Alyce Marie-Therese Hamm, an award-winning Chicago fashion designer and founder of ALYCE Paris, crafted gowns, dresses and costumes worn by beauty queens, mayors’ wives and Olympic athletes.
Trained in Parisian couture and costume design at the prestigious Paris Ecole de Couture, Ms. Hamm’s fashion designs were often described as trend-setting by American standards.
“She was such a joy,” said Marsha Brenner, executive director of the Apparel Industry Board. “She was a smart, gracious lady, who started a design business confident in her own talent and built it into one of the most exciting producers of bridal collections in our city.”
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Ms. Hamm, 84, of Lincolnwood, the 1994 recipient of the “Designer of the Year” Award by the Apparel Industry Foundation, died Friday, Dec. 26, in ManorCare Health Services, an assisted living facility in Northbrook. She had Alzheimer’s disease.
“She was creative, innovative and loved dressing women to help them feel beautiful,” said her niece, Nathalie Lambert, who in the 1990s worked for the company as a pattern-maker alongside her aunt and is now involved in its merchandising.
A native of the Alsace-Lorraine region of France, Ms. Hamm was born Alice Marie-Therese Hamm, but formally changed the spelling of her first name from Alice to Alyce after becoming an American citizen in 1961.
“She was proud of her French heritage and wanted people to pronounce her name ‘AH lease’ as they do in France,” Lambert said. “And when she designed, she did it with that same aesthetic and sense of beauty the French are known for worldwide.”
In 1955, Ms. Hamm immigrated to the United States and landed a job at Carol Gowns, a bridal gown manufacturer in Chicago. She then worked for Blum & Leibach, a Chicago-based party and wedding dress manufacturer.
In 1967, she bought Blum & Leibach with financial help from her three brothers, and that same year renamed the business Alyce Designs.
It wasn’t long before Ms. Hamm’s designs were being worn by women worldwide. She dressed Miss America 1968, Debra Dene Barnes, and then Miss Illinois 1969, Judith Ford, who went on to win Miss America. She also outfitted Amanda Jones for her 1973 Miss USA title and Miss France 1989, Peggy Zlotkowski.
“She loved working with fabrics that highlight a woman’s femininity — chiffon, organza, tulle and Venetian lace,” Lambert said.
Ms. Hamm provided dresses in 1972 for Mayor Richard J. Daley’s wife, Eleanor, and in 1976, for Mayor Michael Bilandic’s wife, Heather.
In 1975, she caught the eye of a buyer at retailer Henri Bendel in New York, who encouraged her to advertise her infamous “yellow organza bustle-back dress.” She followed that advice and sales shot through the roof for her young company.
According to Lambert, Ms. Hamm made her first trip to Singapore and China to source hand-beaded silk dresses in 1982, and Alyce Designs became one of the first U.S.-based companies to produce silk dresses in China.
Ms. Hamm was quoted in a 1984 Tribune story about the growing number of women bucking tradition and choosing black for the color of their bridesmaid’s dresses — and even their own.
“In Europe, years ago, when someone got married who was past 40, she wore a black wedding dress with a train,” Hamm, who had for decades included black in her bridal collections, told the Tribune. “Only the veil would be white.”
In 1988, she dressed Olympian ice skater Barbara Ann Scott, “Canada’s sweetheart,” for her Olympic torch-lighting ceremony.
“Her projects were fun and always exciting,” Lambert said.
Ms. Hamm retired in 2002 at age 71, and a few years later the company, now based in Morton Grove, was rebranded as ALYCE Paris as an homage to her early years studying and working in Paris. Her brother Jean-Paul Hamm now serves as the company’s CEO and her niece Claudine Hamm is COO.
“She made me one of my first designer gowns in 1987, a black full-length taffeta evening dress that I loved and remember as being completely backless,” Brenner said. “It was stunning!”
Other survivors include another brother, Joseph; and a sister, Cecile Zechtold.
Services were held.