Edyth Sparag New York: 1930s Sketches

Edyth Sparag, New York Drawing, signed. 1930s. Sarara Vintage Image/Scan.

Edyth Sparag was a New York designer working in the 30s-50s. Most information is known about her through her fashion sketches made in her offices and used to create her clothing.  Her office was located at 1440 Broadway, New York- at least in the 1930s. Other drawings say 1450 Broadway. There are a couple of museums with large collections of her sketches which are used as a sort of guide to popular fashion in NYC during the 30s-40s. One can be found at the University of California- it actually might be the largest most encompassing the 30s-50s-see info here.The Fashion Institute in NYC has work by her dating form 1950-1959. Neither are available online.  That is why I wanted to publish three of mine here for all to view.  I have three early ones from the 1930s. They are an important part of fashion history.  As the Skyscraper museum states :

"Within this garment district are 4,500 women's clothing firms. Three out of every four dresses sold in the country originate in New York, making women's garments the principal industry in the city, with an annual dollar volume of $4.4 billion ... Dozens of new firms pop up each season-and many disappear to try again under another name. "It doesn't take money," said one owner. "It takes guts, gall and creativity." Firms with only 30-40 employees compete with the big trade names in the wild steeplechase that produces over 150,000 separate designs each year." (See the article and exhibit here.)

I cannot seem to find much about Edyth herself. However, her style and designs live on through her fashion sketches that come up periodically among collectors, on ebay and in museums. I love these two   little works of art, just look at the stylish woman in yellow and blue checking her makeup. The green dress seems so pretty with the suede details and cloth base as written on the description in pencil.  Enjoy this little 1930s fashion archive by Edith.

Edyth Sparag Drawing , 1930s, printed logo. SararaVintage scan.

Edyth Sparag drawing with annotations by hand. 1930s. Sarara Vintage Scan/image, rights reserved.