Leser, Tina, 1910-1986.

American fashion designer known for her leisure wear, beach ensembles and play wear. Born Christine Wetherill Shillard-Smith in 1910, she trained at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, the School of Industrial Arts in Philadelphia and the Sorbonne. In 1935 she opened a shop in Hawaii where she sold high quality ready-to-wear and custom clothing. Early Leser designs featured hand painted motifs on such unusual fabrics as sail cloth and "paluke". On a buying trip to New York in 1940, she attracted the attention of the editors of Vogue and Harper's, whose enthusiasm resulted in a large order from Saks Fifth Avenue. In the early 1940's Leser moved to New York, but her efforts at wholesale production failed, and in 1943 she turned to design for the Edwin H. Foreman Sportswear Company for 10 years. Aside from a brief retirement in the mid 1960's, Leser managed her own firm, specializing in play clothes and daywear with designs inspired by her world travels. Her best designs gave an American twist to silhouettes adapted from non-Western European sources, often in batik and other exotic Eastern fabrics. In 1944 she received the Fashion Critics Award, and the following year she received both the Neiman Marcus and Coty Awards. In 1964 she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from the Moore Institute of Arts.