Robert Denning

Denning was born Robert Dennis Besser in New York City, New York, to Jean (née Rosen) and Jacob Besser. Denning, as he was often called, developed an early interest in his body and health, a characteristic instilled in him by his mother. He was just fifteen when he met Edgar de Evia who was the research assistant to Dr. Guy Beckley Stearns and would go on to become a noted photographer. He became a testing subject for this homeopathic medical research and when his parents and younger brother moved to Florida, he stayed in New York City living with de Evia and his mother Miirrha Alhambra. He would often say that he saw his first lampshade in this home, as he grew up with a bare bulb being adequate. His first effort with decorating was perhaps in imitation of Syrie Maugham when he and Edgar painted everything in Miirrha's room white and put her bed on a dais. Her only response was: "Did you have to paint even my Baccarat perfume bottles?" He never used white again.

He was one of several design leaders raised in the Jewish community in the Bronx, along with Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.