Tina Leser

Tina Leser (December 12, 1910 – January 23, 1986) was an American fashion designer. Part of a generation of pioneering sportswear designers, Leser was particularly known for her global influences.

Personal life Tina Leser was born Christine Buffington. Her birth parents were Mary Edith Cox and Charles Buffington. Cox arranged Leser's adoption by her cousin Georgine Wetherill Shillard-Smith after she and her husband, Charles Shillard-Smith, spent months wintering in California. Her name became Christine Wetherill Shillard-Smith in Philadelphia. She studied art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, the Pennsylvania Museum School of Industrial Art in Philadelphia, and the Sorbonne in Paris. Leser made her debut in Philadelphia in 1929.

Tina married marine biologist Curtis Leser in November 1931 and the couple moved to Honolulu, where Curtis worked for the Academy of Science. Tina took up spearfishing and diving with Hawaiian locals. The couple had one daughter. The thieves were caught.

Leser's mother, Georgine Shillard-Smith, founded the Gulf Coast Art Center. Leser was president of the organization from 1952 to 1954.

Career Leser opened a speciality store in Honolulu in 1935 called Tina Leser Gowns, located across the street from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. Until it closed in 1942, the store sold resort wear, primarily playsuits and coverups, designed by Leser that she created with the help of a French dressmaker. At that time, her business was headquartered at 1 West 47th Street in Manhattan.

Leser's celebrity clients included Joan Crawford, Joan Fontaine, Paulette Goddard, Audrey Hepburn, and Kim Novak. Leser also designed the costumes for the 1946 Broadway musical Park Avenue.

Tina Leser died on January 23, 1986. From Leser, Clairborne learned "that being a designer meant hard, long, interminably long hours of work..."

Tina Leser's work is held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Phoenix Art Museum, and Kent State University Museum,

Awards Neiman Marcus Fashion Award, 1945 Coty Award, 1945 Outstanding Designer, Philadelphia Museum School of Art, 1955 Sportswear Design Award, Sports Illustrated, 1956