Sonja de Lennart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Sonja de Lennart (born May 21, 1920, in Prussia) is a fashion designer who created Capri pants.
[edit] Biography
Sonja de Lennart was born into a multicultural family and is the daughter of an industrialist and Syndicus. Sonja studied design despite her father’s extremely strong opposition. But Sonja, headstrong from childhood on, did something which was uncharacteristic at that time; she secretly learned the skillful trade of tailoring. Hence, after the political regime had destroyed the family fortune, it was Sonja who, after WWII, would be the one to get the family back on track with her talent.
[edit] Career
Sonja opened her first store in 1945 which immediately became the “in place” for those who wanted to forget that there ever was such a horrible regime. Sonja became one of the most innovative fashion designers of her time. Her famous “Capri Collection” [Capri Skirt, Capri Blouse, Capri Pants, and Capri Hat] became an instant hit. After years of women wearing the typical wide and rather masculine pants, Sonja created the sexy tight three-quarter length [Capri] pants with a short slit on the outside of the pant leg. The original classic Capri Pants were designed in specific lengths for winter and summer wear.
Major movie companies and prominent opera directors and costume designers as well as many famous people from all over the world traveled to Europe just to profit from Sonja’s golden hands and creativity. Among those were major movie stars like Ingrid Bergman; Gary Cooper and Maria Schell; Curd Juergens and Klaus Kinski as well as nobles like the Countess of Stauffenberg; the Woolworth heir, Sunny von Bülow; Princess Auersperg and Queens such as Soraya, the wife of Shah Reza Pahlevi, and many others. The famous Hollywood designer, Edith Head, used Sonja de Lennart’s creations for her movie, Roman Holiday, from the revolutionary Capri Skirt to the high-neck Capri Blouse and, of course, the Capri Belt—the same fashion look that Sonja de Lennart’s first model posed for in 1948.
Mady Rahl was one of the first model-actresses who posed for Sonja de Lennart’s fashionable Capri Pants which she created in 1948. Among the many major movie stars who wore the fashionable Capri Pants are: Audrey Hepburn, Kathrin Hepburn, Gina Lollobrigida, Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor, and Sophia Loren.
Furthermore, Sonja de Lennart was also the first designer who utilized the famous “Everglaze” textile from America which her family from California sent to Sonja upon her request. Subsequently, it developed into big business for the American manufacturer. The material was then licensed to European companies; as a result, foreign royalties accounted for more than 70 percent of the firm’s total profits.
Sonja de Lennart was the most influential fashion designer after WWII. She influenced a whole generation of new designers and was considered a leading pioneer of her time by major magazines wherein she was interviewed along with Yves Saint Laurent and [[André Courrèges].
