1950’s California Fashion Designer Still Creating Masterpiece’s (continued)


Richard “Dick” DuPuis was born in Gueydan, Louisiana, a small French town in south Louisiana. Most of the community spoke French, as did Richard’s family. Richard had an interest in and an eye for fashion. In 1954 he entered the Berkley College of the Arts in Berkley, CA. Soon after in 1956 he married Joann Heald and began his design work in couture design houses in Los Angeles. Richard did not want to start off small so he pursued jobs with the top designers. His dream was to design for the studios. He interviewed with Edith Head who was popular for her movie costuming designs. He recalled going in for the interview and watching young sketch artists straddling chairs while sketching out designs. When he was told that he was not to work in the construction of the garment, he told Edith that he was there not just to design but also to actually make his creations and chose to turn down her job offer. After being turned by several houses for lack of proven experience, he sold shoes in Leeds Shoe Store. He tries to gather a few private customers and came up with the idea of offering a free gown to a person. He saw that the fashion editor of the local newspaper could be a good choice. She was more than glad to come for fittings and soon the word spread about his satisfied customers, his private list of clients started growing.

Searching for his niche in the fashion industry he also interviewed with Don Miguel, a designer couture house in L.A. that specialized in “after 5” and evening dresses. Richard admitted that in order to land a great job with only a college degree and no real experience he lied through his teeth to Don about the experience that he had! Don Miguel was impressed by the bogus resume and gave Richard his first job. He designed with the house for 3 years. The picture below with the fashion sketches was taken of Richard while at the Don Miguel house in the mid 50’s.



When the Don Miguel house split Richard went to work for Don’s partner, Neal Diamond and Neal of California was formed. While designing for the house of Neal of California, Richard even did some of the marketing for the company. He was not too sure that he wanted to have the following picture taken, but was surprised when it was so well received. Neal was right in having him do it. You may recognize this picture from 1950’s fashion magazine ads. A white dove on a man’s head with the caption, “We’ve always been a little different…after dark designs by Richard DuPuis”. The man in the picture is no model. It is Richard himself posing for the shot. I must say, I was amazed at the dedication that a fashion designer would give to a company owner and the commitment to sell the product. My how times have changed!



Not only was Richard a dedicated fashion designer but also his wife Joann Heald was a model for the clothing and hats that he designed. Joann was a model for the body of “Renee of Hollywood”, Jezebel corsets. Most of the ads were featured in magazines in the 1950’s. Pictured below is Joann modeling Richard’s dress and hat designs. The picture with her wearing the green with black flocking dress was taken in front of a Los Angeles Museum. DuPuis also designed the beige dress with the matching feather hat.



After working for the Neal house for approximately 6 years, Richard went to work for Miss Elliette who was married to Jack Bryan. Miss Elliette was a husband and wife team designing mostly daytime after 5 evening wears. After the Jack Bryan left Elliette and started the house of Jack Bryan, Richard followed him with his designing crew of 4 people. A pattern maker, sample cutter, sample maker, and a production man. Richard made 27 trips to the orient purchasing and designing the beading that was to decorate the gowns that was styled in the states. He would attend shows in many exotic locations including Paris and London. He recalled one fashion show that Jack Bryan actually hosted in flight! I would love to see pictures of that one! The picture below is of Jack Bryan and (Maria), notes the white feather coat and Richard designed the one shoulder gown.


After leaving Jack Bryan he also did production patterns for the house of Warren Z, Jack & Elaine Lerman founder. During this time he was building up a private following of personal customers.

Jack and Elaine became close friends of Richard and she became one of his best customers. Since they were involved with the movie circle, she sent him some of her friends. Jack and Elaine are known for their particpation in the ABC's, "In the Name of Love" benefit evening. Jack & Elaine also work and coordinate benefits with the John Wayne Cancer Institute. In the summer of 2002 the ball even raised over $1 million dollars. Pictured below are Jack & Elaine at a John Wayne Institue Cancer Benefit: Below right: (l-r) John and Gloria Gebbia, Elaine and Jack Lerman: Event co-chairs (l-r) Marissa Coughlan and Elaine Lerman


Richard’s design career stretched over more than 30 years of sharing his unique fashion creations. One thing that was so unique about Richard was his involvement in every step of the design. He sketched his vision, designed the pattern and then made it a reality by sewing every stitch of the design! After leaving Jack Bryan, Richard designed couture-wedding gowns in the 80’s and early 90’s. Below is a sample of some of his wedding gowns.



In the past, Vintage Devotion Ebay Store acquired and sold the wedding dress and coat ensemble pictured below. DuPuis stated this was one of his early 60’s designs. The ensemble was originally a full length stated DuPuis.

Richard eventually retired in the late 90’s and moved to Arkansas but his talent did not retire with him. He is now designing and making hand made, hand crafted jewelry. I guess one could say it is “couture” jewelry. He carefully designs each piece on a special order basis. He has a few pieces in stock but most of his work is strictly custom orders. Pictured below is a small sampling of his fine hand crafted jewelry. Here at Sydney's Vintage Clothing You can place an order for some of the finest handmade jewelry by Richard himself. This service is being offered on a limited basis, due to the time it takes Richard just to make one order. Some of the jewelry will be available here in my online store.(coming soon)




Richard has accomplished much in his lifetime and from my understanding this is just the tip of the iceberg. Richard has 6 children, 20 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren. After speaking with him on several occasions about this article I would say that of all his accomplishments his family is "the prize". While his children were growing up they just knew that "daddy went to work everyday". Now you can join them in appreciating the results of all of that work! Thank you for sharing your father and his wonderful talents to make this world a brighter place.

The above article was written by Sydney Nichols owner of Sydney's Vintage Clothing with permission of Richard “Dick” DuPuis.