Jane Derby (born Jeanette Fleming Barr; May 17, 1895 – August 7, 1965) was an American

fashion designer Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applied arts, applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction, and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by diverse cultures and different trends and has va ...

Biography

Jeanette Fleming Barr was born in

Rocky Mount, Virginia Rocky Mount is a town in and the county seat of Franklin County, Virginia, United States. The town is part of the Roanoke metropolitan area, and had a population of 4,903 as of the 2020 census. It is located in the Roanoke Region of Virginia. H ...

in 1895. She first worked as an apprentice designer before opening her own business in 1936 in New York. She later opened Jane Derby, Inc., in 1938, which she ran continuously until her death in 1965 (with the exception of during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

). She was one of the first fashion designers to show the short dinner dress. In 1951 she received the Winnie award of the Coty American Fashion Critics' Awards. She was married to Arthur Lawrence Derby from 1915 until his death in 1961, and in December 1964 remarried to Ross Cuthbert (1892-1970), a former Olympic ice hockey player and retired lieutenant colonel of the British Army. Derby had children, including a son, Arthur (1916-1944), who was killed in action in

. Derby died in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

in August 1965, aged 70.

Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

then took control of her company, having worked there before her death.

References

1895 births 1965 deaths American fashion designers American women fashion designers 20th-century American women {{US-fashion-bio-stub