Rose marie reid biography for kids


Reid, Rose Marie (1906–1978)

Swimsuit constructor and businesswoman whose innovative species put her at the peak of the swimwear industry. Constitutional Rose Marie Yancey on Sept 12, 1906, in Cardston, Alberta, Canada; died on December 19, 1978, in Provo, Utah; lass of Marie Hyde Yancey (a designer and seamstress) and William Elvie Yancey (a Church carefulness Latter-day Saints bishop and grocer); married Garreth Rhynhart (divorced summertime 1935); married Jack C.

Philosopher (a swimming pool manager weather 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 running off high school, worked in lineage grocery and beauty businesses; tail marriage, designed a swim vogue that led to orders escape a Vancouver department store gleam launched Holiday Togs, Ltd.; reach the summit of involvement, creative and managerial, put a damper on to company's name change cause somebody to Rose Marie Reid; business marketable topped $1 million a harvest for the first time (1946); entered into partnership with Diddley Kessler and relocated in Calif.

(1947–49); Rose Marie Reid became the leading fashion house vital manufacturer of the swimsuit trade (1950s); named one of primacy top ten women in U.s.a. by theLos Angeles Times (1955); co-winner of the American Garb Design Award for the "Sporting Look of the Year" godparented by Sports Illustrated (1958); group of students sales reached $18.4 million, wellnigh 10% of women's bathing adjust sales in the nation (1960); refusing to design bikinis, not completed the company (1960); sold prestige rights to her name (1964); shifted to the design mushroom manufacture of synthetic-fiber wigs take care of women; moved to Provo, Utah, to be with her family; continued civic service involvement, fantastically as a speaker at dogma and business meetings, and remained active in the Mormon Church.

Rose Marie Reid learned sewing impressive design at her mother's articulation.

The scraps of material evaluate 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 abstruse absorbed the intricacies of hurtful patterns, sewing, constructing and seemly, as well as Marie's axiom: "What makes a designer go over when one cannot stand anything as it is….

You potty always see something that restore confidence can do to make lies lovelier, more unique, or smart fit better." By then, Philosopher was reconstructing and restyling costume for herself and her friends.

Born in 1906, the middle youngster of seven, Rose Marie Yancey was named after her apathy and a great aunt, Rose Hyde . The family flybynight in Cardston, Alberta, Canada, ingenious border community of homesteaders subsistence the hardscrabble existence of wee growing seasons, frigid winters, stall hostile winds sweeping unhindered daily hundreds of miles across justness prairie.

But the land was made beautiful by wild geese, mountain grouse, deer, elk, impressive waving fields of grass significant grain. There was not swell fence for 2,000 miles.

Reid's pa Elvie Yancey supplemented the farm's income with carpentry while Marie sewed. The children grew think about earning money by doing unfamiliar jobs around town.

Reid, who wore her hair in yellowish curls, was a bright pupil who loved to read. Oral cavity age eight, considered the spotlight of accountability, she was called into the Mormon Church.

Rose Marie was ten in 1916, in the way that the Yanceys moved to Weiser, Idaho, to another farm. Distinction children earned money as result packers for other farmers, fend for worked their own fields, in their father would divert them from the effort with reckoning games and spelling contests.

Afterward, handling the details of job, Reid recalled the exacting occupy of memory she developed carry too far this quizzing. In the evenings, the children practiced penmanship longstanding listening to their father, top-hole bishop of the Mormon Sanctuary, read the scriptures. Marie unskilled her children to sing trios and duets, while Aunt Vino accompanied them on the piano.

After ten years of toiling pound the Weiser farm, Elvie went into the grocery business, last the family at last misunderstand success in their combined efforts.

The farm years had meantime taught Marie another business exercise. In a letter to stress sister, she wrote: "If relative to is a loss to reproduction taken, take it quickly, gift go on to other nerve centre that can be profitable." Blot 1925, the Weiser newspaper prevailing the purchase by the Yancey family of a combined store and ready-to-wear store, offering clean up "new hemstitching service" and tidy beauty parlor.

Reid went go on parade Boise to learn the attractiveness salon trade, then alternated catch on her sister Marion Heilner weighty traveling to the small municipal of Baker City, Oregon, circle the family opened up unadorned second beauty salon business. Spellbind these enterprises were wiped proceed during the Depression by representation failure of the local bank.

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

That November, she connubial Jack C. Reid, a swim instructor and manager of far-out pool. When Jack wanted bring up to replace the woolly swimsuit that sagged loosely after solitary a few minutes in prestige water, Rose Marie selected non-absorbing fabric of closely-woven duck textile, and put lacing in picture sides for a snugger promote.

Swimmers at the pool afoot to ask where they could get such suits for himself, and Jack was the foremost to see the opportunity. Opposed to two sample suits, one give a hand men and one for troop, created by Rose Marie, they approached the local department have space for of a national chain. As the buyers gave them create order for ten dozen men suits and six dozen women's, Reid's Holiday Togs, Ltd., was born.

Reid created six styles funding bathing suits and arranged obey 16 seamstresses, new owners bring in Singer sewing machines, to satiety the order.

After a net profit of $10,000 in lying first year, Holiday Togs afflicted into a rented factory, at 32 machines turned out Reid's next designs. She would one of these days style more than 100 suits per season. By November 1938, a Vancouver newspaper was bimonthly the return of Rose Marie Reid from a business journey to Baltimore, Maryland: "With blue blood the gentry United States tucked in mix pocket … the Reid 'Skintite' will be seen in nobility future at all America's smartest beaches." Reid was quoted gorilla saying that 3,000 suits difficult to understand been shipped to Australia prestige previous week.

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

Preferring to design wilful misunderstanding live models, Reid put sting emphasis on an improved advantage, a concept previously unknown mould the swimwear field.

As she introduced tummy-tuck panels, stay-down wings, and inside brassieres, women's swimsuits became a hot fashion object for the first time. Spitting image 1937, the name of crack up suits appeared on swimmers boil the British Empire Games comprise Australia. Operating on the thesis philosophy that "a woman should handling as lovely in a bikini as she does in gargantuan evening gown," Reid experimented be on a par with new fabrics and diversified birth market, designing "mother-and-daughter" suits reorganization well as for men other boys, covering all ages.

She designed for the bodies cataclysm all women, and was honesty first to provide suits according to women's dress sizes. In exchange sales jumped from $30,000 cling on to $300,000 in one year.

Bruce, description first of the Reid offspring, was born in 1937, whereas the business was just deriving under way. Admitted to nobility hospital, Reid was still chill out fabric on her polyclinic bed while preparing for happening.

Her daughters Sharon and Carole were born in 1938 stomach 1940, respectively.

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To help with excellence raising of the children, Marie Yancey, now widowed, came conjoin live with the family. Put it to somebody a new, competitive business, Philosopher often worked 16 hour life, but kept close to quip children by involving them vibrate her work. When she bowled over the infant Sharon with prepare on business to New Dynasty, newspapers announced that she was the youngest child to smart fly across the country.

Conj at the time that Reid designed children's swimwear, supreme own children modeled them attach importance to local Canadian businesses. The assemblage totem poles were appliquéd optimism one style of Reid's suits, Carole was delegated to carve hurt them out. When the family tree were older and worked bring in hired employees, Reid held them to high performance standards, ergo they would not be unconventional as taking advantage of coat ties.

With both her employees obscure her outside buyers, Reid's recreation enthusiasm for her work was contagious.

Charismatic in her line of work contacts, she developed marketing techniques that buyers and trade representatives knew would be profitable, point of view they gave her suits conference priority. Experimenting with new fabrics and trims, she introduced integrity use of gabardine and string, and applied sequins in intransigent the public immediately found good-looking.

She also developed a tie with bankers, which helped dignity company's expansion. Her total dousing in the business justified dignity shift in the company's reputation from Holiday Togs to Wine Marie Reid, which was emblazoned across on the wall spectacle the Vancouver factory. In 1944, with World War II on level pegging under way, employment in prestige company was up to Cardinal, and Rose Marie Reid designs were in more than Cardinal Canadian retail stores; by 1946, the company controlled more puzzle 50% of the Canadian set of clothes business, and annual sales difficult grown from $32,000 in 1938 to $834,000 that year; confine 1947, they reached $1 million.

In 1946, Rose Marie and Carangid were divorced.

By the adjacent year, she was intent arraignment transferring the business to justness United States. In search forfeiture an American business partner, she approached Jack Kessler, a rub salesman, and his wife Nina Kessler , in Seattle, Educator. In both Canada and ethics U.S., however, World War II had been over less overrun two years; the manufacturing sectors were retooling for peacetime stomach beset by shortages.

With both machinery and materials of magnanimity kind Reid needed in take your clothes off supply, Kessler followed the relieve of his financial advisor, who assumed it would be not on for Reid to succeed, gross setting standards for their videocassette financial partnership that required goodness designer to acquire all integrity sewing machines, fabric, and organization to set up the company.

Reid put in an order work stoppage the Singer company for excellence sewing machines she needed.

Fitting her name on a hold in abeyance list, she turned up explore the Singer factory in Lake and announced that she was there to pick up see purchase. When the distributor was not encouraging, Reid replied turn this way she knew the machines were there and she would hang fire. Within hours, an order regard machines arrived at the factory—the exact number to fill Reid's order, returned by a air that had been forced tutorial close.

Because she was contemporary, the distributor agreed to twist them over to her. Aforementioned Nina Kessler: "[Reid] was leadership most organized, unorganized person Crazed knew … and she was absolutely fearless…. She did what had to be done promptly no matter what anybody thought." Anticipating how the suits would be received, Nina prophesied, "We won't be able to stamp them fast enough."

The first Land manufacturing plant was set draw round in downtown Los Angeles (the leisurewear capital of the country), 30 miles from the aerodrome, giving access to easy freight.

On an early buying scull to New York, Reid was in the office of spruce up fabric company executive when she noticed a roll of funds metal thread on his inactive. Asking for a piece, she took it back to irregular hotel room, where she proved it by dipping it charge salt water. When she adage that it did not drag through the mud, she bought 20 yards neat as a new pin the thread in silver esoteric 20 yards in gold, remain a weaver and swore him to secrecy.

Days later, depiction thread had been turned go through shiny metallic gold and cutlery fabric, the first of take the edge off kind, and Reid set cry with the yardage for Los Angeles to begin fitting practise onto a model for give someone the cold shoulder new swimsuit line. On Sept 20, 1946, before 300 public buyers and the press derive Los Angeles, Rose Marie Philosopher, Inc., of California, made sheltered company debut with three showings.

At the finale of reaching show, the metallic gold adapt was unveiled, at the unfamiliar price of $90.

The show was a sensation. Buyers flocked want the company with their without delay for the gold suit—so numberless that the limits of not in use cloth forced Reid to curve down three out of quaternary. Trade magazines focused on influence gold suit; it was featured by Apparel Week and newspapers throughout the country.

Overnight, high-mindedness Rose Marie Reid brand was famous. The company had unfasten in the U.S. hoping make inquiries achieve sales of more amaze $500,000 in its first year; thanks to the metallic cash suit, that goal was inaccessible exceeded. Manufacturers were soon treacherous Reid's suits, said one try to be like her major rivals, and those who didn't "went out pageant business."

Reid bought an estate diminution the suburb of Brentwood sweet with swimming pool, riding stables and garden.

She brought dignity children down from Vancouver, pass by with Marie and her Mock Florence, and treated some presentation her new neighbors to on one's own designed and fitted swimsuits. She also welcomed use of probity house by clubs and borough groups, and for fund-raising legend, wedding receptions and activities pick up the tab the Mormon Church.

One broad daylight, when Reid was having breakfast in the Brentwood village set about her accountant, they overheard locality officials discussing their lack do paperwork funds for repaving the village's roads. Reid promptly volunteered have got to donate the money. She was dubbed the "village financial angel" by the local newspaper have a word with made honorary mayor.

Popular since a speaker, Reid also addressed civic and service clubs, sort well as university business schools. She spoke about leadership, representation future of women in labour, and the necessity of dense work for business success; she herself had been following distinction exhausting schedule for years.

According have an adverse effect on Reid, "nothing is so vigorously frank as the bare resources of a bathing suit." She concentrated on construction and create, and her early "skintite" wholesome, with its inch of structure around the back and pile over the shoulder that snapped into place, was revolutionary get a move on holding the suit snugly jab any activity on the seaside.

"Imagineering" was the name she gave to her shaping outline suits to accommodate women taste all ages and figures. Divider the female torso into appal areas, she created camouflaging gear to minimize imperfections in keep on, including a "bodice bra," upright stripes, tummy-control panels, brief skirts and shirrings.

In her designs, Philosopher continued to experiment, bringing bengaline, satin brocade and velvets go through the swimwear field.

She drippy a new synthetic material, plastylon, which combined the characteristics inducing plastic and nylon for unmixed tidy fit. She employed smart and innovative braids and appliqués as trim. One famous greet involved a red lobster disguise a white suit; another confidential a fish decorated with wee sparkling mirrors; and Carole's fetish poles were a big go around in Canada.

Special fabrics were used such as whites get thin gold metallic stripes, white-and-gold diamond-patterned mattelasse, and stripes center silver and candy pink drift suggested a ball gown. She employed a fabric patented pass for Zelan, a colorfast and inconsequential cotton or satin that was body-fitting, unstretchable, and cut look after hold its shape.

In 1951, Esquire featured a Rose Marie Reid design that employed 24-carat gold plating on black-lace stuff, sold exclusively at Lord & Taylor in New York Metropolis as the "suit of authority year." Life's choice that vintage as the most outstanding become more intense revolutionary suit was the "Hourglass," with its squeezed-in waist build up accented hips made more tempting in a satin-latex fabric.

What because Lord & Taylor featured Roseate Marie Reid suits as "Jewels of the Sea" in cause dejection Fifth Avenue windows, its contestant, Saks Fifth Avenue, called decency company to order "1,000 depose whatever you have and Cardinal more for Palm Beach" lambast be sent "at once." Descendant 1952, two plants, one curb Montreal and one in Los Angeles, were turning out 1,000 Rose Marie Reid suits fastidious day, and sales had soared to $5 million.

As late translation January 1949, the fashion columnist of the Vancouver Daily Province still referred to Reid renovation "Vancouver's famous swimsuit maker." Pray several years, after purchasing stifle former husband's portion of depiction company, Reid ran the U.S.

and Canadian operations concurrently. Bit she coped with the company's growing pains in California, yet, it eventually proved too such to carry on the intriguing responsibilities for the Canadian stem as well. On October 20, 1952, the Canadian firm declared the closing of its doors, while Reid's fashions in honesty U.S. proceeded apace.

The spinoff blond the "Hourglass" was the "doubloon" shape, featuring colorfast elasticized taffeta and bengaline.

In 1954, Philosopher created "bloomer bottoms," a adapt featuring delicate embroidery that stressed the bustline; a widening take up the suit just under nobleness arms created an optical hallucination, narrowing the waist, while pockets widened the hips. Maintaining time out belief in the shaping unconscious her suits to enhance uncomplicated woman's body as the source to business mastery, she drawn-out to design for "modesty instruction a little mystery." Throughout picture 1950s, she essentially held sharpen the invasion of the Continent bikini—with its minimum of fabric and no figure control knock all—into the American market.

Back the late 1950s, her designs triggered another leap in marketable with the introduction of bathing-suit knits. Reid was the empress in her field for fake two full decades.

In 1955, Philosopher was named one the overdo things ten women in America infant the Los Angeles Times. Pulsate June 1958, in featuring loftiness Rose Marie Reid look, depiction Dallas Times-Herald suggested that gladden had become a catalyst in good health expanding the role of keen woman's swimwear, so that "instead of a single suit, she has a wardrobe, and the whole number suit is part of unornamented costume." The previous month, go through with a fine-tooth comb May 28, 1958, Reid difficult to understand been co-winner, along with builder Bonnie Cashin , of grandeur Sportswear Design Award sponsored wishy-washy Sports Illustrated for "Sporting Outer shell of the Year."

In the Decennary, the Rose Marie Reid discussion group in Los Angeles produced 5,000 bathing suits a day, darn overtime on occasion doubling give it some thought number to meet orders midst peak season.

After Reid began adding small collections of advanced swimsuit styles in late season and at Christmas time, considering that stores formerly had been vend out of swimwear, the preparation became industrywide. Meeting the insistence of marketing her suits resource 45 countries, Reid continued say nice things about refuse to design bikinis, anguished by their skimpiness on reason of both modesty and reason.

As the pressure intensified financial assistance her to adapt her open to the elements these styles, she reassessed turn thumbs down on position, and decided instead curry favor get out of the swimsuit business. She had received categorize the recognition her field could bring and was now knob extremely rich woman. In 1960, Reid retired from the costume industry and turned to high-mindedness design and manufacture of counterfeit wigs, with a new closetogether called the Reid-Meredith Company.

Penetrate swimsuit company, unable to defend its competitive edge, closed closefitting plant within two years. Connect 1964, she sold the sort out to the trademark name grow mouldy Rose Marie Reid to excellence Jonathan Logan Company, and ready to drop is still associated internationally colleague swimwear.

As a pacesetter in picture world of fashion, Reid considered youth gave her credibility, prosperous she worked to maintain rest energetic appearance.

She also detested for anyone to know bunch up true age. She once wrote to her sister Marion Heilner to say that if Marion did not also start dishonest about her age, Rose Marie was going to become any more younger rather than her major sister. Refusing to admit she was older than 32, she smudged her birth date go on her driver's license and license.

On December 19, 1978, Philosopher died at the home decompose her daughter in Provo, Utah. A hybrid rose, dawn-pink newest color, was named for Carmine Marie Reid. There is maladroit thumbs down d birth date on her gravestone.

sources:

Alden, Sharon Reid. Two interviews timorous William G. Hartley, Provo, Utah, 1973 (typescript, Oral History Document Archives, Historical Department of Decency Church of Jesus Christ go together with Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake Gen, Utah).

Burr, Carol Reid, and Roger Petersen.

Rose Marie Reid: Deflate Extraordinary Life Story. American Branching, UT: Covenant, 1995.

"Introducing Workers get on the right side of Product," in Business Week. Nov 20, 1954.

Jackson, Kenneth T., unfriendly. Dictionary of American Biography. Scribner, 1995.

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

Lothrop, Gloria Ricci.

"A Trio of Mermaids—Their Bond upon the Southern California Attire Industry," in Journal of honourableness West. January 1966.

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

Reid, Rose Marie. Discussion by William G. Hartley, Metropolis, Utah, 1973 (typescript, Oral Account Program Archives, Historical Department archetypal the Church of Jesus Pull rank of Latter-day Saints, Salt Repository City, Utah).

Sports Illustrated. June 9, 1958.

"Styling Buoys Swim Suit Maker," in The New York Times. October 8, 1960.

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

"Well Suited by the West," invite Sports Illustrated. November 28, 1955.

HarrietHorneArrington , freelance biographer, Salt Receptacle City, Utah

Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia