Tucked away on 58th Street, steps from The Plaza Hotel, is one of New York City’s most stylish and best-kept secrets: the elegant couture salon of W. S. Dugan. A longtime favorite of many fashion hall-of-famers, designer Bill Dugan and partner Nancy North prefer to cater to their A-list clients’ particular needs. Discreet and discriminating, these longtime industry insiders have established a thriving business based on one simple tenet: Only the best will do!
Dugan and North, who was a former Wilhelmina model, met during the Seventies at Pratt Institute, where North was studying fashion merchandising and Dugan was immersed in fashion design. The two became good friends while spending time at Andy Warhol’s Factory with the decade’s “beautiful people” (including Loulou dela Falaise and Berry Berenson, who introduced Dugan to Halston). Says North of those halcyon days, “It was truly exciting, and it changed my point of view forever. I’m so grateful to have had those experiences.”
In 1972, Dugan was an apprentice on Seventh Avenue (“I was not loving it!”) and looking for new adventures. One opportunity presented itself in a fortuitous way: “I remember at the second Coty Awards party, Halston and I were talking, and he said, ‘Why don’t you come work for me?’ So I did,” recalls Dugan with a laugh. “I got there just as he was on his ascent. I spent 12 years there.”
During Dugan’s time at Halston, he traveled around the country meeting the designer’s best clients, including fashion legend Babe Paley and superstar Liza Minnelli. “It was amazing,” he says. “I loved the whole experience—it was like riding a rocket.”
One experience he’ll never forget happened in 1973, when Dugan traveled with Halston to Versailles. The leading designer, together with Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, Anne Klein, and Stephen Burrows, staged an extravagant runway show in contrast to their French counterparts. Many fashion historians called the show the single biggest triumph for American fashion.
“Those were exciting days,” says Dugan. “We were like family. There was a constant swirl of lunches and people stopping by. Everything was exhilarating.”
During the next decade (when “things got a little tricky” at Halston, and the designer was “paid not to work”), Dugan, who had risen to design director at the house, decided to move on and became a stylist.
In the late Eighties, Dugan teamed up with his good friend North to start W.S. Dugan. The collection received an immediate strong response from retailers (including Linda Dresner and Bergdorf Goodman).
In 1992, W.S. Dugan began dressing clients privately. “It was always our dream,” says North, whose urbane, easygoing style puts clients immediately at ease.
Their first client was jewelry designer Elsa Peretti. “We went through a lot together,” says Peretti who has known Dugan and North for over thirty years. “To wear Bill’s designs is like a confirmation of a feeling of that magic period, in spite of the many friends who are now gone. When I go out, I grab one of his wonderful satin jackets, crepe de chine pants and an organza shirt and I’m ready.”
“Bill’s a designer’s designer,” says North. “He’s extraordinarily talented in helping a client gravitate toward what she really needs. It really thrills him when she walks away happy.”
