Sketch Me Sophisticated

"Clothes aren't going to change the world. The women who wear them will."
Anne Klein (1923-1974)

Born August 3, 1923, in New York City, Hannah Golofski was a creative child. Even as a young girl, she loved to draw. When she was 15, she began her fashion career as a sketch artist on New York's trendy Seventh Avenue.

When she married Ben Klein, she changed her name to Anne Klein. This became her professional moniker.

She drew her way through the fashion ranks. Within ten years, in 1948, she opened her first line of clothing, known as Junior Sophisticates. Her passion for creating grown-up fashion in junior sizes was a fresh addition to apparel markets.

In 1965, she opened Anne Klein Studio, which was followed by Anne Klein & Company in 1968.

Her fashions were marked by practicality and professionalism. Women appreciated the classic looks in comfortable styles. The sophistication of her lines of separates (skirts and trousers with jackets and tops) quickly became popular in American and abroad, particularly among career women.

Anne Klein died of breast cancer on March 19, 1974. She was fifty years old.

After her death, Donna Karan led the business for 15 years, until she opened her own DKNY line.

Now part of Jones Apparel Group, the Anne Klein collections are now designed primarily by Michael Smaldone. Most major department stores carry the lines.

Learn more about this author, Linda Ann Nickerson.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

---

Add your voice

Know something about Biography: Anne Klein?
We want to hear your view. Write now!