death_date birth_place |name label_name awards nationality birth_date article_title
26 february 1972 new york sylvia pedlar iris lingerie coty marcus fashion award -lrb- 1960 -rrb- . award -lrb- 1951 ; 1964 -rrb- , neiman american 1901 sylvia pedlar

sylvia pedlar

sylvia pedlar -lrb- 1901-1972 -rrb- was an american fashion designer specialising in lingerie .
she is the only designer to have won the special coty award more than once , in 1951 and 1964 .
born sylvia schlang in 1901 in new york , she was an art student at cooper union and the art students league of new york before marrying william a. pedlar .
in 1929 she launched her own business , iris lingerie , which she headed through to its closure in 1970 .
for her success pedlar relied on the high quality of her product rather than employing salesmen or purchasing advertising .
she is credited with creating super-short babydoll nighties in the early 1940s as a response to fabric shortages during world war ii , although she hated the term `` baby doll '' and refused to use it .
one of her most famous innovations was the easily removable toga-inspired négligée specially designed for women who slept in the nude .
she used the toga theme throughout her career , with one négligée prominently featured in 1962 by both `` life '' and `` harper 's bazaar '' .
she also reworked victorian styles such as the traditional modest flannel mother hubbard nightgown , which she produced in sheer flowing cotton , and reproduced nineteenth-century whitework embroidery by machine to such a high standard that her work rivalled luxurious handmade french lingerie .
examples of pedlar lingerie are held by the costume institute , and archival material dating from 1946-1967 is held by the fashion institute of technology .
pedlar died in new york on the 26th february 1972 .
