Emeric Partos

Emeric Imre Partos (1905–1975) was a Hungarian-born fashion designer who worked in Paris and New York. He was mainly known for his work with fur for Bergdorf Goodman.

Early life Emeric Imre Partos was born in Budapest on 18 May 1905, where he studied art. He then went to the Sorbonne, Paris, to further study art, before moving to Switzerland to study jewelry design. Introduced by their mutual friend Christian Dior, Maguy and Partos became close friends, and for a while during World War II, as two Eastern European Jews and members of the French underground, they hid from the Nazis in the attic of a farmhouse in Saint-Gervais-d'Auvergne. Maguy's great-niece, Hadley Freeman, has suggested that Partos, who was openly gay, may have been in a relationship with her great-uncle. Eleanor Lambert wrote of Partos's show at the awards ceremony as being "a testimonial of his mastery of furrier's technique expressed in couturier terms," noting coats combining two furs or materials (such as nutria and badger fur; or ranch-farmed mink with velvet) and an informal middy top made from ermine designed for apres-ski or at-home wear.

Death Partos died of a cerebral haemorrhage at Mount Sinai Hospital on 2 December 1975. He was 70 years old and living in New York on East 65th Street. The executive vice president of Bergdorf's told The New York Times that Partos was a "small man of great stature", referring to his height of 5'3 inches. Unusually for Alex Maguy, he and Partos had remained friends all their lives despite having drifted apart, and Partos's death brought Maguy "great sadness."