Abstract
Violet Angotti was a dressmaker in Northampton, Massachusetts, for over 50 years. When she entered the profession in 1927, mass-manufactured ready-to-wear was poised to become the primary source for women's clothing. Yet Angotti was able to stay in business far longer than the vast majority of her fellow “modistes” in western Massachusetts by marketing herself as a dress designer, akin to an exclusive one in a larger metropolitan area or even a smaller-scale version of one in the French haute couture system. It was this exclusive image, supplemented with high-quality ready-to-wear, that helps to account for her success, along with her close ties to nearby Smith College. Her story illuminates the successful attempt by one twentieth-century dress designer and maker to cope with an increasingly obsolete profession in the face of changing sources of fashion production.
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