Geoffrey Beene (bornSamuel Albert Bozeman Jr.; August 30, 1924 – September 28, 2004) was an American fashion designer. Beene was one of New York's most famous fashion designers, recognized for his artistic and technical skills and for creating simple, comfortable and dressy women's wear.

In 2018, the Geoffrey Beene brand was acquired byPVH who previously produced the brand under license.

On June 23, 2021, it was announced that the Geoffrey Beene brand would be sold toAuthentic Brands Group alongside Van Heusen,Izod, andArrow.^[1] The sale closed on August 2, 2021, with United Legwear & Apparel Company named as its licensee alongside the Van Heusen and Arrow brands.^[2] However, in April 2023 it was announced that Versa Group would be the new licensee for the Geoffrey Beene brand.^[3]

Beene was born on August 30, 1924, as Samuel Albert Bozeman Jr.^[4] in the small rural town ofHaynesville, Louisiana, located just south of theArkansas state line.^[5] He was born into a family of doctors and was encouraged to follow in their footsteps. He studied medicine atTulane University inNew Orleans but dropped out in 1946, after three years of study. Beene moved to Los Angeles, where he studied fashion design at theUniversity of Southern California and worked in thedisplay department of theI. Magnin retail store until 1947.^[6]

Later that year, he moved to New York City to attend theTraphagen School of Fashion.^[7] He then moved to Paris, where he attended theEcole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne (ECSCP) and the couture house of Molyneux. In 1949, he returned to New York, where he became Assistant Designer at the Seventh Avenue house of Harmay. In 1958, he left Harmay to design with Teal Traina, before founding his eponymous design house.^[8]

Beene founded his firm, Geoffrey Beene, Inc., in New York City in 1963, in partnership with Teal Traina's Leo Orlandi in aSeventh Avenue showroom.

A year later, he was awarded theCoty American Fashion Critics' Award, one of the most prestigious awards in fashion. His first collection was featured on the cover ofVogue Magazine.

In his 1970 collection, Beene applied the use of inexpensive fabrics such as sweatshirt and denim fabric for evening dresses. Introduced in 1971, the Beene Bag line of women’s wear used the same silhouettes as hiscouture line. By the mid-1970s, Beene had a number of licensing agreements for products such as eyeglasses and bed sheets, and also his most famously known cologne called Grey Flannel, launched in 1975. It contains notes of orange, lemon, rose, geranium, sandalwood and cedar wood, and is considered a classic men's fragrance winning a FIFI Award in 1976. In 1976, Beene became the first American designer to show a collection inMilan, Italy.^[11] This success led to his sixth Coty Award in 1977, for giving impetus to American fashion abroad. In 1982, Beene received his eighth Coty Award; the most awarded to any one designer.^[12]

In 1986, Beene was named TheCouncil of Fashion Designers of America's Designer of the Year. Two years later, the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Beene the Special Award for Fashion as Art. In 1989, he opened the first Geoffrey Beene retail boutique onFifth Avenue.

Beene's clients includedLady Bird Johnson,Pat Nixon,Nancy Reagan,Faye Dunaway andGlenn Close.^[13] Beene was known as both an innovator and a teacher. Several of his former apprentices,Kay Unger,Alber Elbaz and Maria Pinto are now successful fashion designers.

On September 28, 2004, Beene died from pneumonia, as a complication ofsquamous-cell carcinoma, at his home on theUpper East Side of Manhattan.^[14][15]

In honor of Beene's fashion legacy, theCouncil of Fashion Designers of America created the annual Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement award in 1984.

Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients^[16][17]

Allnet profits from Geoffrey Beene products are donated to philanthropic causes, such as cancer research,Alzheimer's research,domestic violence prevention and response,Save the Children, and educational programs, including scholarships for students majoring in fashion and related disciplines.^[18]

In 2007, The Geoffrey Beene Foundation formed a strategic alliance with the FSF YMA Fashion Scholarship Fund to further the mutual goal of expanding support for students seeking careers in the Fashion Industry. The foundation has donated to the FSF in excess of $5 million committed through 2016.^{[citation needed]}

• Official company website
• Geoffrey Beene atFMD
• American Ingenuity: Sportswear 1930s-1970s, an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Geoffrey Beene (see index)
• Geoffrey Beene atIMDb

• 1924 births
• 2004 deaths
• 20th-century American businesspeople
• American fashion designers
• LGBTQ fashion designers
• People from Haynesville, Louisiana
• Tulane University alumni
• Deaths from pneumonia in New York City
• Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
• People from the Upper East Side
• Authentic Brands Group
• Traphagen School of Fashion alumni

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• Articles with unsourced statements from March 2025