Vera Neumann: The Mid-Century Magic of a Visionary Textile Designer
Vera Neumann, a visual artist turned textile designer, began designing textiles in 1946 after she and her husband, George Neumann, founded Printex with their partner Werner Hamm. They used a small silk-screening style printing machine to print the designs onto linen, then made them into placemats. Hamm took the finished placemats to B. Altman & Company department stores for the company's initial sales. After World War II, army surplus silk, used for parachutes, became available cheaply, and Printex began to buy it in bulk. They soon found themselves in the scarf business, making their products in their Manhattan apartment, a loft on 57th Street, where Vera and George handled the entire operation.
The Neumans bought an old mansion and converted it into a studio and factory. The "vera" signature trademark was first used in 1947, and by 1948, the business had grown beyond the loft and moved from Manhattan to Ossining, NY. By the 1950s, the company had once again increased, and it was now necessary for Vera to employ a team of designers. These designers were responsible for taking the original design, done by Vera herself in the form of a 36" scarf, and translating it into other products.
The team developed as many as 600 unique designs per year, many printed in the factory below them. Many prints were done in bold, bright colors, but many were also in black and white; all were copyrighted. Geometrics designs, specifically dots, were trendy, as were the bold floral prints. The scarves were printed in Japan, but Vera left nothing to chance, making a sample of each scarf in the New York factory and then sending it to the factory in Japan along with the specific dye formulas.
In the 1960s, a clothing line was added to the scarves and household linens. Blouses and dresses were made from the Vera Library of textile designs. The actual fabric for this clothing line was designed with the idea of the finished garment in mind. The early Vera clothing was made with either 100% cotton or 100% silk, but later, items were made from nylon and polyester. In 1974 Perry Ellis began working for Vera as a merchandise manager. He asked if he could submit designs for the clothing line, and Vera encouraged him to do so; as she liked his work, he then became a full-time designer for the Vera line. In 1976 he was given his division, Portfolio by Perry Ellis for Vera, which he designed for three years before starting his own company.
George Neumann died in the late 1960s, and soon after, Vera sold the Vera Companies to Manhattan Industries, one of the clothing manufacturing giants. She stayed on as the designer at the company, often working six days a week in Ossining while going to Manhattan only on Tuesdays to have her hair done and to attend meetings with her marketing staff. Upon selling the Vera Companies to Manhattan, Vera became the only woman to sit on their board; they had to conduct board meetings on Tuesdays to accommodate Vera's long-standing schedule.
Vera worked nearly up to her death in 1993. Vera scarves continued to be made after her death, and today the trademark is owned by The Vera Company of Atlanta, GA. In 2013 a new line of Vera-licensed scarves was sold at Target stores.
TIPS ON DATING YOUR VINTAGE VERA SCARVES
Vera scarves are often relatively easy to put a rough date on as there were some quite apparent changes to the signature and logo mark throughout the years. As with vintage items, there will always be exceptions, but this is a rough guide to the timeline of significant changes.
1947 - Mid-1950s - The early scarves were signed “vera” in a tiny print in all lowercase.
Late 1950s – Vera’s signature became capitalized.
Early 1960s - The ladybug logo and a © copyright symbol (registered 1959) were added to the Vera. The signature and the ladybug logo were roughly the exact sizes.
Mid to late 1960s - The ladybug was used less, and the signature became larger. The ladybug was now much smaller than a signature.
Early 1970s - The Vera signature grew bolder, usually with no ladybug logo.
Mid-1970s - Ladybug logo was occasionally present but disappeared entirely after 1976.
Late 1970s - Signature began to get smaller (no ladybug logo).
1980s – Even smaller signature with a © copyright symbol.
For more examples of Vera marks and a comprehensive dating explanation, visit the Vera Blog.
