The late, great Bill Blass got his start under the famous Baron Nicolas de Gunzburg, and in 1959 he rose to head designer of Maurice Rentner. Blass bought the company in 1970 and renamed it as his own—Bill Blass Limited. For the next three decades, the brand became synonymous with elegant sportswear, unfussy, glamorous clothes in luxurious materials that could transition from work to evening.