{{Short description|American menswear accessories designer}} {{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox person | name = Vicky Davis | birth_date = 1925 | death_date = 2006 | occupation = Menswear accessories designer }}
'''Vicky Davis''' (1925 – September 5, 2006) was an American necktie designer based in New York.
==Early life== Born '''Victoria Wolkin''',<ref name=mr/> Davis lived in Michigan with her husband, Larry, and their two sons, and filled her time by acting as a PTA president for her sons' school.<ref name=joy>{{cite news |last1=Donovan |first1=Joy |title=For a Good Time, Tie One on With Designer Vicky Davis |url=https://eu.oklahoman.com/story/news/1982/03/17/for-a-good-time-tie-one-on-with-designer-vicky-davis/62890808007/ |access-date=28 June 2022 |work=The Oklahoman |date=17 March 1982}}</ref> When their sons began growing up, Davis became aware that she would have to leave her role with the PTA, and find something to fill her time.<ref name=joy/>
==Fashion design== While shopping for holiday clothes for her husband for a cruise break they were planning, Davis realised that available neckties were very dull and uninteresting.<ref name=joy/> As a solution, she bought material and had a fellow PTA member make up 5-inch wide cravats that her husband wore on the holiday, to the admiration of fellow passengers.<ref name=joy/> This inspired Davis to pursue a career in making neckties, by employing PTA members to sew in her basement.<ref name=joy/> Eventually, with the support of Larry, Davis moved to New York from Michigan in her 40s to find workers and manufacturers who could meet the increasing demand for her work.<ref name=joy/> Once there, Davis's business took off, and by 1982, she had become very successful.<ref name=joy/> She was widely sold across the United States,<ref name=mr/> in stores including Macy's and Bloomingdale's.<ref name=joy/>
Her first designs were wide ties, in the kipper style, but in the late 1970s she accommodated the demand for skinny ties and became a champion for the new style.<ref name=joy/><ref name=mr>{{cite news |title=Tie Designer Vicky Davis Dead at 81 |url=https://mr-mag.com/tie-designer-vicky-davis-dead-at-81/ |access-date=28 June 2022 |work=MR Magazine |date=30 September 2006}}</ref> The film ''Annie Hall'', which came out around the same time, helped give Davis's business a boost by inspiring fashion trends that coordinated with what she was selling.<ref name=joy/> She disliked following set rules, stating that she was interested in designing for people, and encouraged customers to choose ties they liked, rather than solely focusing on what matched their clothing, or caring about their tie fitting their jacket-lapel width.<ref name=joy/> Her ideal customer was an independent, creative young person who sought to be independent and individual.<ref name=joy/>
The Vicky Davis logo featured her signature curly hair and large glasses, and Davis was well known in the industry for her strength of character and squeaky-voiced personality.<ref name=mr/> In 2006, Gerald Andersen, the executive director of the MDFA (Men's Dress Furnishings Association), described her as being "comforting" and "like a den-mother to the neckwear industry," while the editor-in-chief of MR magazine, Karen Alberg Grossman credited her with "virtually" creating humorous ties as well as being a warm and generous person and a good friend, able to both rely on the goodwill of her professional friendships and be a supportive and good friend herself.<ref name=mr/> Davis's sense of humor, passion and positively charged enthusiasm for her work made her popular with the fashion press as well as with colleagues and her peers.<ref name=mr/> She was featured on ''The Phil Donahue Show''.<ref name=joy/>
From the beginning, her husband and sons had been actively involved in the business,<ref name=joy/> and in 1978, her son, Rob, joined the company fresh from graduating Parsons.<ref name=polly>{{cite news |last1=Rayner |first1=Polly |title=Give Dad the Ultimate in Signature Ties |url=https://mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-1990-06-17-2738782-story.html |access-date=29 June 2022 |work=The Morning Call |date=17 June 1990}}</ref> Rob became a designer in his own right for the label, and by 1981, his designs were being featured on magazine covers as much as his mother's work.<ref name=polly/> In the mid-1980s Rob developed a separate label, and a tie from his first "Rob Davis for Vicky Davis" collection was worn by Charlie Sheen in the final scene of the 1987 movie ''Wall Street''.<ref name=polly/> The film was influential on men's fashion, encouraging many people to emulate the looks from the film, including "power ties" with strong color and pattern that were unlike previous traditional banker's ties.<ref name=polly/>
Vicky Davis was awarded a Special Coty Award for neckwear in 1976.<ref name=mcdowell>{{cite book| last= McDowell| first= Colin| title= McDowell's Directory of Twentieth Century Fashion| publisher= Frederick Muller| year= 1984| pages=299–301| isbn=0-584-11070-7}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Morris |first1=Bernardine |title=It's the Women Again Who Take the 'Winnies' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1976/06/25/archives/its-the-women-again-who-take-the-winnies.html |access-date=2023-07-15 |newspaper=The New York Times |date=25 June 1976}}</ref> She also won a Cutty Sark award for innovative neckwear and accessories.<ref name=polly/>
==Later life and death== After retirement, Davis lived in Greenwood Lake, New York.<ref name=mr/> She died on September 5, 2006, at the age of 81 and was buried in Southfield, Michigan.<ref name=mr/> She was survived by her husband and sons, and a sister and brother.<ref name=mr/>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis, Vicky}} Category:1925 births Category:2006 deaths Category:American women fashion designers Category:Fashion designers from New York City Category:Menswear designers Category:Artists from Michigan Category:Neckties