Gibson Bayh

Frederick Gibson Bayh (1917-2007)

• The Collection
• The Story

• Gibson Bayh was a custom fashion designer for Gump's, San Francisco's historic destination for fashion and home goods since 1861.  He was known for his "timeless styling" of gowns, costumes, coats and pajamas. Bayh frequently used fabrics selected from Gump's famous collection of oriental art treasures. Many of the silks and brocades utilized in his designs dated back to the Boxer Rebellion (a late 19th Century proto-nationalist movement led by the Righteous Harmony Society in China). Bayh’s gowns retailed for up to $1,500 in the late 1940s and he was featured in a 1940 issue of Women’s Wear Daily.
  
  Bayh designed fashion with a dramatic sense of Hollywood glamour, using Gump’s stunning oriental fabrics for clients such as Dinah Shore (singer and actress), Lily Pons (soprano and actress) and Anne Baxter (best known for her role in The Ten Commandments). Some of his original garments can be found in fashion museums around the world.
  
  All the drawings presented here are Bayh’s original signed sketches, and attached to many are the swatches for the fabrics he intended to use.