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"I was horrified." That's how Carole Hochman recalls her reaction when, as a 19-year-old design student at Drexel University, she was assigned an internship in the lingerie department at Bergdorf Goodman. "All the other [fashion] students got great jobs -- they were in eveningwear and coats and suits," she says. "I got stuck in lingerie. I thought, `What did I do wrong to deserve this?"'
What seemed like punishment back in 1964, of course, turned out to be kismet of the highest order. Little did Hochman know that she was at the beginning of a powerhouse career, on her way to becoming a grande dame of the innerwear industry, alongside luminaries like Eileen West and Josie Natori.
"I went straight to the woman in human resources," Hochman remembers, "and told her, `You've got to take me out of this. I'm a fashion designer -- what am I going to learn?"'
The precise answer she received was not recorded, but history provides one nonetheless. Fast-forward to 2005, when Hochman's concern, now a $150 million company she heads as chairman and design director, celebrates its 75th year in business. "The buyer [I worked with] taught me so much about what I know now," Hochman says. "I will never forget her."
The Carole Hochman Design Group, which began life as Chevette Inc. in 1930, remains at the top of its game. There's the impressive stable of licensees -- Oscar de la Renta, Betsey Johnson, Ralph Lauren, Esprit, Jockey, Stan Herman, Nine & Co. by Nine West -- with diverse identities that say as much about the company's strength as its sales figures do; there's the longevity, through years of retail failures and consolidation as the number of innerwear players waned from the hundreds to the handful, and then a hint of small-screen celebrity for the woman sitting at the helm. In 1970, Hochman appeared on the game show "What's My Line," eventually stumping the panel, including Arlene Francis and Bennett Cerf, from guessing her vocation. And, yes, that is Hochman herself pitching her eponymous wares every two months on QVC.
The designer's own life story is no less screen-worthy. Nancy Kissinger, Lady Bird Johnson and Barbra Streisand all make guest appearances.
All this because a certain Los Angeles-born,...