Anna Ben-Yusuf

Milliner and Fashion designer

Anna Ben-Yusuf
Born	Anna Kind c. 1845 Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia
Died	8 December 1909 New York City, US
Occupation(s)	Milliner and fashion designer
Notable work	The Art of Millinery
Children	Zaida Ben-Yusuf

Madame Anna Ben-Yusuf was a German milliner and teacher based in Boston and New York City. She wrote The Art of Millinery (1909), one of the first reference books on millinery technique.^[1] She was the mother of the portrait photographer Zaida Ben-Yusuf.

Early life

Born Anna Kind in Berlin in around 1845, she married an Algerian man, Mustapha Moussa Ben Youseph Nathan, who lived in Hammersmith, London.^[2] They had four daughters - Esther Zeghdda Ben Youseph Nathan, better known as Zaida (1869-1933), Heidi (c.1873-1915), Leila (c.1877-1967) and Pearl (c.1878-1940), before the marriage fell apart.^[2] Anna and her daughters moved to Ramsgate, England, where she supported her family by working as a governess.^[2] Her ex-husband remained in London, occasionally giving lectures on Arab culture for the Moslem Mission Society. In 1891, he and his second wife Henrietta Crane, had a daughter, also called Zaida (1891-1967) and a son, Mussa, who died in infancy in 1893.

Career

During the late 1880s, Anna Ben-Yusuf emigrated to the United States, where by 1891, she had established a milliner's shop on Washington Street in Boston.^[1]^[2] Her eldest daughter Zaida also emigrated to the US in 1895, setting up a milliner's at 251 Fifth Avenue, New York City before becoming a successful portrait photographer.^[2] Zaida published occasional articles on millinery for Harpers Bazaar and the Ladies Home Journal.^[3]^[4]

From September 1905 to June 1907, Anna Ben-Yusuf was an instructor in millinery at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York.^[5]^[6] She resigned in 1907 to set up a school of her own on West 23rd Street.^[6]

Her book, The Art of Millinery: Practical Lessons for the Artiste and the Amateur was published in 1909. It was one of the first reference books for teaching the art of hat-making in all its aspects, and remains a useful resource for leading contemporary milliners such as Stephen Jones.^[1] It was formatted as a series of lessons, each dealing with a particular aspect of constructing a hat, treating the fabric, or creating different types of trimming. On a more practical note, it also advised on correct storage, renovating fabrics, and the business side of millinery, and included a glossary of terms used in millinery.^[7] In 1992, a revised edition was reprinted as Edwardian Hats: The Art of Millinery.^[8]

Books

1909 — The Art of Millinery^[9]
1992 — Edwardian Hats: The Art of Millinery^[10]

Death

Anna Ben-Yusuf died in New York on 8 December 1909.^[6]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Jones, Stephen & Cullen, Oriole, ed. (2009). Hats: An Anthology. V&A Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85177-557-6.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1869-1898 Archived February 21, 2014, at the Wayback Machine on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009
^ Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1898-1900 Archived October 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009
^ Harpers Bazaar, Vol. 30 No. 5, published Jan 30 1897
^ Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1901-1906 Archived October 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009
^ ^a ^b ^c Chronology of Zaida Ben-Yusuf, 1907-1933 Archived October 2, 2013, at the Wayback Machine on the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery website, accessed 30 March 2009
^ Ben-Yusuf, Madame Anna (1909). The Art of Millinery: Practical Lessons for the Artiste and the Amateur. Millinery Trade Publishing Co.
^ Ben-Yusuf, Madame Anna (1992). Edwardian Hats: The Art of Millinery. R.L. Shep. p. 118. ISBN 0-914046-15-2.
^ Ben Yusuf, Anna (1900). "The Art of Millinery". Retrieved 26 July 2023.
^ Ben-Yûsuf, Anna (1992). Edwardian Hats. The Art of Millinery. R.L. Shep. ISBN 9780914046158. Retrieved 26 July 2023.