Bonnie Cashin Collection of Fashion, Theater and Film Costume Design

Bonnie Cashin was a 20th-century fashion designer, cultural ambassador, entrepreneur and philanthropist noted for innovative multifunctional clothing and accessories. Her designs for Coach, Adler and Adler and Phillip Sills & Co. projected an independent, modern womanhood, which she modeled partly on her lifestyle and career.

Bonnie Cashin was born in Fresno, California, on September 28, 1908, to Armenian immigrants Carl and Eunice Keosheyan ("Cashin" by 1910). She first learned to sew from her dressmaker mother, who remained at Bonnie's side as lead seamstress, neighbor and business partner until her death in 1963. She credited her estranged father, a tinkerer and mechanic, as inspiration for her signature brass "hardware" fasteners. Bonnie's career began as a fashion illustrator and dance costume designer for the Los Angeles dance troupe, Fanchon and Marco. She briefly studied drawing at the Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles. In 1933, she moved to New York to design costumes for the Roxyette dance line (later known as the Rockettes) at the Roxy Theater. In 1933 and again in 1935, Cashin studied drawing at the Art Students League. From 1937 until 1942 she designed for coat and suit manufacturer, Adler & Adler. Cashin resigned from the Roxy to design film costumes for Twentieth Century Fox (1942-1949). During her tenure at the studio, Cashin designed costumes for more than sixty films, including Laura (1944), Anna and the King of Siam (1946) and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1946). From 1949 to 1985, she designed ready-to-wear clothing and accessories, gaining fame as one of the most innovative American designers and a pioneer of twentieth-century sportswear.

In her designs and writings, Cashin championed creative independence and efficient use of technology within the fashion industry. Cashin returned to ready-to-wear design for Adler & Adler (1949-1951) before beginning her long association with manufacturer Philip Sills of Sills and Co. in 1953, which lasted until 1977. In 1961, Cashin accepted the offer to launch the Coach handbag company, for whom she designed accessories until 1974. Her designs for that firm remain in production under the title of "Legacy." Cashin followed her Coach years by designing handbags for Meyers (1975-1979). Cashin also designed cashmere separates for Ballantyne of Peebles (1964-1968) and her own company, The Knittery (1970-1980). After the termination of her partnership with Sills and Co., Cashin designed ready-to-wear for manufacturer Russell Taylor (1978-1985) under the labels "Cashin Country" and "Weatherwear." Partnerships with other manufacturers included gloves, fur coats, rainwear, loungewear, tote bags and umbrella designs. Cashin did not employ any design assistants, nor did she license her name. Among many industry awards, she received the Coty award five times and entered their Hall of Fame in 1972. By 1980, Cashin had established the Innovative Design Fund, a non-profit organization to provide funding for design prototypes. She enjoyed a long-standing relationship with the California Institute of Technology, establishing the James Michelin Lecture Series in 1978 and the Bonnie Cashin Most Creative Application Essay Award. Cashin died from complications during heart surgery on February 3, 2000, in New York City.

The collection contains Bonnie Cashin's personal archive documenting her design career. The collection includes Cashin's design illustrations, writings on design, contractual paperwork, photographs of her clothing designs and press materials, including press releases and editorial coverage of her work. Personal photographs and letters to Cashin are also included.