HALL OF FAME: Pauline Trigère Part Two

Pauline Trigère’s plaque on the Fashion Walk of Fame

@ 35th Street & 7th Avenue

Interestingly enough, both of Pauline Trigère’s parents were tailors in Paris.  Over her long career, which spanned from the late 1930s to the late 1990s, Trigère's business remained relatively small.  But, in addition to her clothing line, she created perfume, scarves, jewelry, raincoats, jackets and quite a few other licensed products.

Even though her business was small, her influence was great.  She was recognized numerous times:  she received three Coty Awards, the first in 1949, the second in 1951 and her third in 1959, entering the Coty Hall of Fame.

Halston and Pauline Trigère at the 1959 Coty Awards 

Trigère won her third Coty and entered the Coty Hall of Fame that night

a Trigère look from 1959, Eleanor Lambert: Still Here

Trigère look from 1961,  Eleanor Lambert: Still Here

She also received fashion awards from Neiman Marcus, Filene's, and the National Cotton Award.  Even though she was a proud American, she was recognized by her native France – receiving both the silver and the vermeil medals of the City of Paris.

In 1962, she was one of the original 20 founding members of the Council of Fashion Designers of America.  

Her 50th anniversary in fashion was a milestone in the industry celebrated in 1992 at a benefit fashion show and dinner at the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan.  It was attended by 600 of the most influential names in design, manufacturing and retailing, as well as by numerous clients and friends.  The only other designer in America to reach that milestone and celebrate 50 years in the industry was Norman Norell.

In 1993, at a ceremony at Lincoln Center, Miss Trigère received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America.

Trigère look from 1964, American Fashion

Trigère 1964, American Fashion

For over five decades she was one of the great symbols of the American fashion industry.  Miss Trigère lived to the age of 93, The New York Times called her “an exemplar of style” and she was described by her fellow fashion designers as ''a true intellectual” and ''a creator of timeless fashion.”

Pauline Trigère by Kenneth Paul Block, Drawing Fashion, Pointed Leaf Press

''Fashion is what people 

tell you to wear,

style is what comes 

from your own inner thing.''

                - Pauline Trigère