In that era when the names of French designers were elevated above all, who were the men and women who designed or styled for the American market? Were there, in either the custom or wholesale trades, those who had that extra something to deserve the appellation of designer? Was there a definable American aesthetic or style? Since the industry in this country was so large and reached across many price levels, the answers are difficult to find. Few American dressmakers have been studied by fashion scholars. Anonymity is a very real stumbling block, and issues of attribution arise in evaluating work. Many designers and stylists worked for specialty shops, department stores, or ready-to-wear manufacturers who preferred to cultivate client loyalty to a brand name or trademark rather than to a designer name. People who were well known for one type of garment sometimes moonlighted, anonymously, in other areas of the industry. Both custom and ready-to-wear houses are known to have purchased sketches of models designed by free-lance artists. Well known fashion personalities such as Hattie Carnegie and Maurice Rentner are often described as "editors" of ideas that emerged from an in-house stable of designers. In such cases, who gets the credit for the finished product?

Custom dressmakers may be assumed to have varied widely in skill, originality, and clientele. Certainly even a cursory examination of the classified listings in Vogue and Harper's Bazar from the 1910s, 20s, and 30s opens up avenues for further research. The issue of Vogue for October 15, 1915, lists twenty-six names in the classified ads for providers of "Gowns and Waists" made to order and six names for the same category of ready-to-wear. Vogue's "Address Book" in the January 15, 1935, issue still lists six names under "Dressmaking." Sample book no. 17 for Soieries F. Ducharne, probably from 1930 (in the Musée des Tissus de Lyon), lists among those who ordered yardage names from all over the United States, some well known, others unfamiliar. Representative names include Lucile Woods and Misses Perkins and Collins, Los Angeles; Mrs. E. H. Hills, Baltimore; Greer, Inc., Dot Gregson, Irene, Jean Schwartz, and RKO Studio, Hollywood; Stella L. Chapman, Minneapolis; Mrs. McFadden and Katir, Philadelphia; and Mme. Clara and O'Connor Moffat, San Francisco; not to mention the many purchasers from the sizable New York market. A detailed analysis of the names in the rest of the Ducharne records and order books from other companies might give quite an interesting picture of the purchase of French fabrics by American custom and wholesale dressmakers.(35)

Some dressmakers copied from legitimately imported and/or pirated Paris designs, and also, by the late 1920s, from American models of the top custom houses or high-end wholesalers. Many ads throughout these decades echo two from a 1936 issue of Harper's Bazaar: those of Mme. Lichtenstein at 286 Park Ave, who had "just returned from abroad,"(36) and Janet Rose, Importer, who was "just returned from the Paris openings." It seems to have been accepted in the early decades of the century that models illustrated in magazines were open to copying or interpreting in other fabrics and colors by individual clients of custom dressmakers,(37) although even in the early 1910s, many dressmakers also offered original designs. Madame Najla Mogabgab, with shops in New York, Palm Beach, Newport, and Hot Springs (Virginia) -the East Coast social centers -advertised herself as both importer and designer.(38) Other names offering both services, such as Joseph, Thurn, Stein and Blaine, L. P. Hollander, and Annette Mayer, may be found in advertisements, in the "Shoppers and Buyers Guide" pages of Vogue, and the "Where to Shop" listings in Harper's Bazar. A hierarchy existed within the high-end custom trade, based on whether the business was entirely custom, existed as part of a specialty shop or department store, or also produced ready-to-wear.(39)