'Takara, Juilliard's luxury costume suiting of softest wool and rabbit hair is subtly toned, elegantly shaped in this design by Ben Zuckerman- look for the label 80% wool, 20% rabbit hair, because fine fabrics are the foundations of fashion.'
Juilliard's was a manufacturer of fine wool, founded by Augustus D Juilliard in 1874. Mr Juilliard is probably best known for leaving a legacy in his will that was used to found the famous Juilliard Graduate School of Music.

This is a lovely Ben Zuckerman coat, in textured black wool with a large mink collar. The coat, which may have had a matching dress or skirt, is double breasted and has large buttons that add interest to the coat.
Photo courtesy of The Atomic Star.

From Life Magazine, 24 September 1951 - 'Town tweeds include Nettie Rosenstein's cape-collar suit  (left) with black yarn fringe ($235), Ben Zuckerman's fitted suit ($185) worn with a fur lined coat ($500) and Dior's checked, straight short coat with a Persian lamb collar ($345).'

For Ben Zuckerman to be mentioned in the same sentence as Nettie Rosenstein and Dior goes to show how highly acclaimed he was. Nettie Rosenstein was well know for her lovely black dresses and designed the inaugural gown for Mamie Eisenhawer. Christian Dior needs know introduction as his fashion house, created in 1947 is still well know and well regarded today.

From Life Magazine, 5 October 1953- 'Loose coat in blue and black tweed (Ben Zuckerman, $235) is new seven-eighth lenght which require a slim skirt. Lilly Dache's hairline hat is in step with Paris fashions.'

From 1948, a Zuckerman and Kraus suit. This suit dates from before Ben Zuckerman created his own company.
This suit combines velvet and broadcloth. The majority of the suit is the woolen broadcloth, probably in black and there is trimming at the hip in velvet, likely black as well. This is very early 'New Look', with the full skirt, nipped waist and softly sloping shoulders, so different from the looks worn during World War II.

 

This is a really fantastic Ben Zuckerman suit from the 1960's. It is a dark grey wool lined in sunshine yellow silk and trimmed in astrakhan, which is the fur of very young Karakul sheep.
The really striking thing about this outfit is the wonderful silk blouse. The blouse is sleeveless and has a 'barrister' collar. You can see that it fastens with press studs so that the clean line of the front of the blouse is not interrupted with buttons. The jacket has matching cuffs in the same yellow silk so it looks like the blouse is long sleeved when the jacket is on.

Photos courtesy of Sorpha.

From 18 January 1963 Palm Beach Daily News- Ben Zuckerman showing today.

'Ben Zuckerman, Hall of Fame fashion great, will be here personally with his complete collection of suits, coats and costumes for resort and spring... trend setting silhouettes in exotic fabrics and colors will be informally modelled from ten 'til five... typically this graphite French flannel vestee with French plaid chiffon dress. $385'

This ad shows an really interesting outfit, rather unusual for Zuckerman. The dress is a floaty chiffon not particularly tailored, paired with a rather severely tailored vest.

The outfit was sold at Martha's in Palm Beach, FL. This store was one of six, based originally in New York, that sold only the finest clothing, including excellent copies of French designers such as Dior, Givenchy and Chanel.

 

This is a 1960's Ben Zuckerman dress and jacket in raspberry pink with a light pink satin blouse worn over the dress. This style, a dress with an overblouse was very popular in the early 1960's and shows how Zuckerman was following the latest trends of the time.
The material of the skirt and jacket is really interesting, it is ribbed and appears striped. The loose, boxy cut of the jacket is very Chanel-like, as is the easy wearability of the whole outfit, as Chanel was no fan of restrictive clothing.
Photos courtesy of VintageLoveLove88