Nettie Rosenstein (1890 - March 13, 1980) was an American fashion designer, based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

between c.1913 and 1975. She was particularly renowned for her

little black dress The little black dress (LBD) is a black evening or cocktail dress, cut simply and often quite short. Fashion historians ascribe the origins of the little black dress to the 1920s designs of Coco Chanel. It is intended to be long-lasting, versat ...

es and

costume jewelry Costume or fashion jewelry includes a range of decorative items worn for personal adornment that are manufactured as less expensive ornamentation to complement a particular fashionable outfit or garmentBaker, Lillian. Fifty Years of Collectabl ...

.Libo, Dr. Kenneth; & Skakun, Michael,
Two Outstanding Figures of the Garment Industry: Rose Schneiderman and Nettie Rosenstein
', essay on the

Center for Jewish History The Center for Jewish History is a partnership of five Jewish history, scholarship, and art organizations in New York City: American Jewish Historical Society, American Sephardi Federation, Leo Baeck Institute New York, Yeshiva University Museu ...

website. Accessed March 27, 2009

Early life

Born Nettie Rosenscrans in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

, Austria in 1890, she and her family migrated to America in the 1890s and settled in

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. Her family was Jewish. In 1913 Nettie married Saul Rosenstein, who ran a women's underwear business, and began dressmaking as a

home business A home business or home-based business (HBB) is a small business that operates from the business owner's home office. In addition to location, home businesses are usually defined by having a very small number of employees, usually all immediate ...

. After being approached by the

I. Magnin I. Magnin & Company was a San Francisco, California-based high fashion and specialty goods luxury department store. Over the course of its existence, it expanded across the West into Southern California and the adjoining states of Arizona, Oregon, ...

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in 1919, she began

wholesaling Wholesaling or distributing is the sale of goods or merchandise to retailers; to industrial, commercial, institutional or other professional business users; or to other wholesalers (wholesale businesses) and related subordinated services. In ...

. By 1921, she owned an establishment with 50 workers in

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Nettie Rosenstein Inc.

In the 1920s American fashion business, imported fashions by named French couturiers were considered the best to be had. At this time Rosenstein's designs were sold by stores under their own labels, though purchasers were told that the dresses were in fact by Nettie Rosenstein. Through

word of mouth Word of mouth, or ''viva voce'', is the passing of information from person to person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling someone the time of day. Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where one pe ...

Rosenstein earned name recognition and her own-name label became a valuable commodity. Her clothes were retailed around America, but only one store in each city was permitted to carry fashions bearing Rosenstein's label. In 1927 Rosenstein tried an early retirement, but resumed designing in 1931, when she reopened on West 47th Street in collaboration with her sister-in-law Eva Rosencrans and Charles Gumprecht.Jewish Women's Archive,
Nettie Rosenstein
', (March 26, 2009) In 1937, Rosenstein was described by Life Magazine as one of the most highly regarded American designers. She was one of the first recipients of the

Neiman Marcus Fashion Award The Neiman Marcus Award for Distinguished Service in the Field of Fashion was a yearly award created in 1938 by Carrie Marcus Neiman and Stanley Marcus. Unlike the Coty Award, it was not limited to American-based fashion designers. Recipients of th ...

on its launch in 1938. In 1940, Rosenstein clothing was sold out of 92 shops and department stores across the USA, at prices ranging from $98 to $500.Harriman, Margaret Case;
Very Terrific, Very Divine
',

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

, October 19, 1940, p. 28 Whilst these prices were beyond the range of most consumers, Rosenstein's designs were so widely copied that she still influenced the average American woman's wardrobe. One such design was the "little black dress" designed to go from day to evening with low-cut evening necklines combined with daywear silhouettes and materials. Nettie Rosenstein designs also included printed dresses with gloves to match, and she was also known for her accessories and striking

. Many of the more striking Nettie Rosenstein garments were designed by Eva Rosencrans as Rosenstein preferred to focus her attention on running the business, and her sister-in-law was happy to let Nettie take credit for her work. Nettie Rosenstein announced her second retirement in March 1942, inspiring a tribute in

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.No More Nettie
TIME Magazine, Monday March 16, 1942 However, this retirement did not last long, as she resumed fashion design a few years later, winning a Coty Award in 1947. Nettie Rosenstein was responsible for First Lady

Mamie Eisenhower Mary Geneva "Mamie" Eisenhower (; November 14, 1896 – November 1, 1979) was the first lady of the United States from 1953 to 1961 as the wife of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Born in Boone, Iowa, she was raised in a wealthy household i ...

's dress commissioned by

Neiman Marcus Neiman Marcus Group, Inc. is an American integrated luxury retailer headquartered in Dallas, Texas, which owns Neiman Marcus, Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow, and Last Call. Since September 2021, NMG has been owned by a group of investment compani ...

for the 1953 presidential inauguration Ball, although the dress itself (and the subsequent 1957 ballgown for the second presidential inauguration) were designed by Eva Rosencrans, a good friend of Mamie's since 1950.

Later life

Nettie Rosenstein discontinued the fashion side of her business in 1961. Eva Rosencrans went on to design clothing for Ben Reig, while their long term business partner and Coty Award winner, Sol L. Klein, continued to design and manufacture costume jewelry and accessories under the name Nettie Rosenstein Accessories until 1975. He retired in 1975, the same time as the Nettie Rosenstein brand closed. On March 13, 1980, after a long illness, Nettie Rosenstein died at the age of 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosenstein, Nettie 1890 births 1980 deaths American fashion designers American women fashion designers Nettie Rosenstein Austro-Hungarian emigrants to the United States Austrian Jews American people of Austrian-Jewish descent People from Salzburg American jewelry designers Jewish fashion designers 20th-century American women Women jewellers