He dressed the famous and the socially prominent- the ladies who “lunched” from Park Avenue to Pennsylvania Avenue – and outfitted Mrs. As a young boy, I had no fashion influences around me, but all the while I was dreaming of Paris and New York.”ĭuring his long career, Galanos earned the most accolades his industry had to offer, including several Coty Awards (he was the youngest designer to win one, in 1954), a lifetime achievement award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America and a bronze plaque on Seventh Avenue’s Fashion Walk of Fame. Galanos recalled that he was “a loner, surrounded by three sisters. He grew up a shy boy and learned to work hard from an early age. His mother, Helen Gorgoliatos, and his father, Gregory Galanos, a frustrated artist, ran a restaurant in southern New Jersey, where Galanos had his first glimpses of well-dressed women. September 20th, 1924: Fashion Designer James Galanos was born in Philadelphia, the only son of Greek-born parents who immigrated from Naousa, Greece.

Hall of fame in forge of empires