About: Fira Benenson
Fira Benenson (14 April 1898 – 23 October 1977) was a Russian-born American fashion designer and dressmaker. After growing up in Baku and Saint Petersburg, her family left Russia at the end of World War I and relocated in London. Benenson grew up between London, Paris and New York City, immigrating to Manhattan in the late 1920s. Opening a dress shop, she gained a reputation as a designer and was hired by Bonwit Teller in 1934. When World War II prohibited participation in the Paris fashion industry, she and other American designers began creating their own fashion lines. Leaving Bonwit's in 1948, she operated her own company, designing into 1969 and inspiring a new generation of American designers.
