When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion

By Julie Satow

Book Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - 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.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Vogue, Smithsonian, New York Post, and Financial Times

"Ms. Satow's carefully researched book is compulsively readable: I found myself dashing through it like a novel. She portrays the women with verve; we get a glimpse into their lives, as well as a sense of what it was like at each of these retail meccas." --The Wall Street Journal

"Compelling and colorful" --The Washington Post

The twentieth 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 re-invented 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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0385548753
• ISBN13: 9780385548755
• Release Date: June 2024
• Publisher: Doubleday Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Well-researched history of women's retail

Thanks to NetGalley and Doubleday for a digital advance reader's copy. All comments and opinions are my own. This book describes the history of department stores, women’s rise to positions of power in the female-centric retail business, and specifically profiles the three visionary women who were behind the golden age of American department stores. The book primarily focuses on “three American women who made twentieth-century department stores a mecca for women of every age, social class, and ambition:” Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller, Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor, and Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel's. In addition to the upscale stores of New York’s Fifth Avenue, there is brief mention of other stores that became ingrained in the American shopping culture. For instance, Walmart, Kmart, and Target – all of which happened to be founded in the same year – 1962. While I found the history fascinating, and appreciated author Julie Satow’s meticulous research, I became impatient with the level of detail, i.e. Hortense Odlum’s marital woes. On the other hand, the history of mannequins was fascinating. I think this would have been more entertaining as historical fiction, but nonetheless I’m glad I read this one-of-a-kind book. If you appreciate fashion and marketing, like to shop, enjoy history of American culture, appreciate strong and complex women – this is the book for you.