© 2024 WLRN
MIAMI | SOUTH FLORIDA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Talented Children’s Dress Designer Makes A Name For Herself

Doree Fromberg
A lunchroom birthday celebration at Dorissa of Miami. (Doree's in the vest)

 

This story, as told by Dr.Richard Epstein and Dr. Gil Epstein, is part of an oral history series.

Every mother who wanted to buy her daughter a stunning dress will remember the name Dorissa of Miami.

This is the story of our mother, Doree Fromberg, a girl who won a scholarship to attend the New York Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) after graduating high school, began designing and sewing dresses in her home in Miami and developed the business into an international company.

Starting with $5 and a talent, Doree became an icon in the girls dress manufacturing business. Her dresses were eventually sold all over the world including top retailers such as Bloomingdale's, Macy’s, Lord and Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue.

After Doree graduated from FIT, she did an internship at a manufacturer of childrensware. She then got married and moved from New York to Miami and had two sons. Her mother, an energetic and affable woman, recognized Doree’s talents and took her samples on the road around the state of Florida to try and sell the dresses to specialty children’s shops.

Orders started to pour in, requiring more home sewers. She was very fortunate to find Cuban women — who had fled the island and resettled in Miami in the 1960s — and who were outstanding seamstresses. They were able to sew the dresses in their homes.

To read more, click here.
 
Miami Stories is a project of WLRN, the Miami Herald, el Nuevo Herald and HistoryMiami. To share your story, click here

 

Credit HistoryMiami

More On This Topic