Louella Ballerino? Who's that?
Though you may not recognize her name, her design sensibility was crucial to the creation and popularization of the California look--casual, functional, colorful clothing designed to complement the relaxed California lifestyle. Her career began in 1929, when economic necessity led Ballerino to begin work as a free-lance fashion illustrator in Los Angeles. She also held a full-time position in a custom dress shop and taught evening fashion design courses at a technical college. She worked behind the scenes until 1938, when a manufacturer, who had asked for something "different," rejected her sketch for a peasant-style dress. Ballerino believed that her design had merit, so she hired a manufacturer to make the dress and placed a few in a dress-shop in Hollywood. In her words, "I thought it would be comfortable and fun to wear."1 The women of Los Angeles clearly agreed, as the dress sold out almost immediately. The FIDM Museum is fortunate to have one of Ballerino's career-making dresses in our collection.
Day dress
Louella Ballerino
1938
78.834.1AB
Gift of the Louella Ballerino Family
