Ernst Deutsch:

From Poster Artist to Fashion Designer

Ernst Deutsch (1887-1938) was born in Vienna as the son of Hungarian parents. He studied at the Kunstgewerbeschule (University of Applied Arts) in Vienna under Gustav Klimt. In 1910, at the age of twenty-three, he left Austria and moved to Berlin, where he quickly became one of the first and best-known modern poster artists in Germany. But then the war came and commercial advertising was not needed anymore. When the war was finally over, life in Berlin was very different from what it used to be. People were suffering from severe food shortages and dismal living conditions, and there were riots in the streets. Ernst Deutsch’s career seemed over and he had no money, so in 1919 he packed his bags and went back to Vienna. There he adopted the new name Ernst Dryden (pronounced “Dreeden”). Why he did that is anyone’s guess.

From Vienna to Hollywood.

In Vienna, the former Ernst Deutsch, now Ernst Dryden, found a new occupation as a fashion designer, which he pursued with great success. He had always been a very elegant man. Now he also created elegant clothes for both women and men. In 1926 he became the artistic director of the fashion journal “Die Dame” (a more intellectual version of the American “Vogue”) and moved to Paris, the fashion capital of the world. He stayed there until 1933 when he moved to New York, changing countries yet another time and, as it turned out, for the last time. There he initially continued his career as a fashion designer before Hollywood called. He spent the rest of his rather short life until his death of a heart attack in 1938 as a costume designer, working with stars like Marlene Dietrich.

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