Hickson Inc.

Hickson Inc. was a high-class fashion retailer, designer, and department store in New York City in the early decades of the twentieth century. The firm started as a men's tailors but evolved to be what the designer Howard Greer described as "the most elegant and expensive specialty shop on Fifth Avenue".[1]

Hickson Inc.
TypeWomen's clothing
IndustryFashion
Founded1902 (1902) in New York City, New York, United States
Founder
  • Caroline "Carrie" Hickson-Kennedy
  • Kathryn "Kate" Hickson
  • Richard J. Hickson
DefunctSeptember 1931 (1931-09)
FateBankrupt
SuccessorNelson-Hickson Inc.
Headquarters
New York
,
United States
Owner
  • Richard J. Hickson
  • Leslie M. Hickson
  • Philip S. Crooks

In the 1910s the firm dressed the actresses of the silent movies and in 1926 it opened a purpose-built store in a corner position on Fifth Avenue. It worked with Madeleine Vionnet and Georges Matchabelli. Charvet & Fils took space in their store. However, in 1931, at the start of the Great Depression, they filed for bankruptcy. A number of Hickson creations are in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

History
A Hickson-designed dress in the 1917 silent film The Gown of Destiny

Hickson Inc. was founded as Hickson & Company in 1902 by Caroline "Carrie" Hickson-Kennedy, Kathryn "Kate" Hickson, and Richard J. Hickson—all siblings. The company's initial headquarters were at 657 Fifth Avenue in New York City; the Hicksons founded the company with an initial investment of $800. After Kate and Carrie were killed in the 1915 sinking of the RMS Lusitania,[2] the company was run by Richard Hickson, his son Leslie M. Hickson, and business partner Phillip S. Crooks. Richard Hickson was president of the company while Leslie Hickson and Phillip Crooks operated as its vice presidents.[3]

The firm started as a men's tailors but evolved into a high-class dress salon that the designer Howard Greer, who worked there for a short time, described as "the most elegant and expensive specialty shop on Fifth Avenue".[1][4]

In 1916, Hickson lost a suit from Boué Soeurs that alleged that they had bought that firm's garments, copied them, and sold them as their own designs as well as removing the labels from the garments they had purchased and selling them too.[5][6]

Hickson provided many gowns for Pathé Exchange's series Who's Guilty? (1916).[7] Among their designs was a light pink sari-inspired dress for the patriotic 1917 silent film The Gown of Destiny with a "bustle-back" that they invented. The light-colored dress was better suited to black and white film than a dark dress and the film made the design popular. Although the film supported the Allied cause during World War I, as did Hickson, the firm was keen to claim that the dress was produced independently of any Parisian influence in order to emphasize that the American fashion industry was no longer in thrall to French influences.[4]

In February 1921 it was reported that Hickson were to make the gown, wrap, and hat to be worn by Florence Harding at her husband's inauguration as 29th President of the United States. The color chosen was "Mrs Harding Blue".[8]

In 1924,[9] Hickson began to work with Madeleine Vionnet as she re-established her business in Paris and New York after closing during World War I. Her clothes and workrooms occupied an entire floor of the Hickson premises.[10]

In 1926, Georges Matchabelli, creator of Prince Matchabelli perfume, began appearing at Hickson to sell his fragrances and personally mixing perfumes for some of their customers.[11]

Illustration of the new Hickson building at 660 Fifth Avenue, New York. New York Times, September 1926.

In September 1926, it was reported that on 31 December that year the firm would be opening a new five-story building on Fifth Avenue on the corner of 52nd Street. The building was designed by architects Springsteen and Goldhammer in the Italian Renaissance style on the former site of the William K. Vanderbilt House.[12] Charvet & Fils took space in the building in 1927.[13]

In 1928, the firm suffered a burglary at the firm's 15 West 36th Street workrooms when burglars broke through a wall on the tenth floor and stole clothing valued at $30–40,000.[14]

Demise and legacy

In September 1931, the firm filed for bankruptcy with a U.S. court. Papers lodged with the court stated that an order had been lodged with the municipal court seeking to evict the firm from its 660 Fifth Avenue premises.[15] Following bankruptcy, the rights to the firm's property and possessions were transferred to majority stakeholder Seel Singer.[16] Singer kept the fashion retailing business going at the same 660 Fifth Avenue building;[17] shortly after, the company was renamed to Nelson-Hickson Inc., following a partnership with clothing designer Anne Nelson.[18] In 1938, Nelson-Hickson moved to "a charming old five-story house" at 9 West 57th.[19]

A 1911 "walking suit" by Hickson is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[20][21] along with a c.1913 evening dress,[22] a 1916 evening cape[23] and a c.1918 wool suit.[24]

Further reading
  • Opinions in Individual Lusitania Claims and Other Case: (To May 27, 1925.). Mixed Claims Commission, United States and Germany. 1925. p. 440 – via Google Books.

References
  1. Greer, Howard. (1951) Designing Male. New York: Putnam. p. 205.
  2. "Hickson & Company". Collections. Northwest Museum of Arts and Culture. n.d. Archived from the original on October 5, 2022.
  3. Supreme Court of the United States (1918). Abraham Gershel and Horatio S. Simon, doing business under the firm name and style of A. Gershel & Company, Joseph Jonasson & Company and Philip Mangone & Company, Plaintiffs-Respondents, against Hickson Inc., Abraham E. Lefcourt, doing business as A. E. Lefcourt & Company, and Benjamin Gershel, Michael Gershel and Sigmund Kaskie, doing business as Ben Gershel & Company, Defendants-Appellants. The Reporter Co. p. passim – via Google Books.
  4. Finamore, M. Tolini (2013). Hollywood Before Glamour: Fashion in American silent film. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. pp. 68–72. ISBN 978-0-230-38949-6.
  5. Richardson, Megan & Julia Thomas. (2012) Fashioning Intellectual Property: Exhibition, Advertising and the Press 1789-1918. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 138. ISBN 9780521767569
  6. Maude Bass-Krueger, Hayley Edwards-Dujardin, Sophie Kurkdjian (Eds.) (2021) Fashion, Society, and the First World War: International perspectives. London: Bloomsbury. p. 26. ISBN 9781350119864
  7. Abel, Richard. (Ed.) (1996) Silent Film. London: Athlone Press. p. 190. ISBN 9780485300765
  8. "Hickson Inc. Given Honor of Making Gown", Washington Herald, 6 February 1921, p. 19. Retrieved from newspaperarchive.com 5 October 2022.
  9. "Says Hicksons Have Vionnet Rights", Women's Wear Daily, 20 February 1924, p.1.
  10. Pouillard, Véronique. (2021) Paris to New York: The Transatlantic Fashion Industry in the Twentieth Century. Harvard Studies in Business History No. 54. New Haven: Harvard University Press. p. 66. ISBN 9780674237407
  11. Prince Matchabelli, James Bennett, Cosmetics and Skin. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  12. "New Hickson Building to be Opened Dec. 31". New York Times. 5 September 1926. p. RE1. ProQuest 103817421.
  13. "5th Avenue Lease to Haberdashers: Charvet & Fils Take Space in the Hickson Building at Fifty-second Street.", New York Times, 21 January 1927, p. 30. Retrieved from ProQuest, 2 October 2022.
  14. "Burglars Cut Wall, Get $30,000 Gowns: Bore Through Ten Inches of Brick at Hickson Loft in 36th St., Off Fifth Av.", New York Times, 13 October 1928, p. 12. Retrieved from ProQuest, 5 October 2022.
  15. "Hickson, Inc., Files Bankruptcy Petition: Court Names Irving Trust Receiver for Fifth Avenue Women's Wear Concern", New York Times, 17 September 1931, p. 14. Retrieved from ProQuest, 2 October 2022.
  16. Papers on Appeal. Vol. 8. Supreme Court of the United States. 1931. p. 8 – via Google Books.
  17. "Listings". Year Book. Merchants' Association of New York: 87. 1931 – via Google Books.
  18. Blanshard, Julia (November 15, 1932). "Become Happy in Work, Says Girl Executive". Star-Gazette: 15 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. "Briefs". Harper's Bazaar. Hearst Corporation. 72: 45. 1938 – via Google Books. Exact date unknown.
  20. Walking suit 1911. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  21. Which also bears a Widoff Robes, N.Y. label.
  22. Evening dress ca. 1913. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
  23. Evening cape 1916. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
  24. Suit ca. 1918. Metropolitan Museum of Art. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
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