Emma Domb

Emma Domb (c.1896–1988) was an American fashion designer who created feminine clothes for all occasions with a focus on affordability. Her company, the Domb Manufacturing Company, produced bridal gowns and prom dresses from 1939 until 1980. It also supplied gowns for contestants in the Miss America pageant for decades.^[2]

Born to Polish parents in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1896 or 1897, Emma Domb was married to an Austrian or Polish man named Leo Domb, and had a daughter, Lorraine Domb (b. 1918, deceased), with whom she filed for residency in San Francisco with in 1935 after moving there in 1920. Domb died on February 27, 1988, at Pilgrim Haven Convalescent Hospital in Los Altos, California. She was 95.^[3]

Starting in 1939, she operated San Francisco based Domb Manufacturing Company under the label name Emma Domb with her daughter. The "Lorrie Deb" division, was named after her daughter, operated into 1986 despite manufacturing being halted at the plant in 1974 due to Emma's illness and company dissolution in 1980. Emma Domb's work ranged from baby clothes to junior debutante and prom dresses (as was the case in the 1950s launched "Party Lines by Domb" line) to ball and wedding gowns.^[2][4][5][6] In 1951, two million yards of fabric were reported to be cut for her dresses in a year, and her company was reported to have 8000 retail stores.^[7] In 1948, her company was said to be at an income of two million dollars a year,^[8] and two pieces of her work were listed as selling roughly $60 and $100 each in the year 1965.^[9]

Domb was one of the first designers to incorporate new fabrics such as nylon and rayon into her work, which she used alongside luxury fabrics such as lace, silk, and satin.^[10][11][12] Despite being based on the west coast in San Francisco, her work was modeled and sold as far north in the United States as Alaska^[13] and as far east as Washington, D.C. and Mississippi.^[14][15]

Su trabajo se exhibió en The Fashion Flight, un desfile de moda de 1974 en París, que fue el primer desfile de moda totalmente estadounidense celebrado en Europa. Su trabajo se exhibió bajo el lema "Fashion Premiere in Paris " de San Francisco y fue patrocinado por la Asociación de Fabricantes y Mayoristas de San Francisco, así como por la ciudad de San Francisco , y presentó sus diseños de primavera de vanguardia. ^{[ 16 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ]}

Domb trabajó con celebridades de Hollywood ^{[ 10 ] [ 19 ]} y figuras políticas como la Primera Dama del estado de Nevada, Jackalyn Laxalt . ^{[ 20 ]} Su trabajo apareció frecuentemente en los concursos de Miss América en las décadas de 1950 y 1960. ^{[ 21 ] [ 22 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ] [ 27 ] [ 28 ] [ 29 ] [ 30 ]} La estilista Patricia Field utilizó vestidos de Emma Domb en la serie Sex and the City y en la película. ^{[ 31 ]}

Su trabajo fue exhibido en las revistas Harper's Bazaar ^{[ 32 ]} y Vogue , ^{[ 33 ]} así como en la portada de Look y en un artículo de Brides . ^{[ 34 ]}

La obra de Domb es considerada valiosa por los coleccionistas de vestidos de novia antiguos. ^{[ 35 ]} Su obra se conserva en el Science History Institute , ^{[ 36 ]} los Archivos y Registros Públicos de la Biblioteca Estatal de Nevada , ^{[ 20 ]} el North Dakota Heritage Center , ^{[ 37 ]} y la Colección de Vestuario del Programa de Comercialización y Gestión de Moda de la Universidad Estatal de California, Sacramento , ^{[ 38 ]} así como en el depósito del Museo de Arte de SCAD . ^{[ 39 ]}

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  Vestido de gala de tela de nailon azul de Emma Domb, Instituto de Historia de la Ciencia.
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  Vestido de gasa roja de Emma Domb