Mary Brooks Picken

Mary Brooks Picken c. 1918, photo published in her book Secrets of Distinctive Dress.

Mary Brooks Picken (August 6, 1886 – March 8, 1981) was an American author of 96 books on needlework, sewing, and textile arts. Her Fashion Dictionary, published by Funk and Wagnalls in 1957, is the first dictionary in the English language to be published by a woman.

Career

She founded the Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences in Scranton, Pennsylvania. An expert on fashion, Picken was an authority on dress, fabric, design, and sewing. She taught "Economics of Fashion" at Columbia University and was one of the five founding directors of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute. She was the first woman to be named a trustee of the State University of New York's Fashion Institute of Technology, by Thomas E. Dewey, the Governor of New York, in 1951.[1]

She was a member of the National Academy of Sciences National Research Council's Advisory Committee on Women's Clothing, which selected Hattie Carnegie as the designer of the United States Army's women's uniform and provided advice and assistance on all elements of the U.S. Army's women's uniform beginning in 1949.[2] Picken was one of the founders of the Fashion Group, now the Fashion Group International, a nonprofit professional association. She also served as chairman of its board.

Personal life

She was married to G. Lynn Sumner, president of the advertising firm of G. Lynn Sumner Co. of New York. Picken died on March 8, 1981, at a nursing home in Williamsport, Pennsylvania.[1]

Published works

Cover of one of Picken's books.
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1920
1922
1923
1925
1927
1929
1930
1931
1933
1939
1955
1956
1957
1993

ISBN 0-486-27521-3 EAN:978-0486-27521-5 UPC:800759275212

1999

References

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