Biography

Bill Blass was born on June 22, 1922 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, USA. He is known for Advise & Consent (1962), Irreconcilable Differences (1984) and The DuPont Show with June Allyson (1959). He died on June 12, 2002 in New Preston, Connecticut, USA.

He received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 1987.

In 1943, he enlisted in the Army, and because of his intelligence, he was assigned to a specialized counterintelligence unit, the 603rd Camouflage Battalion. Its mission was to fool the enemy by impersonating other Allied troops in battle, and he spent much of his war inflating rubber tanks that served as decoys. He landed in France about a month after D-Day, and participated in 21 engagements, including the Battle of the Bulge and the crossing of the Rhine.

Three-time winner of the Coty American Fashion Critics Award.

He was the first American designer from the couture end of the business to go into men's wear.