Bill Blass came from Fort Wayne, Indiana, his mother a dressmaker and his father a hardware salesman. In his autobiography, Blass wrote that the margins in his school books were filled with sketches of Hollywood inspired fashions instead of notes. At fifteen, he began sewing, selling evening gowns for $25 each to a New York manufacturer. At seventeen, he had saved up enough money to move to Manhattan and study fashion. He excelled in his fashion studies immediately and at eighteen was the first male to win the Mademoiselle Design for Living award. He established his own label in 1970, the same year this portrait was taken taken in Jack Robinson’s studio.