Edgar Miller Legacy

Thanks to his delightful and delicate designs, Edgar Miller had many clients who also worked in various creative trades, as seen in these examples of printmaking work he designed for fashion and costume designer named Gisela Bennati, from the Edgar Miller Legacy archive. During the 1920s, Bennati and Miller were both proprietors of their own small business studios and shops in Chicago's Towertown neighborhood, named for Chicago's iconic Water Tower, and today known as the Magnificent Mile shopping district.

Miller’s dazzling design-work commissioned by Bennati was likely multi-purpose. Printed on wrapping tissue paper, it could be used to hold cards, stationary, and advertisement fliers, and it may also have been used to package jewelry, scarves, and other smaller garments and accessories. Altogether, Miller's work helped maintain a lasting brand impression for Bennati's clientele.

Bennati’s dressmaking establishment was located at 719 N. Rush St., for which Miller also made business cards. The gorgeous, enticing, and subtly detailed stylings by Miller showcase what made him a sought-after, talented illustrator and graphic designer at this point in his career. Bennati was a popular dressmaker and designer, and is even mentioned in a 1923 New York Times article when she had a booth at a fashion pageant at the Lexington Avenue Theatre in New York City.
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