# Clare Potter > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Clare_Potter > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Clare_Potter.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Potter > Source revision: 1356459137 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|American fashion designer}} {{Infobox fashion designer |image=Fashion designer Clare Potter, 1944.jpg |caption= |name=Clare Potter |birth_name=Clare Meyer |birth_date= {{birth date|1903|7|7}} |birth_place=Jersey City, New Jersey |death_date= {{death date and age|1999|1|5|1903|7|7}} |death_place=[Fort Ann, New York](/source/Fort_Ann_(town)%2C_New_York) |education= [Art Students League of New York](/source/Art_Students_League_of_New_York) and [Pratt Institute of Design](/source/Pratt_Institute_of_Design) |label_name= |awards= 1937 Lord and Taylor Women's Sportswear Award, 1939 [Neiman Marcus Fashion Award](/source/Neiman_Marcus_Fashion_Award), 1946 [Coty Award](/source/Coty_Award) |}} '''Clare Potter''' was a fashion designer who was born in [Jersey City, New Jersey](/source/Jersey_City%2C_New_Jersey) in 1903.{{#tag:ref|In 1998 the Metropolitan Museum of Art published alternative dates of 1892-1974, which are still published on their database.{{cite web|title=Dress Clare Potter (American, 1892–1974) (''sic'')|url=http://www.metmuseum.org/Collections/search-the-collections/84000?rpp=20&pg=1&rndkey=20140115&ao=on&ft=*&who=Clare+Potter&pos=1|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|access-date=15 January 2014}} However, their curator, [Richard Martin](/source/Richard_Martin_(curator)), who wrote the 1998 book, subsequently spoke about Potter for her 1999 obituary, confirming that the earlier published dates were erroneous.| name=dates| group=dates}} In the 1930s she was one of the first American fashion designers to be promoted as an individual design talent. Working under her [elided](/source/elided) name '''Clarepotter''', she has been credited as one of the inventors of American [sportswear](/source/Sportswear_(fashion)).Schiro, Anne-Marie, ''[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/11/nyregion/clare-potter-who-set-trends-in-women-s-clothes-dies-at-95.html Clare Potter, Who Set Trends In Women's Clothes, Dies at 95]'' ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'', January 11, 1999 Based in [Manhattan](/source/Manhattan), she continued designing through the 1940s and 1950s. Her clothes were renowned for being elegant, but easy-to-wear and relaxed, and for their distinctive use of colour.{{cite book| title = Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary| publisher = Harvard University Press| year = 2004| isbn =978-0-674-01488-6}} She founded a ready-to-wear fashion company in Manhattan named ''Timbertop'' in 1948, and in the 1960s she also established a [wholesale](/source/wholesale) company to manufacture fashions. Potter was one of the 17 women gathered together by [Edna Woolman Chase](/source/Edna_Woolman_Chase), editor-in-chief of ''[Vogue](/source/Vogue_(magazine))'' to form the ''Fashion Group International, Inc.'', in 1928.[http://chicago.fgi.org/index.php?news=675 History of the Fashion Group International] ==Early life and education== Born '''Clare Meyer''' in Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, she studied at the [Art Students League of New York](/source/Art_Students_League_of_New_York) and began her studies at the [Pratt Institute of Design](/source/Pratt_Institute) in [fine arts](/source/fine_arts). After seeing clothes that Potter designed and made for herself, the director of the Pratt Institute recommended that she study [costume design](/source/costume_design). In 1925, before her graduation, Potter left Pratt to work for Edward L. Mayer, a [wholesale](/source/wholesale) dress manufacturer in Manhattan, where she spent three years developing her skills and designing mid-market sportswear.{{cite book|last=Martin|first=Richard|title=American ingenuity : sportswear, 1930s - 1970s|year=1998|publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art|location=New York |isbn=9780870998638 |page=91|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ByvsBRNapAC&pg=PA91}} ==Career== Following a six-month hiatus in [Mexico](/source/Mexico), Potter returned to Manhattan in 1930 and gained employment with the [ready-to-wear](/source/ready-to-wear) firm of Charles W. Nudelman Inc. on [Seventh Avenue](/source/7th_Avenue_(Manhattan)), which specialized in affordable fashion. Unusually, at a time when designers for large companies were not acknowledged by name, Potter was promoted as a named designer by [Dorothy Shaver](/source/Dorothy_Shaver), then vice-president of [Lord & Taylor](/source/Lord_%26_Taylor) department store.{{Cite web |url=http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/AC0631.htm |title=Other Collections |access-date=2009-03-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419145251/http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/AC0631.htm |archive-date=2009-04-19 |url-status=dead }} Potter was one of the first American designers to achieve such name recognition. In 1936, Potter was featured alongside [Elizabeth Hawes](/source/Elizabeth_Hawes) and [Muriel King](/source/Muriel_King) in the second Lord & Taylor "American Look" promotion, which championed home-grown American design talent.{{cite book| last = Hawes| first = Elizabeth| title = Fashion Is Spinach| url = https://archive.org/details/fashionisspinach00hawerich| publisher = Random House| year = 1938| pages = Chapter 15}} She was awarded the first Lord & Taylor Design Award in 1938 for distinguished designing in the field of sportswear for women. Potter was a keen sportswoman who particularly enjoyed [horseback riding](/source/horseback_riding). She designed for women like herself, saying in 1948:
Large numbers of American women want clothes that are refined. I aim to give them in a medium-priced, ready-to-wear costume what they would find in custom-made styles.Interview to ''The New York Times'' in 1948, quoted by Schiro, Anne-Marie in ''[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/11/nyregion/clare-potter-who-set-trends-in-women-s-clothes-dies-at-95.html Clare Potter, Who Set Trends In Women's Clothes, Dies at 95]'' ''The New York Times'', January 11, 1999
[[File:Eleanor Roosevelt, King George VI, Queen Elizabeth in London, England - NARA - 195320.png|thumb|200px|[Eleanor Roosevelt](/source/Eleanor_Roosevelt) (centre) wears a Clare Potter dress to meet [King George VI](/source/King_George_VI) and [Queen Elizabeth](/source/Queen_Elizabeth_The_Queen_Mother) in London, October 23, 1942.]] During the 1940s, well-known Potter designs included a two-piece [bathing suit](/source/bathing_suit) consisting of separate small top and bloomers, a sweater designed for evening wear, and a [sidesaddle](/source/sidesaddle)-draped skirt. Examples of these designs were featured in the 1998-1999 exhibition ''Designing Women: American Style 1940-1960'' at the [Wadsworth Atheneum](/source/Wadsworth_Atheneum) in [Hartford, Connecticut](/source/Hartford%2C_Connecticut). Her use of colour was distinctive, with one 1940s evening outfit consisting of a pink blouse, green belt, and pale blue skirt. Other designs were made up in one single, unique shade, such as the blue wool dress worn by [Eleanor Roosevelt](/source/Eleanor_Roosevelt) to meet [George VI](/source/George_VI_of_the_United_Kingdom) and his queen consort, [Elizabeth](/source/Elizabeth_Bowes-Lyon) in London on October 23, 1942.[https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-jan-12-mn-62829-story.html Obituary] in the ''[Los Angeles Times](/source/Los_Angeles_Times)'', 12 January 1999 Roosevelt had been a fellow founder with Potter and others, of an association of women interested in advancing elegant and fashionable clothing for women, the ''Fashion Group International'', FGI.[http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/AC0631.htm Overview of the Dorothy Shaver Archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090419145251/http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives/AC0631.htm |date=2009-04-19 }}, part of the Archives Center at the [National Museum of American History](/source/National_Museum_of_American_History) In 1946, Potter was awarded a [Coty Award](/source/Coty_Award) for her casual clothes and her distinctive use of colour. She shared the award with [Omar Kiam](/source/Omar_Kiam) and [Vincent Monte-Sano](/source/Monte-Sano_%26_Pruzan).{{cite news |last1=Mara |first1=Margaret |title=Omar Kiam, Former MGM Designer, gets Fashion Award |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1978388/the_brooklyn_daily_eagle/ |via=[Newspapers.com](/source/Newspapers.com) |access-date=13 March 2015 |work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle |date=19 July 1946 |page=9}} Although she is considered an important figure in the world of sportswear design, the curator [Richard Martin](/source/Richard_Martin_(curator)) has stated that Potter was "not a pure sportswear advocate, she was a figure with a discreet, negotiated relationship to sportswear." In 1948, Potter launched a ready-to-wear company called ''Timbertop'', with former magazine editor, [Martha Stout](/source/Martha_Stout_(magazine_editor)). The company shared its name with the turkey farm in [West Nyack](/source/West_Nyack%2C_New_York) where Potter and her husband, architect [J. Sanford Potter](/source/J._Sanford_Potter), lived. They had married about 1930. ==Later life== By the mid-1950s Clare Potter worked independently from a barn on her farm. Her business became a husband-and-wife concern, with J. Sanford Potter assisting by drafting her [clothing patterns](/source/Pattern_(sewing)). Her later clothes were more tailored and dressy than her earlier designs. In the late 1950s the Potters moved into a Japanese-style house on Lake Nebo in [Fort Ann, New York](/source/Fort_Ann_(town)%2C_New_York) that was designed and built by J. Sanford. In addition to their professional work, they bred [Dalmatian dogs](/source/Dalmatian_(dog)), grew [camellias](/source/camellias), and enjoyed [riding](/source/horseback_riding) and [hunting](/source/hunting). They kept their horses in [Virginia](/source/Virginia), where the local hunt clubs enjoyed a long season. J. Sanford Potter died in 1994 and, at the age of 95, Clare Potter died in 1999 at their home in Fort Ann. They left no surviving family. ==Notes== ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/42547 American Ingenuity: Sportswear 1930s-1970s], an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Clare Potter (see index) {{American sportswear}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Clare}} Category:1903 births Category:1999 deaths Category:Art Students League of New York alumni Category:Fashion designers from New York City Category:Pratt Institute alumni Category:People from Fort Ann, New York Category:20th-century American designers Category:American women fashion designers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Clare Potter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Potter) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Potter?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.