Robert Mayes

Robert Mayes was an artist and fashion designer who worked for major fashion labels during the 1930s through the 1980s. He was also an educator and taught for years at the Kansas City Art Institute and Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri 

Robert Mayes was born on August 19, 1913, in Ochiltree, Texas. His parents were farmers, and they moved to Warrensburg, Missouri, where Mayes attended high school. Robert Mayes was interested in fashion from a very young age. In a later interview with the Kansas City Star, he recalled designing puppets with tiny clothes, accompanied by miniature stage sets in his parents' attic. 

Robert Mayes enrolled at the Kansas City Art Institute in 1931, at eighteen years old. He was mentored by Mary Lucas Rounds, a fashion designer and one of the Art Institute's first formal fashion instructors. He excelled in his studies, winning recognition for his elegant designs. After graduating in 1933, he was hired by New York fashion firms Bergdorf-Goodman and John Taylor's.

After two years of commercial design, Robert Mayes returned to teach at the Kansas City Art Institute while continuing to design part-time. He established partnerships with local garment companies, including Harzfeld's and Kline's, to give his students opportunities to have their clothing commercially produced. He orchestrated multiple student fashion shows each year, and was the primary costume designer for the Art Institute's Beaux Arts Balls between 1938-1941. This included the camouflage-themed ball of 1941, inspired by World War II and artists' efforts to design camouflage techniques for the military.

Mayes also exhibited independently as an artist. In 1936, he completed a series of panels illustrating the process of dress design, with dress forms, feathers, scissors, and other tools. The paintings were displayed in the windows of the clothing store Adler's. In 1940, Mayes had a joint exhibition with artist and fellow faculty member Mildred Welsh Hammond at the Women's City Club. Mayes exhibited watercolor headdress designs and Hammond displayed paintings with her written thoughts attached to each. 

Robert Mayes moved to St. Louis in 1941 to work part-time as a designer while directing the fashion department at Washington University. He continued to organize fashion shows and frequently judged contests and scholarship competitions. In 1954, Mayes was hired as the executive dress designer for the fashion company Martha Manning. Robert Mayes continued living and working in the St. Louis area until his death in 2003.