Carrie Munn….Fashion Designer & Socialite. Have you heard of her? I had not until 20 mins ago when I was browsing Etsy for 1950s vintage dresses and came upon one of her creations, a 50s tailored blouse and circle skirt with military inspired embellishments. GORGEOUS!

1950s Fashion: 1950s Ensemble by Carrie Munn. Tailored Blouse and Circle Skirt with Military Inspired Embellishments.

Source: Etsy

Now what does one do when they don’t know something? They do their research and that is exactly what I did! I had to know more about the designer who made this beautiful outfit.

Unfortantely there is not a lot of information on Carrie (AKA Mrs. Orson Munn) but we do have photos of some of her designs, society images & vintage advertising.

Let’s take a look!

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

Note: If you click on an item and it is no longer available, don’t fret! The websites I have provided are updated daily with 1000’s of new & vintage items. Just do a quick search and see what you find.

Carrie Munn-1940s & 1950s American Fashion Designer and Socialite

1951 Vintage Image of Fashion designer Carrie Munn in 1950s Dress of her designs in a vintage ad

Source: Wikidata

Background on Carrie Munn

Mrs. Munn was best known for her feminine designs, which featured billowing skirts and slim waists and used lace, sequins and ribbon. She also designed ready-to-wear clothes.

Here is a 1952 Cigarette Ad featuring Carrie Munn in one of her designs. STUNNING DRESS!

1950s Vintage Ad for Fatima Cigarettes featuring an image of Fashion designer Carrie Munn in one of her 1950s evening gowns.

Source: eBay

Caroline “Carrie” Nunder was born in Buffalo in 1898 and in 1924 married Orson D. Munn, who was the editor and publisher of Scientific American magazine until he sold his interest in 1947. Mr. Munn died in 1958.

In 1942, without any formal training in fashion design, Mrs. Munn opened a dress shop, Carrie Munn, at 640 Madison Avenue. Among her most popular designs was a quilted tapestry skirt decorated with sequins.

Mrs. Munn was known for her parties at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, which featured shows of her most recent designs (Source).

She passed away in 1984.

The Museum at FIT call’s Munn’s work “derivative” of Dior and Balenciaga (Source).

Fashion designer Carrie Munn (Mrs. Orson D. Munn) in a 1951 advertisement for Utica and Mohawk Cotton Mills, Inc.

“I live on Park Avenue…I sleep in Utica”

Source: Wikimedia

Press photo from the 1920s of Mrs. Harold Wall, Mrs. Orson D. Munn (I think she is the one on the right), Mrs. WIlliam Fleitmann in incredible 1920s dresses, hats and shoes. Another very fashionable photo. (Available as of July 27th, 2021 HERE)

1920s Vintage Photo: Press photo from the 1920s of Mrs. Harold Wall, Mrs. Orson D. Munn, Mrs. WIlliam Fleitmann in incredible 1920s Dresses, hats and shoes. Another very fashionable photo. (Available as of July 27th, 2021 HERE)

Source: eBay

1932 Press photo of Mrs Orson D Munn at Southhampton Long Island NY in the most FANTASTIC 1930s outfit (love it!). (Available as of July 27th, 2021 HERE)

1930s Photo: 1932 Press Photo Mrs Orson D Munn at Southampton Long Island NY in 1930s beach pajamas

“Society Matron at Southhampton….

New York…Mr.s Orson D. Munn, popular society leader, as she appeared at Southhampton, Long Island, where she is a prominent member of the fashionable summer colony. July 30th, 1932.”

1930s Photo: 1932 Press Photo BACK. The front features Mrs Orson D Munn at Southampton Long Island NY in 1930s beach pajamas

Source: eBay

1950s Photo of Mrs. Orson Munn (seated L) and Mrs. Bruno Graf (seated R) posing in a fashion show with their grand daughters, daughter and daughter-in-law.

I am unsure if the dresses in the image are a Carrie Munn Creation (but I’m thinking they are).

1950s Vintage Photo: Mrs. Orson Munn (seated L) and Mrs. Bruno Graf (seated R) posing in a fashion show with their grand daughters, daughter and daughter-in-law. All the women are wearing 1950s dresses

Source: Getty Images

1950s Photo of Socialite Mrs. Orson (Carrie) Munn, escorted by Earl Blackwell, director of celebrity service, arrives at the fashionable first night of the Metropolitan Opera House tonight.

Mrs. Munn wore a gown of golden beige moire with an immense skirt of unpressed pleats. Over it was fitted jacket of the same fabric with deep mink cuffs. Gold and diamond jewelry and a golden lacquer coiffure completed the ensemble.

Television carried the glossy opening night spectacle to 32 theaters throughout the nation (Source).

1950s Vintage Photo showcasing 1950s fashions. 1950s Photo of Socialite Mrs. Orson (Carrie) Munn, escorted by Earl Blackwell, director of celebrity service, arrives at the fashionable first night of the Metropolitan Opera House tonight.

Mrs. Munn wore a gown of golden beige moire with an immense skirt of unpressed pleats. Over it was fitted jacket of the same fabric with deep mink cuffs. Gold and diamond jewelry and a golden lacquer coiffure completed the ensemble.

Source: Getty Images

Carrie Munn Fashion Designs Examples

1950s Woman’s Evening Ensemble: Dress and Slip. WOW! The back is even more stunning then the front.

1950s Fashion: Woman's Evening Ensemble: Dress and Slip c. 1950s Designed by Carrie Munn, American, 1898 - 1984

Source: Philadelphia Museum of Art

Elizabeth Parke Firestone, wife of tire magnate Harvey S. Firestone, Jr., cultivated a refined sense of fashion. Her fashion choices not only reflected her years of interest in clothing design and collaboration with world-renowned couturiers, but also highlighted her family’s social standing.

Firestone wore this jacketed dress — by American designer Carrie Munn — to her 25th wedding anniversary celebration at New York’s Ritz Hotel in 1946.

She would go on and wear several of Carrie Munn Designs.

1940s Vintage Dress-Firestone wore this jacketed dress -- by American designer Carrie Munn -- to her 25th wedding anniversary celebration at New York's Ritz Hotel in 1946.

Source: Arts and Culture Google

Here is the dress that was under the jacket. YOOZA!

Elizabeth Parke Firestone at Her 25th Wedding Anniversary Celebration with Daughters Martha and Elizabeth, June 25, 1946 (Source).

1940s Vintage Photo: Elizabeth Parke Firestone at Her 25th Wedding Anniversary Celebration with Daughters Martha and Elizabeth, June 25, 1946

Source: Henry Ford Museum

Satin Jacquard Evening Dress with Diagonal Stripes, about 1947.

This garment was owned by Elizabeth Parke Firestone. She is shown wearing this dress in photographs taken by Cecil Beaton for Vogue Magazine in very late 1949 or early 1950. Elizabeth also wore this dress at a party for her eldest daughter, Elizabeth (Source).

Source: Digital Library Wayne Edu

1940s Photo: Elizabeth Parke Firestone is shown wearing this and another dress in photographs taken by Cecil Beaton for Vogue Magazine in very late 1949 or early 1950

When I look at this next dress, all I can think about is SPRING! What another knockout 1950s Dress! Don’t you just love the flowers on the skirt? How creative!

1950s Fashion: Carrie Munn 1950s Vintage Dress Green with Flowers. Spring Dress

Source: The museum of fine arts, Houston

1941 Vintage Photo: In The Carrie Munn winter collection shown at the luncheon fashion show at the Waldorf-Astoria was this red wool dinner suit with small black velvet collar trimmed with jeweled buttons. With it are two black fox muffs worn as cuffs.

1940s Photo: 1941 vintage photo of a Model Wearing Hat and Long Suit with Fur Trim. The outfit is a Carrie Munn Design. Beautiful 1940s fashion.

Source: Getty Images

Carrie Munn, 1950s Beige, Cream and Pink Dress. Big fan of this combo!

1950s Vintage Dress by Carrie Munn -1950s Beige, Cream and Pink Evening Dress.

Source: Pinterest

Late 1940s, Carrie Munn Apron Gown. Another stunner of a Spring dress!

Carrie Munn Apron Gown 1940s vintage dress. The dress is ivory organza jacquard with the sleeveless boned bodice embroidered with a single large variegated pastel pink rose on a stalk. The circle skirt has two underlayers and the long apron with picot trim and two rows embroidered roses.

Source: Doyle.com

1953 Cocktail Dress. Black jersey sleeveless bodice with bib of black braid and cord, faille circle skirt, braid and cord decorated net apron. THE DETAILS! Fantastic!

1950s Fashion: 1953 Cocktail Dress. Black jersey sleeveless bodice with bib of black braid and cord, faille circle skirt, braid and cord decorated net apron

Source: Bidsquare.com

Why there is not more on this designer, I will never know. Her creations are beautiful and yet she is footnote on many pages (and it was a HUNT to find images of her designs).

Hopefully this blog post will help shed a bit more light on Carrie Munn to those, like myself who had no idea who she was. Special thanks to FabGabs who brought her to my attention.

Question time: Did you enjoy learning about this designer? Have you ever seen her designs in real life or even on the web? Share in the comments section below, I would love to learn some more!

Further Reading:

Vintage Fashion Designers (Archived Blog Posts)
Vintage Fashion 1920s-1960s (Archived Blog Posts)

Take care!

Liz

Vintage Photo Tuesday is back with images of women at work from 1940s to the 1960s.

Let’s jump right in and see what I found!

1941 vintage ww2 photo of a canadian woman working on an airplane part for the war effort vintage photo — 1941 vintage ww2 photo of a canadian woman working on an airplane

Disclosure: Some of the links on my blog from Etsy , eBay are Affiliate Links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

June 1955 photo of women picking up their pay check at their office. Wonder where they work, where they have lockers? Super 1950 dresses on our featured ladies.

1950s vintage photo: June 1955 Vintage Photo of women picking up their pay check at their office.

Source: Etsy

NASA research mathematician Katherine Johnson is photographed at her desk at NASA Langley Research Center with a globe, or “Celestial Training Device,” in 1962 (Source).

About Katherine:

Born on Aug. 26, 1918, in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, Johnson began her career in 1953 at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the agency that preceded NASA, one of a number of African-American women hired to work as “computers” in what was then their Guidance and Navigation Department.

Johnson worked at Langley from 1953 until her retirement in 1986, making critical technical contributions which included calculating the trajectory of the 1961 flight of Alan Shepard, the first American in space. She is also credited with verifying the calculations made by early electronic computers of John Glenn’s 1962 launch to orbit and the 1969 Apollo 11 trajectory to the moon. Johnson worked on the Space Shuttle Program and the Earth Resources Satellite and encouraged students to pursue careers in science and technology (Source).

1960s Vintage Photo of Katherine Johnson at Work, 1962 at Nasa. Hidden Figures.

Source: NASA

Hanging out at the elevator at work. 1950s image of 3 women at their office.

Vintage Photo Three Women In Elevator Office Building 1950s / 1960’s

Source: Etsy

The below 1960s picture is my favorite of ALL the photos that will appear in this post..why? Well you may or may not know that two women in this image are tying Rebar (Reinforcing Steel) in Cuba. Why do I care? Because my family is a reinforcing steel family.

My grandparents (and my dad) are immigrants from Germany in the early 1950s to Canada. They made their way to the city I grew up in (Sarnia, Ontario) where my grandfather started a Reinforcing Steel business called ‘Gruening Steel’. The business main job was to cut, bend and install Rebar (the tying you see below). We had this business until the 1990s. I even worked in the yard one summer and then moved into the office during my college days. My dad still works in the business for the company that bought the family business way back when.

ALSO! There are very very little women in this business out in the field. The only women I knew who did this job was my aunt (my dad’s sister) and she had to put up with a lot of men being..men back in the 70s & 80s. My aunt eventually moved into the office doing detailing (the breaking down of where the rebar goes for buildings) which is still a male dominated job. She is pretty darn amazing!

So now you know why I love this photo.

Side note…tying rebar is a very hard job and using the right tools does make it easier. No gloves, too big of gloves and using your hands or a allen key instead of pliers will make the job go 10 times slower. I applaud these women for what they are doing because it’s not easy.

1960s vintage photo of 2 women in Cuba Tying Rebar

Source: eBay

1950s vintage photo of two office women in a room filled with ledgers and paperwork. A young man is in the photo as well. That is a lot of papers..yooza!

Source: Etsy

Coming soon to a blog post near you…Ontario’s Farmerettes: Canada’s Forgotten Wartime Heroes.

From 1941-1952 the Farmerettes were high school aged girls, who planted, hoed, thinned, sprayed, staked, detasseled and harvested the fruit and vegetables in Southern Ontario (I grew up in this area) when the men had left farm labour jobs to enlist for service to fight for our freedom (Source). FANTASTIC!

Ontario’s Farmerettes: The True Story of Canada’s Forgotten Wartime Heroes 1940s-1950s.

Source: Readers Digest

Now if you wish to jump ahead and learn more about these women, please check out the webpage “Farmerettes in Ontario” by Bonnie Sitter & Shirleyan English. You can also pick up her book “Onion Skins and Peach Fuzz” HERE (scroll to bottom for ordering details).

1940s photo of a young Black woman working on a machine in a factory. According to the Library of Congress, “Plant foremen point to 20-year-old Annie Tabor as one of their best lathe operators, despite her lack of previous industrial experience.”

Source: Buzzfeed

Waitresses at Ipswich’s Regal Café, c1940. Look at those outfits! WOW!

The back of this photo is inscribed to the Greek proprietor: To Jimmy from Lorna, Ethel, Audrey and Jean. The two waitresses seated in the middle were Ethel Dreier (left) and her older sister Lorna Dreier (right). (Source).

Source: Queensland Historical Atlas

Vintage photo of a young woman working the cash register at the hobby shop in the 1950’s.

Vintage Photo Shirley Working The Cash Register at Hobby Shop 1950's

Source: Etsy

1950s maybe early 1960s photo of a young Black Woman working at a diner in her uniform. Notice the price of drink and food above her head? So cheap for donuts!

1950s 1960s vintage photo of a young black woman working at a coffee shop soda fountain

Source: Pinterest

Vintage image of “Betty” at work at J C Penney’s in the 1960’s. What a fun photo!

Vintage Photo Betty at Work at J C Penney's 1960's, Original Found Photo, Vernacular Photography

Source: Etsy

A list of soda fountain flavours can be seen on the sign behind Vera Dawson and Maureen Sheppard, who were waitresses at Londy’s Café in Ipswich in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Super 1949 Hairstyles!

1940s Vintage Photo of Two lovely waitresses-Vera & "Myself". Super 1940s Hairstyles

Source: Queensland Historical Atlas

I hope you enjoyed this editon of VPT. It is always fun on my end to browse vintage photos for hours at a time.

Share in the comments section what your favourite images were!

Thanks for stopping by!

Liz

Month: July 2021