Ceil Chapman

Ceil Chapman (1912 – July 13, 1979) was an American fashion designer who worked in New York City from the 1940s to the 1960s. She was noted for creating glamorous cocktail and party dresses and for working with celebrity clients including television and movie actresses.

After two years of college, she obtained a position in the workroom of a large Fifth Avenue store in New York. Within three years, she was made head of the studio, staying for eight years. Around 1940, Chapman was involved in a short-lived business called Her Ladyship Gowns, formed with Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt and her sister, Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness.

Chapman patented numerous designs between 1954 and 1960.

Ceil Chapman was given the Coty American Fashion Critic's Award in 1945, for her creative contribution to the American fashion picture. She also was the recipient of the John Wanamaker Award, Foley's "Golden Year" Award, and the Strawbridge and Clothier seal of confidence, for creative contribution in the area of American fashion. In 1955, she won the Mademoiselle Merit Award, after a poll asking college girls to cite the country's most popular designer for the young. She won by a landslide. In 1956, she won the "Best of Informals" award from the Swiss Fabrics group.

Chapman worked at 530 Seventh Avenue in New York's Garment District during the 1950s. A photo portrait of the designer at work in her studio appeared in a 1956 advertisement for Western Union. Chapman also lent her name to promotions for products including Cadillac automobiles and Maidenform girdles.

Ceil Chapman was reportedly Marilyn Monroe's favorite fashion designer. She provided the trousseau for Elizabeth Taylor's 1950 wedding to Conrad "Nicky" Hilton. Other celebrity clients included Deborah Kerr, Greer Garson, Grace Kelly and Aretha Franklin. Chapman worked on Marie McDonald's wardrobe for the 1963 film Promises! Promises! In 1952, Betty Furness appeared at a function wearing a Ceil Chapman dress. Ms. Chapman was also there, wearing an identical dress. She reportedly "sashayed back to the powder room, checked the jacket part of the dress, removed the big organza bow at the neckline, and returned to her sirloin looking absolutely different."

By November 1968, Ceil Chapman Inc. was located at 200 Park Avenue. At that time, the company registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission to offer shares of common stock, proposing "to engage principally in the styling, designing, manufacture, distribution and sale of women's wearing apparel, accessories and novelties under the name 'Ceil Chapman,' and to license others to use the Ceil Chapman name." Some 1960s dresses bear the label "CEIL CHAPMAN / for Miss Winston". A perfume or cologne, Ceil Bleue, may also date from the 1960s.

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