Travilla 1961 & 1962 William Sarris Dress Line

Travilla's future business partner, William V. Sarris, was born July 9, 1929, in Bountiful, Utah. One of five children, shortly after graduating fourth grade, Bill was sent to San Raphael, California, and boarding school but returned to graduate high school in 1948. Sarris relocated to California by 1949, where that September he became a student at Woodbury Academy in Los Angeles. He graduated in June of 1951 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business. Sarris states he met the designer when as a Senior, he won first place in a fashion competition where Travilla, accompanied by Dona, was one of the judges.

According to Sarris, the trio became "fast friends," soon after, Bill got a job at Jack's of Hollywood as Travilla's assistant. Although Bill remembered, "I was doing the 'gofer' work!" He added, "I also drove Billy to fittings at the stars' homes and the studio." However, that soon changed at Dona's request. Sarris remembered in 2007, "It started personally because Billy was always taking off for Mexico and bringing exotic cats and wild birds home. Dona wouldn't let him go alone anymore unless he had a chaperone or babysitter, more like it. Billy was like a little kid. He needed someone to tell him what to do all the time. If it wasn't Dona, it was me. So, all of a sudden, I was that person. I went from being his babysitter to being his business partner.

(Travilla didn't work at Jack's in 1951, though he did buy into the company in 1954. Also, Dona was six months pregnant and probably at home rather than a student competition at her husband's alma mater.  And having exotic cats in the same house as a newborn didn't make sense.)

Sarris's sole film credit was in 1955 for the Rhoda Fleming/Joseph Cotton flicker, The Killer is Loose. Costumes were made at Jack's, so Travilla's input must've gotten him the job. It was about the same time the two thought about going into business together as this sketch, similar to this one of Ruth Roman for Bottom of the Bottle, has a signature of "Savillas."

In an April 1959 story, WWD stated "Though he has strong convictions, Travilla relies on objective opinions of his designs as the collection takes shape. Mr. Serres [sic] who 'runs the business' is a chief critic and Travilla points out a lot of his taste is reflected in the clothes." It wasn't January 24, 1961, that WWD announced that Travilla would manufacture a line designed by William Sarris. Over the next eighteen months, Sarris did double duty as a designer and businessman for Travilla. He showed along with Travilla at the Savoy Hilton during New York fashion weeks and at the La Cienega address in Los Angeles.

4-19-61 - Introducing the William Sarris Dress Group May 11 Sheraton West LA

5-24-61 - Introducing the William Sarris Dress Group June 22 Savoy Hilton NYC

5-29-61 - Introducing the William Sarris Dress Group June 22 Savoy Hilton NYC

9-19-61 - Showing at La Cienega Studio

10-25-61 - Savoy Hilton NYC

1-30-62 - Beginning February 55 Savoy Hilton NYC

3-11-62 - Included with designers in Full-page ad.

6-18-62 - Savoy Hilton NYC

9-20-62 - Hollywood Palladium “Lady Look” Hair and Fashion Show

The only William Sarris dress I have ever run across in all my years of research.

A gently shaped skirt and sleeves that widen at the elbow form a unified fashion theme in this Travilla dress in a fine silk and cotton print of white on beige. A tab buttoned in the same leather marks the high belt of white leather. 

Unfortunately, this sparse collection of sketches and photographs is all that remains of the Bill Sarris Dress Line. Travilla and Sarris remained business and life partners until Travilla's death in November 1990. He continued on with the business until 2003. He was last involved with the 2007-2009 International Travilla Tour and Exhibition, where a percentage of proceeds went towards local Alzheimer's charities, as he was suffering from the disease. Sarris died in March 2014.