Joan Rivers: Her Early Years in Style
I was thinking about our Ms. Fashion Police, Joan Rivers, and started to look a little into her own style past—how she viewed fashion and personal style, where she shopped in the early years, what she wore.
Rivers became an overnight sensation when she appeared on “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson” in February 1965. It was the kind of immediate stardom that only comes after years of struggle. She graduated from Barnard in 1954, after which she worked a number of different jobs (the fashion-related ones discussed below) and began acting and telling jokes—living with her parents in Westchester, every night in the early 1960s she would drive down to Greenwich Village to perform in small comedy clubs.
Five months after “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson,” following a whirlwind four-day courtship, she married TV producer Edgar Rosenberg. In January 1968, she had their own child, Melissa.
Below I have meshed together text and quotes from two articles on Joan, from 1969 and 1970—as you’ll see, this was the period when she was beginning to break free from the style edicts advised by her husband (little black dress, pearls) and starting to find her way. Her style would become more extravagant and eye-catching in the years to come; 1969-70 can be seen as a transitional period between the strictness of the LBD and the glamorous future.
In 1987 Rosenberg effectively destroyed her career and then committed suicide; she subsequently found out he had blown all of their money on poor investments. After Rivers’ later comeback, she called their marriage a "total sham.” While she speaks little of him in these interviews, what she does say feels revealing of a rather controlling personality.
JOAN RIVERS is one of those naturally funny people. In fact, she's very funny. Whether she's doing one of her typical oh-so-sad-but-true routines ("everything happens to me" is the basis of many of her acts) or deliberately putting you on, chances are excellent she'll provoke the giggles.
The petite blonde comedienne is as entertaining during an interview as she is while performing. When recently asked just whom she dresses for, she quickly emphasized: "Certainly not for my husband. Oh, he's improving now. But five years ago, when we were married, he was impossible. He thought I should wear all black… no makeup… nothing. It was the Italian widow look."
Queried about her interests, with a completely straight face she observed that she's not especially interesting… that she couldn't care less about zen or astrology. "I'm just a typical mother," she said in her somewhat raspy voice that still bears the traces of her birthplace, Brooklyn, even though she was raised in Westchester.
"I'm mainly interested in my child, Melissa." (She is 22 months old and kept out of the public eye. "We don't want her to become a show business brat.") Then, reconsidering, "Well, I am interested in everything current… I never know just what will fit into an act or come up during a TV appearance."
…the mad-cap comedienne began her career as a fashion coordinator for Lord & Taylor and Bond Stores,1 and sees a definite relation between show biz and retailing. "IT WAS ALL very dramatic, you know," she says—"dressing windows… doing fashion shows… that kind of thing…"2
Joan was a retail store fashion coordinator after graduation from Barnard in 1954 until she tried to break into show business (which was a long, frustrating series of short engagements until she became an overnight hit in 1965). But the fashion background has lingered on to make her as knowledgeable about design and labels as anyone in the fashion business.
"But," she moaned. "I have such problems shopping, because I have a means I can wear things right off the West Side figure. What's that? Why, its racks in the discount stores. I slip into those little $6 dresses just like that… perfect fit. But take me into a designer salon or swanky boutique, and everything has to be altered. It's so embarrassing, especially if someone like one of the show's fashion coordinators goes along with me."
Miss Rivers has some sound ideas on fashion and styling for herself, moreover. "I HAVE A West Side figure, you see," she said, all boobies and hips—which means I can walk into Ohrbach's and buy things right off the rack." ALL OF WHICH speaks highly of Miss Rivers' humility and sense of humor—but which doesn't quite accurately describe her 5-foot-2-inch model-size-5- frame, or the sleek black-and-white crepe Tapemeasure pantsuit she was wearing. Nor the black knit jump-suit and Anne Klein blouse she picked up at Saks for her current nightclub stint in New York, or the black velvet replica she's having custom-made for her forth-coming show in Las Vegas.
Usually, Joan wears pants at "The Downstairs" because, "I move around so much, I just feel freer." A black knit jumpsuit with a white blouse [seen in the clip above] is favored this year, alternated with a black and pink crepe two-piece pants set.
"Basically I dress for my audiences. I admit it. I'm talking about television and luncheons when I say that. These ladies really look to see what I'm wearing. And don't think I don't get letters telling me when they notice that I wore the same thing twice."
Frequent hostess on the Tonight show, where she was discovered in 1965 after a performance that the critics unanimously hailed as hilarious, Joan is also often seen on such shows as David Frost, Dick Cavett and Ed Sullivan. This year she has a sparkling Oscar de La Rents dress she has worn on the air. But many times, when there isn't the time to shop for something new, she'll use boas, scarfs, beads, to give a new look to a simple black dress.
"I wore only black for the longest time," Joan noted. "That's because I was a size 12—ugh—and it was the only color I could wear and look decent." Now a size 3 to 5, she still worries about her weight, and will only pose for photographs from certain angles. "Watch those hips... we never photograph them head on," she declared, while laughing in spite of herself. Then she went on to explain: "You always think of yourself as you once were. So somewhere I still feel fat."
Joan looks for a flattering silhouette that will serve her purposes rather than for a name or a fabric. "I've just begun to wear really good clothes," she confided. "And I find they last much longer. My Dior suit… have to get that name in… it does sound good. Let's admit it. Anyway, that's three years old and looks like new.
"I really haven't got a lot of time to shop," said Miss Rivers, so what she liked best are selection and service. "Bonwit's helps you a lot," she said. "Mrs. Traub (Bea)—brings in all the clothes to you in a personal room… and they serve you yogurt and coffee. I also get some of my clothes from Martha's—like my maxi coat's from there… and some of the best things I ever bought were from Dior—one suit is three years old and never went out of fashion. "I'll tell you what drives me crazy, though," she adds. 'It's Bendel's. To shop there, you have to get dressed and undressed 17 times, they have so many boutiques." But her biggest grievance is still Bloomingdale's, "where they're nasty and rude, and act like a discount house—which at those prices they're not."
Joan is too busy to shop . . . "until I'm desperate. Just the other day I bought $57 worth of stockings over the telephone. The store was surprised, I'll tell you."
When she's not performing, or sleeping (from 5 a.m. to 1 p.m.) she is usually writing or reworking an act. "Nearly every show is different, because the same people come back so often. I want the audience to enjoy themselves. If they don't, neither do I."
Routines are created, taped, re-worked, filed, reworked, and thus a show evolves. Each show is taped, too, for later study of what worked, what didn't. An idea from 10 years ago, carefully filed by subject. is easily accessible. "That's due to Edgar [Rosenberg—Joan's producer husband]. Until 1 met him 1 saved very few of my ideas. He made me get organized and he was so right. You'd be amazed how much you forget."
And no wonder. She reads a book a day when she can—on every conceivable subject, although history is a special favorite—but not necessarily the basis for a funny bit. In the current Park Avenue apartment, three of the five rooms have walls completely lined with hooks.
"That's why we just moved—to Fifth Avenue," Joan said. "We ran out of book space."3
Joan, once she stopped wearing only black:
Joan Rivers’ first marriage was to James Sanger, the son of a Bond Clothing Stores merchandise manager, who she met on the job. The marriage was annulled after six months. Bond’s was a middle-class men’s clothier.
In another interview, she states that she assisted Cecil Beaton: “I picked the dresses and pinned the ladies for the Modess Because ads”; as this was only mentioned once and Rivers was known for fabricating biographical details, this is likely untrue.
All text from:
Jill Newman, “Joan Rivers—Mother With Strong Viewpoints,” Women’s Wear Daily, November 10, 1969.
Ricki Fulman, “Having Fun in Style,” Daily News, February 15, 1970.