When Women Ran Fifth Avenue

Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion

De: Julie Satow

Narrado por: Karen Murray

Duración: 10 h y 9 m

Resumen del Editor

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. • "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

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.

©2024 Julie Satow (P)2024 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

A Cosmopolitan Best Nonfiction Book of 2024

A Town & Country Must-Read for Summer 2024

"The latest example of great shopping writing . . . Satow could have focused on the stores alone, with their array of delightful bygone details. But by following Odlum, Shaver, and Stutz, she posits that women, in shaping retail, invented the American fashion industry. . . the worlds they built were largely forgotten, until Satow revived their legacies."—The Washington Post

"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

"Julie Satow celebrates the savvy leaders who made Bonwit, Bendel’s and Lord & Taylor into retail meccas of their moment. . . Clever . . . [Odlum, Shaver, and Stutz] are a force”—The New York Times

Great research wonderful words

Wonderful book I listen to it on audible And stayed up all night, Julie Satow is a wonderful writer. I very much enjoyed both of her books.