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An eye-catching archive of 150 original fashion designs by young Marian Ross created primarily for the Gay Gibson label at Gernes Garment Co. through the 1960’s with some of her late 1950’s designs for women’s wear reflecting the very influential fashion trends of Dior Givenchy Cardin Courreges and Simonetta. Many reflect into the 1960’s Dior’s “New Look†with emphasis on hourglass figure small waist billowing skirts and elegant cocktail dresses along with those of slimmer fashions and clean lines of Coco Chanel with a focus on translating these for young women juniors and young teens marketed throughout the Midwest under the Gay Gibson label.

1955 · 62463 — New York NY Kansas City MO & Carmel Santa Barbara & San Francisco CA: Marian Ross Mizelle Madrigal 1955-1974. Four Vols. and original Store Sign for Carmel CA boutique. Folio. 2 - 12 x 15.25 in. & 2 - 13 x 19 in. 48; 48; 48; 48 pp unpaginated. all w/ mylar sleeves archival black paper insert backings with 151 original designs in gouache watercolour chalk and pen & ink 38 in pen & ink or pencil sized from 7 x 11 in. up to 10 x 15 in. and nearly all signed by Marian Ross three feature original fabric sample swatches affixed to them including one w/ pencil MS “Winner†and mimeographed description affixed to verso several of them are translucent pochoir stapled to backing paper many are on thick stiff studio board while others on assorted textured paper stock. In addition there are three newspaper and magazine clippings 1966 & 2013 a photostat copy of early Ross Mizelle “Mod†fashion designs and original black & white silver gelatin photo of young Marian Ross modeling a wedding dress. All are preserved in flexible vinyl portfolios printed labels on spines some minor scuffing & shelfwear to portfolios occasional very minor closed tears or edgewear to the designs a few w/ minor holes from removed staples still an exemplary archive of designs together with the original Madrigal signboard sized 16 x 27 in. from their Carmel CA store. This sensational archive of original fashion designs for Kansas City MO based department store suppliers by Marian Ross Mizelle before her move to California in the 1970’s to establish the Madrigal boutique with her husband Elliot A. Mizelle 1916-2007. These vividly reveal the Mid-20th-Century fashion trends following World War II. Many of the designs in this collection reflect the transition from the late 1950’s elegance and emphasis on Dior’s “New Look†highlighting femininity and opulent use of fabrics towards the more youthful designs emerging out of Swinging London which were a slimming down beginning to raise hemlines with short skirts bolero tops and increasing influence of Pierre Cardin Andre Courreges and Givenchy. The Mid-20th-Century saw a tremendous upsurge in marketing slimmer lines tighter fitting bodices and fashions emerging from such cultural events as Audry Hepburn in her iconic 1961 “Breakfast at Tiffany’s†film which heavily influenced a generation of young women.Young Marian Ross b. 1936 after completing her Fashion Academy certificate in 1955 free-lanced and worked in the New York fashion industry before landing with the influential and hot-selling Gay Gibson label with Gernes Garment Co. in 1961. The Gernes Garment Co. had been originally founded in 1928 by Sara Desaix Gernes 1896-1978 and her husband Alexander Gernes 1882-1947 to market her groundbreaking fashion designs targeting everyday fashion for young women juniors and teens. Her designs proved very popular as she initiated and fashioned sizing and dresses and clothing for teenagers through young college-age women and her designs proved very successful and were marketed through Chicago’s Marshall Field’s department store. By 1961 the Gernes Garment Co. moved their design and pattern making department to New York to capture young fashion designers such as Marian Ross as well as be closer to the influential couturier houses in New York & Paris. The Gay Gibson label was marketed in Mademoiselle Seventeen Glamour and Vogue magazines with Twiggy often modeling Gay Gibson dresses in the 1960’s. Marian’s designs were inventive playful and emphasizing movement as well as comfort. Many of the fashion patterns depict her models in flats ballet flats or even shoeless while dressed in elegant evening or formal dress. Also depicted are designs such as billowing harem pants modified and sleek upscale poodle skirts and Tartan patterned capes pockets dresses and accessories. Others encompass swimwear ski wear as well as the emphasized and often enforced domesticity of the late 1950’s to 1960’s with stylish plaid house-dresses in the kitchen and bar as well as frequent use of lace. The Gay Gibson label maintained a showroom at 1407 Broadway on the 39th Floor in New York ad held over 24 showings from 1961-1969 including Junior Dresses Summer Collections Spring Junior Collections as well as Holiday and Resort collections. By the early 1970’s the label was having financial difficulties and the popularity began to drop with the company run by Desaix Gernes her mother and husband Paul before folding a few years after Sara Desaix Gernes’ death. Marian and Elliot Mizelle established Madrigal Inc. name chosen because of the seductive chic of Manhattan’s Le Madrigal restaurant and grew into a legendary luxury boutique at one point operating store fronts in Santa Barbara downtown San Francisco and Carmel CA. In her 2015 interview for “Women in Business†with the Carmel Pine Cone Marian stated she “wanted to be an actress but it didn’t work out that way. I used to sketch a lot so I studied design instead. Everything I touched while was designing worked. I got a lot of jobs and was featured on a lot of Seventeen magazine covers.†This cataloguer could find not similar extant archive of original designs for the 1960’s period of the Gay Gibson label or for Marian Ross Mizelle; See: Interview with Desaix Gernes Garment Industry Oral History Collection The Kansas City Public Library Jan. 14 2005 SC229 Series 2 2024; Gay Gibson Vintage Fashion Guild 2025; Donnelly Garment Company vs. International Ladies Garment Workers Union et al Photographs Clothing Demonstration The Pendergast Years Kansas City in the Jazz Age & Great Depression 2025. Marian Ross Mizelle, Madrigal, hardcover