KLEIN, ALBERTO

KLEIN, ALBERTO (1897–1983), Argentinian engineer. Klein was born and educated in the Argentine. He was professor of mechanics at the National University of Technology at Buenos Aires from 1923 to 1960. He was prominent in Jewish communal work. Klein wrote several books, among them Technical Rules for Metallic Structures and Reinforced Concrete (1935) and Elements of Mechanics (1944–60), and he was coauthor of Building Code for the City of Buenos Aires (1944, 1949, 1959). KLEIN, ANNE KLEIN, ANNE (1923–1974), U.S. fashion designer. Born Hannah Golofsky in Brooklyn, the daughter of Russian immigrants, Klein became one of the most influential fashion designers in the U.S. Known for clothing that was casual, but elegant and feminine, she was acknowledged to be ahead of her time. "Clothes aren't going to change the world," she said in 1969, just as the women's movement was getting under way. "The women who wear them will." She was also the mentor of donna karan , who was hired by Klein right out of school and became an internationally renowned designer. While in high school, studying fine arts and design, Klein won a scholarship to Traphagen School of Fashion in New York City and, at 15, began her career as a freelance sketcher. Her first regular job was at Varden Petites. She married a garment manufacturer named Ben Klein and in 1948 they launched Junior Sophisticates, a highly successful company that applied a youthful spirit to traditional apparel. She divorced Klein in the early 1960s but continued working with him until 1965. By that time, she had remarried and, in 1968, she and her second husband, Matthew "Chip" Rubinstein, formed Anne Klein & Co. The first collection under her own name revolutionized American fashion: a mix-and-match wardrobe of jackets, pants, and related pieces for working women that was equally appropriate at the office, at night, and on weekends. A short while later, Saks Fifth Avenue gave Klein her own in-store boutique, the start of a new approach to retailing. She became the first designer to win two Neiman Marcus awards for fashion leadership, in 1959 and 1969. She also won two Coty Awards and was named to the Coty American Fashion Awards Hall of Fame in 1971. Two years later, she became an international presence by taking on new investors, Takihyo Co. Ltd. of Japan.   In 1973, she was one of five U.S. designers selected to participate, along with five French houses, in a landmark fashion show at Versailles. (Mort Sheinman (2nd ed.)