Fashion designer Jackie Rogers, who had shops on Worth Avenue and in Manhattan, died on Tuesday, January 24, 2023. She was 90 years old.
“She was an icon,” said Sherry Frankel, director of the Worth Avenue Association. “She was 90 years old in the fashion industry…she was an inspiration.”
She was the muse of Coco Chanel and has dressed celebrities including Lee Radziwill, Barbara Walters, Christine Baranski, Condoleezza Rice, Courtney Love, Nicole Kidman, Jack Nicholson, Dustin Hoffman and Sammy Davis Jr., according to Women’s Wear Daily and her bio on Jackierogers.com .
When a photo of Radziwill in a white organza Jackie Rogers blouse appeared on the cover of Women’s Wear Daily in 1982, Rogers’ star rose rapidly, according to a 2014 article in the Daily News.
“She was a very good designer,” said Maureen O’Sullivan, former fashion editor for the Palm Beach Daily News. “She had a very distinct style,” which was described as clean and colorful.
Mrs. Rogers was born on February 24, 1932, in Brookline, Massachusetts, to a father who was a professional gambler and a mother who designed hats for the Chic Gown Shop. Rogers began designing her own clothes at age 14, and her modeling career began two years later with a $55-a-week summer job at Priscilla’s of Boston, according to the Women’s Wear Daily obituary.
“My clothes are always simple,” Ms. Rogers said in a 2017 Daily News interview to mark her brand’s 40th year. “I take away, instead of adding. More and more women are finding that they don’t want their clothes to wear on them.”
He lived in Rome and Paris and appeared in Federico Fellini’s classic film “8 1/2”. In Paris, Coco Chanel hired her as a model and she worked with the famous designer for two years. She often described Chanel as her mentor.
In a 2014 article for the Daily News, she described meeting Chanel in 1962.
“Before arriving at the party, I went to get my hair done at Alexandre de Paris, where anyone goes. There was a girl there fixing her hair. She asked: ‘Are you a model?’ while Chanel was looking for models. So I went to see Coco Chanel, and there she was, looking down at me from the spiral staircase reflecting through all those mirrors. She has a pair of scissors from her uniform around her neck and a cigarette dangling from her lips, always dangling from her lips. She looked me up and down and declared, ‘She’s beautiful. Look at those shoulders!’” Chanel asked Rogers, “When can you start?”
She also worked as a showgirl and stockbroker and owned a Madison Avenue barbershop whose clients included Nicholson, Hoffman, and Al Pacino. Following that success, she began designing men’s clothing.
“Jackie was quite an amazing character with an incredible history as a barber in New York, a muse to Coco Chanel and a rising baritone who turned heads with her wealthy clients in Manhattan and Palm Beach,” said Robert Janjigian, formerly of the Daily. Fashion news editor.
Rogers opened his Palm Beach salon in the 1970s; she left the avenue in 2021, declared Women’s Wear Daily. She had stores on the Esplanade, Via Gucci and Via Mizner, Frankel and O’Sullivan said. She had a salon on Lexington Avenue in New York in the 2000s, as well as stores in East Hampton and Southampton.
“Jackie was like the child coming back,” said friend and client Annette Tapert. “She had many incarnations as a designer.
“She kept reinventing herself.”
Model Donna Preudhomme, who has worked with Rogers for years, said Rogers was hospitalized in November but was “adamant that she be released” because she had to get her atelier to design her collections.
“Jackie was strong-willed and had no filters,” she said. “She said exactly what she had in mind. She had a strong sense of style and she would let you know right away if she didn’t approve of your appearance.”
Rogers also attended the University of Miami and in 1952 married Alan Balter.
Funeral services are scheduled for Thursday at Sharon Gardens in Valhalla, New York. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Rogers’ name to the local ASPCA.
Source: news.google.com