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.