{{Short description|American fashion designer (1899–1982)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Infobox person | name = Jo Copeland | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1898|02|28}} | birth_place = New York, New York, US | death_date = {{death date and age|1982|03|20|1898|02|28}} | death_place = New York, New York, US | occupation = Fashion designer | education = Parsons School of Design | years_active = | known_for = | spouse = Edward J. Regensburg Jr. | children = 2, including Lois Gould | awards = Neiman Marcus Fashion Award | notable_works = }} '''Jo Copeland''' (28 February 1898 – March 20, 1982) was an American fashion designer. She received the Neiman Marcus Fashion Award in 1944.
==Early life and education== The daughter of Samuel and Minna Copeland, Josephine "Jo" Copeland was born in New York City on 28 February 1898.<ref>Josephine Copeland in the ''New York, New York, U.S., Birth Index, 1891-1902''</ref> Her mother died during childbirth.<ref name = "jwa">{{cite web |last1=Gould |first1=Lois |title=Jo Copeland |url=https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/copeland-jo |website=jwa.org |accessdate=January 31, 2020}}</ref> Copeland was educated in New York at Parsons School of Design and Art Students League of New York.<ref name = "Fischel">{{cite book |last1=Fischel |first1=Jack R. |title=Encyclopedia of Jewish American Popular Culture |date=December 30, 2008 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9780313087349 |page=114 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wpFxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA114 |accessdate=January 31, 2020}}</ref>
==Career== After graduating from the Parsons School of Design, she began working as a designer which paid enough to help put her older brothers through Harvard Law School.<ref name = "jwa"/> Copeland began selling her own designs as a commercial artist to manufacturing firms<ref name = "Tierney">{{cite book |last1=Tierney |first1=Tom |title=Great Fashion Designs of the Forties Paper Dolls: 32 Haute Couture Costumes by Hattie Carnegie, Adrian, Dior and Others |date=June 1, 1987 |publisher=Courier Corporation |isbn=9780486253862 |page=17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_RCBcYGjTugC&pg=PA17 |accessdate=January 31, 2020}}</ref> and was hired by Pattulo Models Inc in 1920 as a fashion illustrator.<ref name = "NYT"/>
After World War II led to the liberation of Paris, Copeland began looking at other sources of inspiration for fashion including China and South America.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Lou Taylor |author2=Marie McLoughlin |title=Paris Fashion and World War Two: Global Diffusion and Nazi Control |date=January 9, 2020 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9781350000285 |page=152 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Pv2uDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA152 |accessdate=January 31, 2020}}</ref> She also persuaded other American fashion designers to become independent from Paris' influence.<ref name = "NYT">{{cite news |last1=Chira |first1=Susan |title=Jo Copeland, A Fashion Designer Noted for Two-Piece Suit, Is Dead |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/03/21/obituaries/jo-copeland-a-fashion-designer-notes-for-two-piece-suit-is-dead.html |accessdate=2023-07-15 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 21, 1982 |page=39}}</ref> Copeland was so determined to not be influenced by Paris that she refused to travel to the city after 1947.<ref>{{cite book |author1=Jonathan Walford |title=1950s American Fashion |date=October 10, 2012 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |isbn=9780747812807 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ggvDCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27 |accessdate=January 31, 2020}}</ref> By 1949, she was promoted to partner at the firm Pattulo Models Inc<ref name = "Tierney"/> and eventually became Vice-President and Head Designer at Pattulo-Jo Copeland Inc. where she earned a reputation for refusing to conform to typical fashion norms.<ref name = "Hinton">{{cite news|title=Gimmicks Don't Interest Jo Copeland|last=Hinton|first=Sarah|date=February 22, 1968|newspaper=Burlington Daily Times News|location=North Carolina|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-feb-22-1968-1529887/|via=NewspaperArchive}} {{free access}}</ref>
Copeland designed the buttoned, two-piece suit for women to wear without a blouse.<ref name = "Fischel"/> She rejected the Mod style as desperation to be noticed and a sign of immaturity.<ref>{{cite news|title=Jo Copeland Dislikes The Mod Look|last=Hennessy|first=Helen|date=November 14, 1965|newspaper=Cedar Rapids Gazette|location=Iowa|url=https://newspaperarchive.com/other-articles-clipping-nov-14-1965-1529890/|via=NewspaperArchive}} {{free access}}</ref> As a result, many of her designs incorporated an extended torso and skirts no shorter than two inches above the knee.<ref name = "Hinton"/> She received the 1944 Neiman Marcus Fashion Award for her designs.<ref name = "NYT"/>
Copeland died on March 20, 1982, from a stroke.<ref name = "NYT"/> A collection of her designs is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.<ref>{{cite web |title=Evening dress ca. 1965 Jo Copeland |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/96039 |website=metmuseum.org |date=1965 |accessdate=January 31, 2020}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Jo}} Category:1898 births Category:1982 deaths Category:American fashion designers Category:American women fashion designers Category:Jewish fashion designers Category:Jewish businesswomen Category:Parsons School of Design alumni Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:20th-century American businesswomen Category:Jews from New York (state) Category:20th-century American designers