William "Bill" Atkinson (1916-1995) was an American architect and fashion designer working in the

American sportswear Sportswear is an American fashion term originally used to describe separates, but which since the 1930s has come to be applied to day and evening fashions of varying degrees of formality that demonstrate a specific relaxed approach to their desig ...

style.

Early life

Atkinson was born in

Troy, New York Troy is a city in the U.S. state of New York and the county seat of Rensselaer County. The city is located on the western edge of Rensselaer County and on the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Troy has close ties to the nearby cities of Albany ...

, in 1916. He studied architecture and landscaping at Cornell University and worked for

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

as a set designer and

Chrysler Stellantis North America (officially FCA US and formerly Chrysler ()) is one of the " Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn Hills, Michigan. It is the American subsidiary of the multinational automot ...

before launching a private architectural practice in 1945. He won the

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

for architecture in 1940. He was also a keen nature and fashion photographer.

Fashion career

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Atkinson made a skirt for his first wife out of

bandana A kerchief (from the Old French ''couvrechief'', "cover head"), also known as a bandana, bandanna, or "Wild Rag" (in cowboy culture), is a triangular or square piece of cloth tied around the head, face or neck for protective or decorative purp ...

s as a way of getting around government

rationing Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...

, which led to requests for similar garments and in 1950, he started a firm called Glen of Michigan in collaboration with a contractor. He designed sportswear (an American term for separates and relaxed dressing, rather than activewear for sports) collections for the Milwaukee-based firm, as well as heading up its childrenswear and junior lines. However Atkinson also offered actual sporting clothing, and in 1957 ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice ...

'' voted him Designer of the Year for his

calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

corduroy Corduroy is a textile with a distinctively raised "cord" or wale texture. Modern corduroy is most commonly composed of tufted cords, sometimes exhibiting a channel (bare to the base fabric) between them. Both velvet and corduroy derive from f ...

and

tweed Tweed is a rough, woollen fabric, of a soft, open, flexible texture, resembling cheviot or homespun, but more closely woven. It is usually woven with a plain weave, twill or herringbone structure. Colour effects in the yarn may be obtained ...

designs which were equally wearable for traveling, spectating sports, or while playing

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...

and similar sports. He went on to collaborate with ''Sports Illustrated'' on a collection of golfing clothing for Spring 1958. He finally created a design consultancy in 1970 called Presentations, and in 1974, in partnership with his second wife Jeanne Atkinson, a consultant in the fashion industry, created Bill Atkinson Inc. The company specialized in sportswear which was offered at reasonable bridge price points (bridging the gap between expensive and budget lines), one of the first to do so before it became a common fashion manufacturing practice. In 1978, the Coty jury voted for him to receive that year's

Coty Award The Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards (awarded 1943–1984) were created in 1942 by the cosmetics and perfume company Coty, Inc. to promote and celebrate American fashion, and encourage design during the Second World War. In 1985, the Coty A ...

for fashion design, and the following year, he won a Dallas Fashion Award. He sold his business to the Toronto-based sportswear company Highland Queen in 1982, officially retired from the fashion industry in 1984, and bought his name back from Highland Queen in 1985.

Personal life and death

Atkinson was married twice. His first, to Sylvia F. Weaver, ended in divorce in 1960. He and Jeanne divorced in 1986. He died 20 August 1995 at home in

Westport, Connecticut Westport is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, along the Long Island Sound within Connecticut's Gold Coast. It is northeast of New York City. The town had a population of 27,141 according to the 2020 U.S. Census. History ...

, of natural causes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Bill 1916 births 1995 deaths American fashion designers Architects from New York (state) Set designers People from Troy, New York People from Westport, Connecticut Children's clothing designers