A Look at Sydney Wragge's Career at B.H. Wragge Through the Lens of Visual Merchandising 1936-1971
Parker Vail Ahmad
Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice
About this Item
- Title
- A Look at Sydney Wragge's Career at B.H. Wragge Through the Lens of Visual Merchandising 1936-1971
- Contributor Names
-
Ahmad, Parker Vail (Author)
-
Matheson, Rebecca Jumper (Thesis advisor)
-
Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice (Degree granting institution)
- Date
- 2025
- Degree Information
- M.A. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York 2025
- Department: Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice
- Advisor: Rebecca Jumper Matheson
- Committee Members: Hilary Davidson, Brooke Carlson
- Abstract
- This qualifying paper examines the work of American sportswear designer Sydney Wragge (1908-1978) during his career at the New York-based fashion company B.H. Wragge, focusing on window displays as a lens for analyzing the B.H. Wragge brand Wragge sold his customers. Over the course of his almost forty-year career, Sydney Wragge worked to create an image of his customer: a confident, professional woman who was not afraid to be who she was. She was an American woman who found the beauty in ageless simplicity and exquisite tailoring. Wragge designed for a woman of like-mindedness, which became coined the “Wragge Type.” The “Wragge Type” included women such as Katharine Hepburn, who was known for including menswear garments and inspiration in her own personal style. Through utilizing display techniques, Wragge was able to advertise this mindset of B.H. Wragge merchandise to these customers. In the visual merchandising for B.H. Wragge, mannequins, lighting, props, and the merchandise created a fictional world in which the customers could envision themselves. While Wragge was a prominent designer, and some extant garments remain in museum collections, this paper primarily uses photographs and ephemera from Special Collections and College Archives at the Gladys Marcus Library, Fashion Institute of Technology to consider Wragge from the perspective of marketing and visual display. This paper incorporates a historical background of Wragge’s career, an interview with one of his daughters, and ephemera to understand the impact Sydney Wragge left on the American ready-to-wear industry through intricately constructed sportswear in well-made fabrics and tasteful colors, thoughtfully suited for the activities of the everyday life of American women, and at price points that were considered good value for the quality.
- Keyword
- American fashion
- American fashion designer
- B.H. Wragge
- Designer history
- Fashion merchandising history
- Sydney Wragge
- Rights
- In Copyright
- The copyright for this work is held by its author/creator(s). Usage of this material beyond what is permitted by copyright law must first be cleared with the rights-holder(s). This work has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for this work and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].
- Identifier
- FIT Repository ID: etd_001035
- ISBN: 9798280710283
- Publication Number: 32041336
- Submission ID: 10464
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Ann Arbor : ProQuest Dissertations & Theses
Citation
Ahmad, P. V. (2025). A Look at Sydney Wragge's Career at B.H. Wragge Through the Lens of Visual Merchandising 1936-1971 [Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York]. FIT Institutional Repository. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/634918
Ahmad, Parker Vail. A Look at Sydney Wragge's Career at B.H. Wragge Through the Lens of Visual Merchandising 1936-1971. 2025. Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, Master's thesis. FIT Digital Repository, https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/634918
Ahmad, Parker Vail. "A Look at Sydney Wragge's Career at B.H. Wragge Through the Lens of Visual Merchandising 1936-1971." Master's thesis, Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York, 2025. https://institutionalrepository.fitnyc.edu/item/634918