Countess Mara

History

Lucilla Mara de Vescovi was born in Rome, Italy, in 1893. Daughter of a very wealthy medicine professor of the University of Rome, descendant of an ancient noble family from the Veneto, and, from her mother's side, from baroness De Gleria from Trieste, descendant of baroness Maria Hatvany from Hungary. Her brother Silvio, a medical doctor and mining engineer, survived the sinking of the Lusitania and took care of the family's business interests in mining in Chile. She married Malcolm Whitman, an American singles tennis champion, in 1926. In 1930, following an argument about her husband's dull ties, his wife made him one from silk dress material.

Countess Mara's ties featured several novel marketing decisions. Vescovi Whitman had the C.M. initials featured on the outside blade of each tie, ensuring that they were instantly recognizable. As a designer, Vescovi Whitman aimed to make her ties colourful, interesting and artistic, while avoiding spectacular and showy designs. She described her ties as "jungles" populated with trees, flowers, and animals. However, her ties also featured a wide range of other subjects, including astrological signs, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Devil, Lady Godiva, torn love-letters, and safety pins. Other tie manufacturers, noticing her success, copied her business model and hired artists to imitate her tie designs. Vescovi Whitman did not mind this, saying in 1949 that being imitated had "expanded the acceptability of the pictorial tie".

In 1944, Countess Mara was awarded the Neiman Marcus Fashion Award in recognition of the influence its ties had had upon fashion. Among their most high-profile wearers were Frank Sinatra, Eugene O'Neill and J. Edgar Hoover.

Countess Mara Today

The Countess Mara brand was purchased in March 1998 by Randa Accessories, a major manufacturer and distributor of men's neckwear. Countess Mara belts, leather goods, neckwear, shirts, sportswear, and other products and accessories are retailed worldwide.

References

References

1. "The Ties That Blind: Neckties 1945-1975". Schiffer.
2. (1990). "The Tie: Trends and Traditions". Barrons Educational Series Inc.
3. (1999). "20th Century Neckties: pre-1955". Schiffer.
4. (February 1949). "Interview with Countess Mara". The New York Times.
5. (1963). "Mrs. de Peyster's Parties: And Other Lively Studies from the New Yorker". Macmillan.
6. NY Times, March 1998