The Pouting Trout: 2010

Werner Scharff, the designer of the oh-so-comfortable Lanz flannel granny nightgown, died on Aug. 17 at his home in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 90. The cause was Parkinson’s disease, his son Christopher Scharff said.

The Lanz of Salzburg line has provided a snuggly cover-up for women since 1953. It comes in a variety of styles, some below the knees, some grazing the ankles, some with lace-trimmed standup collars, some with V-shaped necklines, some with buttons on the front or on the back. All have a generous cut and one of dozens of charming prints: Tyrolean florals, hearts, doves, bears, bunnies and cats, usually intertwined with the Lanz of Salzburg signature.

Wholesomeness was inherent in Mr. Scharff’s design. A Lanz gown is suitable for Christmas mornings, not wild nights, for greeting the meter reader, not tempting a lover.

Mr. Scharff was also a shrewd real estate investor. Soon after moving to Los Angeles in the late 1930’s, he perceived that the rundown beachfront community of Venice, Calif., had potential. Over the years, he bought several properties there, including the Cadillac Hotel, the Venice Beach House, an art gallery and a cafe — all contributing to the revival of Venice as a funky, arty resort.

Werner G. Scharff was born in Lindau, Germany, on July 7, 1916. His father, a grocer, died when Mr. Scharff was young, forcing him to leave school and work in the family business. He and his brother Kurt moved to New York in 1937 and became partners with Sepp Lanz, an Austrian émigré, in a store that sold Austrian-style ski clothes and sleepwear. Within a year, they moved to Los Angeles and opened a second store.

His marriages to Eleanor Mace and Alexandra Scharff ended in divorce. Besides his son Christopher, of Bel-Air, Calif., Mr. Scharff is survived by his third wife, Simone Hormel Scharff; another son, Peter Scharff, and a daughter, Alexis Scharff, both of Bend, Ore.; two stepsons, Christopher Hormel, of Bliss, Idaho, and Gregory Hormel, of Hoboken, N.J.; a stepdaughter, Angela Hormel, of Ojai, Calif.; and six grandchildren.

By the late 1950’s, the granny nightgown was the Lanz company’s leading product. Eventually, the company included 30 retail stores and a manufacturing division. By 1990, it was selling more than 700,000 nightgowns a year. In 1996, the company was sold to the San Francisco Mercantile Company. It licensed the Lanz brand to Charles Komar & Sons, which also makes Eileen West gowns.The granny nightgown became a staple of women’s college dormitories. The Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein, who died in January, said she wore a Lanz nightgown while writing. She recalled how during her days at Mount Holyoke, “The entire dormitory, 130 strong in Lanz flannel nightgowns, caroled in the living room while our house mother distributed gingerbread cookies.”