last word
Roberta Hochberger Gruber
Sasha Rogelberg | Staff Writer
D esigner and Drexel University
Professor Emerita Roberta
Hochberger Gruber still
remembers the Chanel suit she saw as
a student visiting the Drexel Historic
Costume Collection — now the Robert
and Penny Fox Historic Costume
Collection — for the first time: “It was
beautiful in color. The lining was the
same silk chiffon as the blouse. So I
guess that Chanel suit was probably
something I have never forgotten.”
She was a student in the very same
design program of which she would
later become department head for 11
years. A professor in fashion and design
and design merchandising at Drexel for
30 years, Gruber also stewarded the
school’s collection of designer pieces.

During her tenure, the collection she
once admired as a student swelled from
7,000 pieces to more than 20,000 today.

On Dec. 8, the Doña Gracia chapter
of Hadassah in Philadelphia will honor
the collection and the Jewish designer’s
prevailing commitment to it with the
“Visionary: The Curatorial Legacy of
Roberta Hochberger Gruber” fundrais-
ing event.

“She is a very talented, Jewish, com-
mitted woman in an industry that
is very tough: the fashion world, the
teaching world,” Hadassah chapter
President Elaine Grobman said. “But
she is all things to her students.”
Gruber would say that the corollary
is true. She loved teaching and enjoyed
seeing the designs of her students differ
over the years, saying she never saw the
same sketch twice.

“I really feel that my purpose in life
was to teach — it ultimately became
teaching — and design was where my
heart really was,” Gruber said.

Perhaps Gruber’s biggest demonstra-
tion of commitment to her students
was in the development of the collec-
tion. From the time she graduated from
Drexel as an undergraduate student in
1975 to becoming a full-time instruc-
36 tor there in 1986, the collection hadn’t
grown or been well-managed, Gruber
said. “I was convinced that this was an
amazing resource that needed nurtur-
ing,” she said. “And that’s really what I
worked towards.”
When she became the department
head of design, she hired curator Clare
Sauro to care for the collection and
began hosting exhibits to make the
NOVEMBER 24, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
space accessible to students, research-
ers and the greater community.

In 1994, Gruber hosted an exhibit
called “Designer Sketchbook,” where
she asked designers from all over
the country to submit a piece and an
accompanying sketch to be displayed.

She received submissions from Oscar
de la Renta, Donna Karan, Calvin
Klein, Michael Kors and 10 other
designers. After the exhibit, she asked
them to consider donating a piece to
the collection.

“It just started to grow and grow,”
Gruber said of the collection.

Gruber grew up with an interest in
fashion and design.

“It was always in my blood,” she said.

A lifelong Philadelphian originally
from Mount Airy and now living in
Center City, Gruber grew up with
Jewish immigrant grandparents — her
grandfather was from Russia and her
grandmother, Latvia — with a knack
for fashion. Her grandfather was a tai-
lor, and her aunt, who dropped out of
school early to work during the Great
Depression, became the foreman at
the factory at which her grandfather
worked. With an interest in art and a growing
passion for design, Gruber decided to
matriculate at Drexel in 1971, appre-
ciating the school’s fast-paced nature.

As an undergraduate, Gruber also took
classes in math, psychology and the
sciences, becoming a “well-rounded,”
“grounded” student.

After graduating, Gruber stepped
into the world of retail in Philadelphia,
which was replete with designers and
successful retailers at the time. For her
senior collection, Gruber hand-painted
silk and velvet, and her collection was
featured in a big window display at
Limited Editions on Walnut Street.

Gruber’s collections of wearable
art, though not sustainable to make a
living, were featured in several retail
shops in the city and today have a home
at the Robert and Penny Fox Historic
Costume Collection.

But beyond cataloging Gruber’s past
as a designer, the collection contains
a timeline of human creativity and
growth, Gruber believes. By preserv-
ing and growing the collection, more
people can access a part of society and
history that represents humankind.

“Until we’re not wearing clothes any-
more, fashion is going to be import-
ant,” Gruber said JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com Photo by Margo Reed Studio
FASHIONS A LEGACY FOR DESIGNERS