Voris (designer)

Born Voris Linthacum in Baker City, Oregon according to her marriage certificate,[1] but growing up on a ranch near Billings, Montana, Voris worked as a copywriter for an advertising agency in Chicago after finishing school in Montana.[4]

While in Chicago, she had to have an operation on her leg, which led to her returning home as an invalid.[3] Whilst recuperating, Voris came across a piece of soft chamois leather, which inspired her to use it to make up clothing.[4] She made a golf skirt for a Spokane woman to wear in a tournament.[4] Other players and spectators noticed the skirt, and asked Voris to make them leather garments too.[4] She founded her business, Suedes by Voris, in 1933, and by 1940, had shops in Hollywood (where she sold garments to many actors) and across the Southwest, selling a wide range of clothing entirely made in suede.[4] Her range included day and evening wear, hats, jewelry, and men's jackets, shirts, and ties,[4] made in a wide range of colors.[3] One noted design was a gold-plated evening jacket.[3] When the couturier Elsa Schiaparelli visited Neiman Marcus and was invited to choose any one thing she wanted from the store; she chose a Voris coat as "the most distinctive fashion she had ever seen by an American designer."[3] It has been suggested that this inspired the decision to award Voris the Neiman Marcus Fashion Award in 1942.[3]

Voris later gave up the business to dedicate herself to sculpting.[3] Following her receipt of the Neiman Marcus award, she was commissioned to create a bronze portrait of Herbert Marcus, the co-founder of the store.[3] She made a memorial bust of Gary Cooper for the Friars Club of Beverly Hills in 1961.[3][5]

On 29 November 1936, Voris married Clifford H. Marker (1899–1987) who went on to become President of the Board of Water and Power Commissioners in the early 1960s.[1][6] She died on 22 May 1973.[7]