Howard Greer (1886-1974) was a Hollywood fashion designer and a costume designer in the Golden Age of American cinema, and credited by Vogue on having “a sixth sense about the fashion future “.

1940s vintage photo: Deanna Durbin in Hoop Skirt Styled Lace Fabric Flowered Evening Dress Designed by Howard Greer — Source: All Posters

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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.

Vintage Fashion Designer: Howard Greer-The Man with the Sixth Sense

Notable Career Highlights:

* Howard Greer began his fashion career at Lucile in 1916, working in both her New York and Chicago branches before serving in France in World War I.

* After the war, he remained in Europe, working for Lucille, Paul Poiret, and Molyneux, and designing for the theatre.

* He returned to America in 1921, and through his theatre work was hired as chief designer for Famous Players-Lasky studios.

* He was the first major costume designer to take the leap of establishing his own couture house in 1927.

* He designed primarily modern dress films with glamorous wardrobes for the star, no matter what her social standing. Though he did add society women and their daughters to his clientele as his workmanship became more well-known.

* His Ready-To-Wear line created in 1947 was sold around the country and he was in the top-tier of American ready-to-wear designers.

* He designed custom clothing for the stars until his retirement in 1962 (Source).

Howard Greer Designs:

* Tended toward the expensive afternoon and evening clothes of the fitted torso type with eye-catching effects.

* Did not follow the padded shoulder line of the 1940s, and liked to work with black combined with a range of pinks for contrast.

* Specialized in cocktail and dinner dresses that he specifically designed to look good seated at a table with stunning necklines (Source).

1940s Rayon Cocktail Howard Greer Dress.

Howard Greer 1940s Cocktail Dress -1940s Fashion. — Source: Flickr-Raina

Fantastic example of a beautiful neckline design on this 1940s Howard Greer dress.

Howard Greer 1940s dress -Fantastic example of beautiful neckline design on this 1940s dress. — Source: The vintage minimalist

1940s peekaboo floral and black dress.

1940s Cocktail Dress with lace like detail along the front.

Howard Greer Fashion Designs in the Movies:

Katharine Hepburn’s 1938 hit movie ‘Bringing up Baby‘ with Cary Grant featured Howard Greer Designs.

Another gown from ‘Bringing up Baby’.

bringing up baby Howard Greer 1930s outfit worn by Katherine Hepburn.

‘My Favorite Wife‘-1940 featuring Irene Dunne & Cary Grant. Those 1940s dresses are…AMAZING!

'My Favorite Wife'-1940 featuring Irene Dunne & Cary Grant. 1940s Dresses by Howard Greer — Source: The Motion Pictures Blog

Irene Dunne in ‘Love Affair‘, 1939. Howard Greer, costume design.

Designing outside of the movies:

Howare Greer Fashion Designs Outside of the Movies:

Rita Hayworth in 1941 wearing a pink & silver lamé gown.

The Wedding Dress for Gloria Vanderbilt for her wedding to Pat DiCicco in 1941.

And for something completely different. Greer created a dress called “The Travel Dress” (which I seriously need). Same dress 12 ways for travel. Seen in Look magazine Jan. 1, 1952.

1950s Fashion: "The Travel Dress" (which I seriously need). Same dress 12 ways for travel. Seen in Look magazine Jan. 1, 1952. — Source: Coco’s Retro Closet

Today, Howard Greers are very hard to find but I did find some currently on the web, if you have the money and are the right size. Happy shopping!

Note: If you click on a link and the item is no longer avail, don’t worry..Etsy has lots of products on their website that just might work, you just have to do a bit of searching (which is always fun).

Howard Greer Fashion Designs “Other” Examples:

First up, why not make your OWN Howard Greer 1950s Button Front Day Dress w/ Pockets as seen on this vintage sewing pattern (in mint condition). Available as of April 2023 HERE.

Howard Greer 1950s Button Front Waist Day Dress w/ Pockets as seen on this vintage sewing pattern.

Source: Etsy

1950s navy blue couture Howard Greer Cocktail Dress.

Howard Greer 1950s Cocktail Dress in Blue. 1950s Fashion. — Source: Etsy-MotherOfVintage

1940S Howard Greer Silk Crepe Short Sleeve Cocktail Dress With taffeta bands & bows.

1940s Fashion: Howard Greer Silk Crepe Short Sleeve Cocktail Dress With Taffeta Bands & Bows

Source: Etsy

Fringed 1930s/1940s Cocktail Dress.

Howard Greer 1930s 1940s Cocktail Dress — Source: Etsy-EadoVintage

1940s, silk dress with lace detailing a chiffon top and balloon sleeves. STUNNING!

Howard Greer 1940s Silk Dress -1940s, silk dress with lace detailing a chiffon top and balloon sleeves. — Source: 1st Dibs

You may not be able to wear the 1948 women’s Howard Greer cocktail dress in this Lord & Taylor vintage fashion ad but you can frame it and put it up on your wall to admire (avail as of April 2023 HERE).

1940s Vintage Ad: 1948 women's Howard Greer cocktail dress at Lord & Taylor vintage fashion ad

Source: eBay

Here is another vintage fashion ad to frame -1954 Marshall Field & Co women’s Howard Greer black lace dress vintage ad (avail as of April 2023 HERE).

1950s vintage ad: 1954 Marshall Field & Co women's Howard Greer black lace dress vintage ad

Source: eBay

Lastly, looking for a read? Then make sure you pick up his Autobiography, ‘Designing Male’ (if you can find it).

Now friends,weren’t all those dresses just fantastic?! Sigh I sure would love to own them all. What were your favorites?

Further Reading:

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

Liz 🙂

Do you join me in being equally addicted to Pinterest or do I stand alone? I don’t think I do since I find myself liking many of the images and boards that my lovely readers post (I see you! hehehe).

Today I’m going to share with you some of the fun vintage things I’m liking/loving on Pinterest. Maybe you like the same ones? Or have others you want me to see. If so lets follow each other!

Collection of Vintage Images, Advertisements, Fashons and more as seen on Pinterest

Now lets check out my board “Vintage Photos from the 1920s -1960s“. By now you know I love vintage photos, I’m such a sucker for a good one or two or three. Here are some of the goodies I have fallen in love with recently.

What caught my eye in this wonderful 1940s photo was how this young woman has managed to make her war work smock super stylish with all these fantastic details. Her well styled 1940s hair, her dainty pearl necklace, brooch that looks like it has berries and a pine cone on it, that beautiful small watch and her cute bow in hair as the cherry on top. Wonderful and sure does spice up what could be a super boring work attire.

Further Reading:

1940s vintage photo of a woman in 1940s fashion and 1940s hairstyle working on the homefront during WW2

On the website where this 1940 photo came from, the blogger mentioned that all he knew was that the picture was 1942 and that was it. His theory was maybe the girl was in Hollywood looking for stardom and I think I have to agree. All her hopes and dreams in one little suitcase, looking out to the world wondering if she will be the next big star, will someone notice her? Gosh I hope something happened for this pretty young woman.

1942 vintage woman on the street with a suitcase in 1940s fashion. — Source: Old Photos Blogspot

A women’s bowling team poses on the front of Chevrolet in a showroom. San Francisco, California 1945.

Not 100% sure what a Chevrolet and Bowling have in common but I love this photo for all the fun details. Aren’t the ladies outfits just adorable? And I’m kind of crushing on the wedges on the lovely blonde on the left front.

Further Reading: 1940s & 1950s Bowling Fun!

A women’s bowling team poses on the front of Chevrolet in a showroom. San Francisco, California 1945 — Source: Tumblr-Hoodoo That Voodoo

For my final photo in this section, I HAD to share this darling couple from the 1940s. They have such style (can we talk about her shoes for a moment? ohhhhh pretty!) and I kind of think her very handsome man looks a bit like Denzel Washington (or Denzel looks like him I should say).

Further Reading: Vintage Photo Tuesday: Vintage Black Style

1940s vintage photo of a stylish Black Man and Black Woman posing in front of their car in 1940s fashions. — Source: Etsy-TheTwinkleOfAnEye (not for sale anymore)

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

Next Board “For the Vintage Styled Home“. I live in a teeny tiny small apartment in Toronto so I’m constantly dreaming about my future home..vintage home I should say. Ideally it would be a craftsman or even a mid-century bungalow but I won’t be too picky if it meant I could have a big closet. Here are some of the vintage details that inspire me…

Question..How to move in to this living-room asap and add Don Draper sitting on a bar stool (my husband won’t mind, I swear!).

mid-century retro living room — Source: Flickr

Atomic Print Wallpaper…love it!

Further Reading: Fall in Love with Mid-Century, Atomic Age ‘Starbursts’ Design

Atomic print wallpaper retro 1950s 1960s — Source-Etsy: littlesuzyhomemaker

Vintage TV as a cool Retro Bar, yup my husband would approve of this piece.

Cool Home Craft Idea: Vintage TV being used as a Vintage Bar — Source: Fat shack Vintage Blog

Friends, I cannot possibly do a blog post on Pinterest and not show off some of the vintage clothing pieces I’m drooling over on the on the Internet..right? So here you go.

1940’s dress & bolero jacket by James Rothenberg. I cried a little when I saw this stunning and very different dress and I can just see it looking absolutely amazing on some lucky gal who can fit in it. If I owned it, I would just look at my sleeves all day as they are my favorite part (I’m a nerd I know).

1940s Fashion: Vintage 1940s Dress & Bolero Jacket 1941 New York Creation Label James Rothenberg — Source: Etsy-swingkatsvintage

1940s rayon dress. This is so Liz and also several other ladies as well from the amount of shares on Pinterest this dress has had. But seriously I don’t blame anyone, how could you not love this simple design?

1940s vintage Rayon Dress with a novelty print, yellow and black. — Source-Etsy: Mill Street Vintage

I have been wanting to get into 1930s dresses for a while now but I not sure about the silhoutte with my figure, however I do believe this particular dress would do the job. A “Solène” Original 1930’s Capelet Gown.

1930s Fashion: 1930s Solene Original Capelet Gown — Source: Relevant

The last image I’m going to show you falls into a couple of categories so I’m showing it on its own. The last remaining sombrero restaurant on old Route 66.

I can just imagine that you can see the top of the Sombrero from miles away. I know I would want to stop, I love Mexican food. Yum!

Route 66 mexican restaurant -The last remaining sombrero restaurant on old Route 66.

There it is friends, some of my favorite Pins from Pinterest. Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the things that inspire me and I look forward to maybe see your Pinterest loves as well.

Further Reading:

Liz

Tag: 1940’s dresses