Editorial Content for When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
In WHEN WOMEN RAN FIFTH AVENUE, award-winning journalist Julie Satow details the accomplishments of three women who made quiet, laudable history with their talents, intelligence, zeal for fashion and instinct for commerce.
Though their theater of success was New York City, none of them were from there. Hortense Odlum moved from Philadelphia with her ambitious husband, who bought Bonwit Teller, a women’s clothing emporium where he assigned his wife to be an advisor while he carried on an affair with another woman. Gaining attention when she and her sister began selling highly popular cloth dolls at Lord & Taylor, Dorothy Shaver, who hailed from Arkansas, became the store’s buyer and designer and eventually would be its president. Aspiring actress Geraldine Stutz rose in her career as a fashion writer for Glamour magazine, moving to New York from Chicago. Her artistic ventures and vibrant observations in print gave her the chance to guide the faltering Henri Bendel to awareness and attainment.
"The era of the women that Satow has brought to light might otherwise have been forgotten, so she is to be commended for offering their portraits and substantial capabilities to a new generation."
All three women revealed unique gifts as they took on their momentous roles. When Odlum began work at Bonwit Teller, she was ordered to stay in an office but immediately realized that she would have no influence on the store’s progress. So she began roaming its various sections at a time when department stores featured everything from clothing to art exhibits to tea rooms. She observed, chatted and pushed her suggestions on the higher-ups. Shaver, while welcoming styles of every variety, developed “the American look”: “long-legged, broad-shouldered, slim-waisted, high-bosomed.” And Stutz doubled the sales of Henri Bendel during her management there.
Satow heralds many remarkable women as she chronicles the changes in American culture and aspirations from the Great Depression through World War II. Her ability as a fact finder is matched by the personal touches that convey the women’s feelings and their struggles in a world almost completely dominated by “superior” males. She has composed complete biographies of her three heroines, with photographs and diligently researched materials. She also notes the demise of the sort of emporia where the women found and fostered their achievements, as discount stores became the demand among suburbanites, and malls and shopping centers proliferated.
The era of the women that Satow has brought to light might otherwise have been forgotten, so she is to be commended for offering their portraits and substantial capabilities to a new generation.
Teaser
In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband's department store as a housewife tasked with attracting more shoppers like herself, and she wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II --- before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies --- becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s, Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel reinvented the look of the modern department store. With a preternatural sense for trends, she inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers as well as decades of copycats. In WHEN WOMEN RAN FIFTH AVENUE, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps.
Promo
In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband's department store as a housewife tasked with attracting more shoppers like herself, and she wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II --- before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies --- becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s, Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel reinvented the look of the modern department store. With a preternatural sense for trends, she inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers as well as decades of copycats. In WHEN WOMEN RAN FIFTH AVENUE, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps.
About the Book
A glittering portrait of the golden age of American department stores and of three visionary women who led them, from the award-winning author of THE PLAZA.
The 20th-century American department store: a palace of consumption where every wish could be met under one roof --- afternoon tea, a stroll through the latest fashions, a wedding (or funeral) planned. It was a place where women, shopper and shopgirl alike, could stake out a newfound independence. Whether in New York or Chicago or on Main Street, USA, men owned the buildings, but inside, women ruled.
In this hothouse atmosphere, three women rose to the top. In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband's department store as a housewife tasked with attracting more shoppers like herself, and wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II --- before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies --- becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s, Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel reinvented the look of the modern department store. With a preternatural sense for trends, she inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers as well as decades of copycats.
In WHEN WOMEN RAN FIFTH AVENUE, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This stylish account, rich with personal drama and trade secrets, captures the department store in all its glitz, decadence and fun, and showcases the women who made that beautifully curated world go round.
Audiobook available, read by Karen Murray
