Information about Joy Stevens California

Hey guys,

I found this cute colorful piece by Joy Stevens but I can't find much information about this brand.
Also is it 60s or 70s?

 

Jenny,

I found a little information about your label, but, for reasons unclear to me, the last three posts I submitted, in response to inquiries, have not been seen/read/acknowledged by the inquirers. So that I know you will see what I found I can email you (or anyone else) the information if you message me your email through "Start a Conversation" if you click on my posting name. Thanks.

 

They were GREAT and yet this California teen was too broke for the great stuff coming out of LA and SF then. boo hoo. My BBF then and I took a sewing class together so we could make similar things ourselves.

 

Thank you for the reply, Jenny. I first needed to find an easy way to get the screen prints that were on my iPad and I think I am all set now. Here is trademark information about Joy Stevens -- California, as it was known throughout some of its history:

 

Joy Stevens was based in Los Angeles and here is an entry (a couple, actually) from the 1956 Los Angeles directory. If I remember correctly, I think this was the earliest entry I found for them...

 

...and a similar 1960 Los Angeles city directory entry:

 

It looks like this was the end of Joy Stevens of California:

 

There is just a tiny bit of information in this summary of a 1969 lawsuit involving Joy Stevens. I had to cut-and-paste the article and I am not sure I captured it all. The middle of the article that starts with "WILKINS C.J. The action of this tort..." appears to be missing something right before that, but I don't think it is important...

 

I resumed searching for confirmation of my assumption that there was no designer named Joy Stevens at Joy Stevens of California and while I do not yet have definitive proof of that, I found an even earlier 1946 ad (see here) for Joy Stevens of California. As they enclosed the name Joy Stevens in quotation marks, it seems to indicate that is not the name of a real person (EDITED TO ADD: Well, that clearly turned out to be wrong!) I found a 1954 reference to the firm and the Joy Stevens name in that article was also in quotes.

 

Found it...in a 1966 article on California Fashion Creators: "Five young women in their early 20's, most certainly names to reckon with in the future, made their debut yesterday before the nation's fashion editors on the final morning of California Fashion Creators' 16th(?) annual Press Week...and Joy Stevens, whose father established a blouse house, to which he gave his daughter's name, presented comfortable and colorful clothes for the young."

Another 1966 article seems to indicate that that young daughter was now designing for the firm -- including pink and orange pants and tops:

 

A bit more father-daughter Joy Stevens history, from a 1966 article: "Joy Stevens, 21, is another second generation fashion careerist. Her father is a well-known manufacturer of blouses. She studied at the Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles and upon graduation became designer for her father. Miss Stevens has a taste for the theatrical like blazing colors and styles 'that move around like little spotlights.'"

 

One last post, from a 1976 article about a designer show at Bullock's: "Joy Stevens' summer collection...will be featured...Ben Stevens, her father, and president of Joy Stevens Inc., will attend."

 

Man - that's a lot of information!

 

TMI?

I just hope Jenny sees it.

 

Great information - YES, hope Jenny sees it.

 

Oh wow! I would not expect the brand is that old. Thanks for the information!

 

Does anyone know if Joy Stevens from “Joy Stevens of Calif” is still alive and how to contact her?
We were good friends in high school together(Uni High/ WLA).
Gayle