Herbert Levine

Herbert Levine (1916–1991) was an American fashion executive active from the 1940s through the 1970s. Together with his fashion designer wife, Beth Levine, he led the best-known fashion accessory label serving the United States First Ladies Jackie Kennedy and Pat Nixon in the 1960s and early 1970s. The Levines' greatest influence, however, was re-introducing boots to women's fashion in the 1960s and the popularization of the shoe style known as mules.

He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1937 and worked as a journalist for Gannett newspapers and various fashion trade publications before taking a job as sales and advertising manager for Andrew Geller, a shoe company. He was never himself a designer, but attained fame when he married Elizabeth "Beth" Katz, a shoe model turned designer. They met when he interviewed her for a design position.

He focused principally on running the business, while she served as head designer for the company. In addition to Jackie Kennedy and Pat Nixon, their clientele included movies stars such as Bette Davis and musicians like Barbra Streisand.

Innovations

Fashion innovations introduced by the Levines include:

* Boots as Haute Couture. Once highly stylish, boots lost favor in fashion after World War I as skirts became shorter and new manufacturing styles allowed shoes in a variety of styles to be made less expensively. In the mid-1960s the Levines added fashion boots to their line, starting a trend which remains current four decades later. Nancy Sinatra wore Levine boots for publicity shots and on stage during her period of fame for the song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", Shirley Maclaine used them for dance numbers in "Sweet Charity", and Raquel Welch wore them in her television variety specials.
* "Spring-o-Lator" mules, where an elastic strip allowed the wearer to keep the shoes securely on while wearing stockings despite the lacl of any straps at the side or back of the shoes. Through much of the 1950s and 1960s a wide range of shoe designers used Beth Levine's Spring-o-Lators in their shoe lines. Television characters such as Della Street (portrayed by Barbara Hale) in the popular "Perry Mason" series often made Spring-o-Lators part of their trademark wardrobe.
* Stocking boots (panty hose with heels attached, as well as boots made from materials like vinyl and acrylic.
* Clear plastic shoes, a style that inspired later designers including Charles Jourdan.

Herbert Levine was a master at gaining media notoriety for outlandish dsigns that kept the company's brand name in the news: gilded wood platforms, slippers with newspaper, money, or candy-wrapper covered fabrics, Astroturf insoles, and shoes that were glued onto the wearer's nylon stockings.

Although the company closed in 1975, many Beth Levine designs remain on display in museums in Europe and North America.

Deaths

He died in 1991, aged 75; in addition to his wife, he was survived by their only child, a daughter, Anna.

References

* [http://www.kickshawproductions.com Shoe history site]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE3DF133FF933A2575BC0A967958260 NY Times obit]