Augusta Bernard, also Augustabernard, (1886–1946) was a French

fashion designer Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashi ...

who gained recognition for creating long, neoclassical evening dresses during the early 1930s. She ran a salon in

Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré The Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré () is a street located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Relatively narrow and nondescript, especially in comparison to the nearby Avenue des Champs-Élysées, it is cited as being one of the most lu ...

, in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

, until 1934 when she retired.

Biography

Born in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the France–Italy border, Italian border ...

in 1886, Bernard began her career as a dress-maker by copying the designs of other couturiers. After first opening a studio in

Biarritz Biarritz ( , , , ; Basque also ; oc, Biàrritz ) is a city on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department in the French Basque Country in southwestern France. It is located from the border with Sp ...

, she moved to Paris in 1922, establishing a studio there the following year. She specialized in creating long, pale-coloured evening dresses, often cut

on the bias For woven textiles, grain refers to the orientation of the weft and warp threads. The three named grains are straight grain, cross grain, and the bias grain. In sewing, a pattern piece can be cut from fabric in any orientation, and the chosen grain ...

. In order to achieve asymmetry, the simple, unadorned designs were often put together piecemeal. Bernard became increasingly prominent over the years, especially in the 1930s after the fashionable Marquise de Paris had won the St Moritz fashion competition in the silver lamé evening gown she had designed. Her salon on the luxurious Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré became popular not only with French women interested in haute couture but also with Americans. In 1932, ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'' featured a photograph of one of her neoclassical evening dresses, which had been selected as the most beautiful dress of the year. One of her most prestigious dresses and one of her very last is an ivory tulle gown she created in the autumn of 1934, considered by Patricia Mears, deputy director of

The Museum at FIT The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

, to be her ''magnum opus''. With the onset of the Great Depression, her clients found it increasingly difficult to pay their bills. As a result, she closed her salon in 1934 and retired. She died in 1946.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernard, Augusta 1886 births 1946 deaths 20th-century French women artists People from Provence French fashion designers French women fashion designers