Four-time Coty Award Winner William Kaiserman Dies at 77

Four-time Coty award-winning designer Bill Kaiserman died Monday at Lennox Hill Hospital in Manhattan. He was 77. The cause of death was complications from a stroke and pneumonia, according to his wife Angelina. A private burial is planned and a memorial may be held in a month or so, she said. Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., the self-taught designer started out designing hats, which he sold under the Rafael label. He later added men’s wear — specializing in leather and suede pieces — before venturing into women’s wear in December 1973. In dressing women, he focused on active sportswear looks and suits for city dressing. Kaiserman once said of his designs, “A woman has to be reasonably well-built to wear my clothes as they’re cut to fit the body.” Kaiserman won two consecutive Coty awards for men’s wear in 1974 and 1975, was inducted into the Coty Hall of Fame in 1976 and received an unprecedented Coty Hall of Fame citation in 1978. Started in 1942, the Coty American Fashion Critics’ award celebrated American fashion and was meant to encourage post-World War II design. Before Studio 54 opened, Ian Schrager allowed Kaiserman to use what was then a raw space to throw a fashion show.

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