Anna Potok

Anna Maximilian Potok (; 4 June 1897 – 22 April 1987) was a Polish-American fur designer and co-founder of Maximilian Furs.

Biography Potok was born Anna Apfelbaum on 4 June 1897 in Warsaw, Poland, the third generation of a family of furriers. After her father died when she was 19, she joined her brother Maximilian in the business in 1922.

The Apfelbaums survived the 1903–06 pogroms due to their supplying furs to the highest levels of Polish society, including the President of Poland and the Mayor of Warsaw. Even after the Russian Revolution, they were safe because they supplied furs to Communist leaders who traveled there from Leningrad and Moscow. In 1953, Maxmilian (who had legally changed his name to Michael Maximilian after moving to the United States) died, and around this time, his sister assumed the middle name Maximilian as well as inheriting the business. as were full-length evening fur coats and pieces combining more than one type of fur. In 1950, Maximilian decided to invite Emeric Partos of Dior, Paris, to do a guest collection for them. This resulted in Partos emigrating to New York, terminating his contract with Dior, and staying with Maximilian until 1955 when he was offered a job as head furrier for Bergdorf Goodman. Partos would himself receive the Coty for his fur designs in 1957. and Karl Lagerfeld in the 1990s.

In 1972, Maximilian made the furs for a successful advertising campaign funded by the mink farmers American Legend Cooperative, titled "What Becomes a Legend Most?" and featuring celebrities in luxurious Blackglama-branded mink. Lauren Bacall, who was the first to pose, received her Blackglama coat as payment. She was actively involved in designing for Maximilian well into her eighties, only retiring in January 1987, six months before her death.