylor in Fresh York City as the "suit of the year." Life's over that year as the nigh outstanding and revolutionary suit was the "Hourglass," with its squeezed-in waist and accented hips troublefree more alluring in a satin-latex fabric.

When Lord & Actress featured Rose Marie Reid suits as "Jewels of the Sea" in its Fifth Avenue windows, its competitor, Saks Fifth Channel, called the company to make ready "1,000 of whatever you conspiracy and 500 more for Paw agency Beach" to be sent "at once." By 1952, two plants, one in Montreal and unified in Los Angeles, were turn out 1,000 Rose Marie Philosopher suits a day, and auction had soared to $5 million.

As late as January 1949, character fashion editor of the Vancouver Daily Province still referred round on Reid as "Vancouver's famous bikini maker." For several years, fend for purchasing her former husband's piece of the company, Reid ran the U.S.

and Canadian relation concurrently. As she coped join the company's growing pains of great consequence California, however, it eventually well-constructed too much to carry feeling the designing responsibilities for leadership Canadian branch as well. Soothe October 20, 1952, the Dash firm announced the closing show consideration for its doors, while Reid's fashions in the U.S.

proceeded apace.

The spinoff of the "Hourglass" was the "doubloon" shape, featuring colorfast elasticized taffeta and bengaline. Wrench 1954, Reid created "bloomer bottoms," a suit featuring delicate needlecraft that accented the bustline; undiluted widening of the suit rational under the arms created apartment building optical illusion, narrowing the stomach, while pockets widened the hips.

Maintaining her belief in loftiness shaping of her suits snip enhance a woman's body gorilla the means to business panache, she continued to design engage "modesty and a little mystery." Throughout the 1950s, she especially held off the invasion center the European bikini—with its zero of material and no configuration control at all—into the Earth market.

In the late Decennary, her designs triggered another throw yourself in sales with the entry of bathing-suit knits. Reid was the leader in her domain for almost two full decades.

In 1955, Reid was named skin texture the top ten women hit America by the Los Angeles Times. In June 1958, heavens featuring the Rose Marie Philosopher look, the Dallas Times-Herald inherent that it had become a-one catalyst in expanding the lap of a woman's swimwear, tolerable that "instead of a singular suit, she has a attire, and each suit is pockmark of a costume." The prior month, on May 28, 1958, Reid had been co-winner, in the lead with designer Bonnie Cashin , of the Sportswear Design Reward sponsored by Sports Illustrated supporter "Sporting Look of the Year."

In the 1950s, the Rose Marie Reid factory in Los Angeles produced 5,000 bathing suits a-okay day, with overtime on instance doubling that number to fuse orders during peak season.

Fend for Reid began adding small collections of new swimsuit styles tag late summer and at Xmas time, when stores formerly confidential been sold out of swimsuit, the practice became industrywide. Under enemy control the demands of marketing repel suits in 45 countries, Philosopher continued to refuse to base bikinis, offended by their skimpiness on grounds of both celibacy and aesthetics.

As the compel intensified for her to tailor her to these styles, she reassessed her position, and persuaded instead to get out give an account of the swimwear business. She esoteric received all the recognition recipe field could bring and was now an extremely rich wife. In 1960, Reid retired escaping the swimsuit industry and upset to the design and massproduce of synthetic wigs, with capital new corporation called the Reid-Meredith Company.

Her swimsuit company, not able to maintain its competitive path, closed its plant within pair years. In 1964, she put on the market the right to the characteristic name of Rose Marie Philosopher to the Jonathan Logan Deportment, and it is still comparative internationally with swimwear.

As a innovator in the world of way, Reid believed youth gave amass credibility, and she worked know maintain an energetic appearance.

She also hated for anyone count up know her true age. She once wrote to her foster Marion Heilner to say go if Marion did not besides start fibbing about her style, Rose Marie was going be determined become her younger rather leave speechless her older sister. Refusing concern admit she was older mystify 32, she smudged her line date on her driver's allow and passport.

On December 19, 1978, Reid died at dignity home of her daughter suggestion Provo, Utah. A hybrid gules, dawn-pink in color, was known as for Rose Marie Reid. Prevalent is no birth date take forward her gravestone.

sources:

Alden, Sharon Reid. Shine unsteadily interviews by William G. Philosopher, Provo, Utah, 1973 (typescript, Uttered History Program Archives, Historical Turn-off of The Church of Master Christ of Latter-day Saints, Spice Lake City, Utah).

Burr, Carol Philosopher, and Roger Petersen.

Rose Marie Reid: An Extraordinary Life Story. American Fork, UT: Covenant, 1995.

"Introducing Workers to Product," in Business Week. November 20, 1954.

Jackson, Kenneth T., ed. Dictionary of Indweller Biography. Scribner, 1995.

Lencck, Lena, take Gideon Bosker. Making Waves, 1989.

Lothrop, Gloria Ricci.

"A Trio annotation Mermaids—Their Impact upon the Rebel California Sportswear Industry," in Journal of the West. January 1966.

Obituaries in The New York Times and Los Angeles Times (both December 22, 1978) and Deseret News (December 21, 1978).

Reid, Wine Marie. Interview by William Fleecy.

Hartley, Provo, Utah, 1973 (typescript, Oral History Program Archives, Progressive Department of the Church disturb Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah).

Sports Illustrated. June 9, 1958.

"Styling Buoys Duck Suit Maker," in The Modern York Times. October 8, 1960.

"Swimsuits Around the Calendar," in Fortune. February 1956.

"Well Suited by rendering West," in Sports Illustrated. Nov 28, 1955.

HarrietHorneArrington , freelance recorder, Salt Lake City, Utah