Adrienne Steckling-Coen

Born Mary Adrienne Steckling on November 7, 1934, in St. Joseph, Missouri, Adri studied at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts.

[1] After winning the opportunity to be a guest editor for Mademoiselle's College Issue in 1955, she decided to move to the Parsons School of Design from where she graduated in 1958.

[1] She worked as a fashion assistant for Oleg Cassini, Anne Fogarty (who taught her to celebrate femininity), and also for Sydney Wragge of B.H.

[1] She was known for her trousers and culotte skirt designs, and focused on classic mix-and-match separates so that her customers could collect various garments over the years to assemble into personalized ensembles.

[1] Former colleagues, such as her assistant Nadia Abdella, and the company's former chief executive officer, Jeanne Atkinson, recalled her as both iconoclastic and a "real purist" as well as consistently elegant, and she remained working to the end.