High Fashion for Milady
Convinced that a new shoe can be as comfortable as an old one, and much more fashionable, Beth and Herbert Levine '37 proved this handsomely when they were given a Nieman-Marcus Award for "exciting, trend-making contributions to women's shoe fashions" at the NiemanMarcus Fashion Exposition in Dallas, September 6 and 7. A husband-and-wife team, the Levines have had their own shoe manufacturing company, Herbert Levine, Inc., since 1949. As president, Herb is responsible for factory management, selling and business details, while his wife is in charge of designing. This year their firm will attain a weekly output of 5,000 pairs of women's fine quality shoes, making it the sixth largest such concern in the country and ten times its original size.
Elected to Phi Beta Kappa at Dartmouth, after graduation Herb Levine joined Fairchild Publications, which, among other businesses, served the shoe industry. Becoming interested in the manufacture of shoes, Levine went to work for Andrew Geller Co., and while there as sales and advertising manager met his present wife. Beth Levine started on her career as a stenographer and shoe model (she wears size 4-B), and was later given the opportunity to combine her styling and design talents in leading shoe factories.
Since the Levines have formed their own company, they have been most suecessful in what were considered risky innovations. They have used new combinations of materials such as vinylite with satin, and have designed radical silhouettes, which the shoe industry had hitherto believed could not be made to fit comfortably. They imported from Paris a complete wooden heel called the Jordan Heel, which made possible a new type of slim but sturdy heel for women's shoes. From many trips to Europe they assembled a complete resort collection of shoes, breaking away from the traditional season displays.
The Levines make their home in an apartment in downtown New York and are the parents of a one-year-old daughter.
In Dallas Beth and Herbert Levine '37 receive the Nieman-Marcus Fashion Award.
