Nancy Melcher Diemand (1916-2015) was a fashion designer specializing in

lingerie Lingerie (, , ) is a category of primarily women's clothing including undergarments (mainly brassieres), sleepwear, and lightweight robes. The choice of the word is often motivated by an intention to imply that the garments are alluring, fashio ...

. In 1950, she became the first underwear designer to win a

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

Biography

Melcher was the daughter of the publisher

Frederic G. Melcher Frederic Gershom Melcher (April 12, 1879 – March 9, 1963) was an American publisher, bookseller, editor, and a major contributor to the library science field and book industry. He is particularly known for his contributions to the children's b ...

and his wife, children's author Marguerite Fellows Melcher. She was born 21 January 1916 in Indianapolis, Indiana, and grew up in

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair is a Township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a commercial and cultural hub of North Jersey and a diverse ...

. She studied at

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim ...

Smith College Smith College is a Private university, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts, United States. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smit ...

, and the McDowell School for Costume Design in New York. In 1942, she married John Anthony "Buzz" Diemand Jr., and the couple lived in Buckingham, Pennsylvania. The marriage lasted until his death in 1992.

Aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

was one of Melcher's favorite pastimes, although she also studied watercolor painting and pursued many different handicrafts, from pottery to quilting to carpentry. After her husband's death, Melchard volunteered at the Porter Hospital cafeteria and other local charitable establishments. She died at the age of 99 in the Eastview nursing home, Middlebury, Vermont, on 28 March 2015, and was survived by her son and daughter.

Fashion designer

Melcher joined the firm Vanity Fair in 1937 as a designer. Her work, in conjunction with clever advertising, helped make the firm famous and successful. In 1939, she patented a design for a combined corset and brassiere for Vanity Fair, which was approved in 1941. She was particularly known for her use of nylon, a synthetic fiber invented and produced by

DuPont Dupont, DuPont, Du Pont, duPont, or du Pont may refer to: People * Dupont (surname) Dupont, also spelled as DuPont, duPont, Du Pont, or du Pont is a French surname meaning "of the bridge", historically indicating that the holder of the surname re ...

, who stated in 1950 that Vanity Fair was the first firm to commercially produce heat-set, permanently-pleated nylon lingerie. Melcher won a Special

in 1950, making her the first underwear designer to be so recognized. The award-givers particularly noted her use of nylon tricot as original and having "brought new excitement and beauty to traditional and highly functional lingerie fashions."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melcher, Nancy 1916 births 2015 deaths American fashion designers American women fashion designers Smith College alumni Williams College alumni Artists from Indianapolis People from Middlebury, Vermont 20th-century American women Lingerie designers