Daniel Werle; Fashion Designer for Film Stars

Daniel Werle, whose Werle Originals graced such actresses as Loretta Young, Gloria Swanson, Barbara Stanwyck and Marlo Thomas, died last Saturday of an apparent heart attack.

He was 68 and died in New York City, where he and his longtime business partner, Jose Fernandez, were showing their fall collection.

Werle and Fernandez started their business after World War II, and their success developed modestly, Fernandez said.

By the mid-1950s their clientele included some of film’s best-known women, with Werle designing gowns and Fernandez running the business.

Werle’s creations were sold nationally in such stores as Saks Fifth Avenue and I. Magnin and involved ready-to-wear, as well as individual creations. Werle designed many of the gowns Miss Young delighted in showing national television audiences on her “The Loretta Young Show” from 1953 to 1961.

Monday, Young remembered him as “an extremely talented and generous man (whose gowns) helped to create a wonderful signature for ‘The Loretta Young Show.’ I will forever be grateful to him and his talents.”