Mollie Parnis made her first design after a football game. Her date invited her to go home and change so he could take her dancing, but she was wearing the only dress she owned. So…she picked up a pair of scissors, chopped off the neckline from her one-and-only dress and replaced it with the lace collar from one of her mother’s blouses. Then she added a flower and voila! A designer was born who went on to dress First Ladies Mamie Eisenhower, Betty Ford and Rosalyn Carter.

While never known as a design innovator, she did produce well-made, wearable clothing and had a theory: “Good designing doesn’t mean dresses you have to throw every year.”

Amen to that!

Today’s VPOD features one of her 1970s maxi dresses in a colorful abstract print that would have felt right at home parading at one of the Spring 2009 runway shows.

It’s a bit of Mollie magic for a vintage fashionista!

Available at Annie CreamCheese.

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Technorati Tags: Fashion, vintage, vintage clothing, 1970s, Mollie Parnis, Maxi dress