Jessica McClintock, SF designer of countless prom dreams, dies at 90 FacebookTwitterEmail Designer Jessica McClintock and models pose with some of her fashions at her San Francisco home in 1984.Roger Ressmeyer/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images Jessica McClintock, the San Francisco designer who made countless prom dress dreams come true, has died. She was 90. McClintock was famed for her budget-friendly formal wear, and thousands of prom-goers have fond memories of trying on gowns in her Union Square boutique. The fashion trailblazer was born in Maine in 1930 and left home at 17 to pursue her degree. She graduated from San Jose State University and eventually settled on the West Coast, where she invested in San Francisco fashion label Gunne Sax in 1969. The brand was known for its calico prairie-style dresses, but after McClintock joined the endeavor which would later take her name, the dresses transitioned toward a more romantic, elegant style.