Artist and designer Mia Fonssagrives is the daughter of Swedish model Lisa Fonssagrives Penn and French photographer Fernand Fonssagrives:


Mother Lisa and 8-year-old Mia Fonssagrives
September 19, 1949 Time Magazine
Photographer: Father Fernand Fonssagrives
http://www.minimadmod60s.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=97311

Mia was studying at Parson's School of Design in New York City in the early 1960s. It was there that she and fellow student Vicky Tiel had the dream of creating a collection of women's clothing. Because Mia had French citizenship through her father, the fledgling designers moved to Paris. They became known for their innovative ready-to-wear Youthquaker line:
http://www.minimadmod60s.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=98898

Here's a 1965 magazine article about the two American Girls in Paris:







Butterick featured easy, sew-at-home patterns by Mia Fonssagrives and Vicky Tiel as part of their Young Designer series:


Model: Diane Taff
http://www.minimadmod60s.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=10503

In an interview in the September 1969 Seventeen magazine, Vicky Tiel shared about designing clothes for movies and having Elizabeth Taylor as a silent partner in their Mia-Vicky Boutique in Paris:



Today, Mia Fonssagrives Solow is an accomplished artist who creates sculptures, paintings, collages and fine jewelry:
http://www.miafonssagrivessolow.com/



Vicky Tiel is a noted haute couturiere of fashion and fragrance:
http://www.vickytiel.com/index.html



Susan Camp
Senior Editor & Archivist