Bill Blass Closes

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed)
Dec 21st 2008 at 5:03PM

It's the end of an era as American classic brand Bill Blass is set to fold. Blass died in 2002 but his brand has gone on with several designers, most recently, Peter Som, who left the company in October. The company will close its showroom at 550 Seventh Avenue and eliminate about 30 remaining jobs there. The NY Times reports that the company has been selling samples from Mr. Blass's collections and Manolo Blahnik shoes that were used in runway shows, at discounts of 90 percent. His archives will be headed to Indiana University in Bloomington.

Fashion Week Daily adds that while the line has disappeared from the e-commerce sites of Bergdorf Goodman, Lord & Taylor, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue, the collection is still available on the floors in their department stores for those who want a last blast of Blass.

Tags: bill blass, peter som, PeterSom

Filed under: Apparel

Subscribe to these comments

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Stephen Dec 21st 2008 9:02PM

My Great Uncle was Maurice Rentner, Bill Blass was closely associated with him in 1950's.

I remember as a child being in New York and seeing him in my Great Uncle's office.

This truly is an end of an era.

Kate Dec 22nd 2008 12:13PM

Im sad that Bill Blass is closing its doors... Im surprised because lately Eva Mendes has been wearing a ton of Bill Blass on the red carpet.

For those of you that are interested, there is a Bill Blass sample sale online at Gilt Groupe today.

This is the invite-
http://www.gilt.com/invite/katielovesbargains