The names of men were emblazoned on the buildings, but in the New York City department store's midcentury heyday, women ruled three of them. In the sparkling history When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion, Julie Satow tells the stories of these pioneers, bellwethers of women's changing roles in the world of work.
Despite never having held a job before, Hortense Odlum (1891-1970) took control of Bonwit Teller during the Great Depression and ensured that it not only survived but thrived. Dorothy Shaver (1893-1959) worked her way to the top at Lord & Taylor, where, in the prosperous postwar period, she saw to it that American designers weren't overshadowed by their better-known French counterparts. And Geraldine Stutz (1924-2005), a former fashion editor tasked with rescuing Henri Bendel, made it the standard-bearer of department store chic. Each woman held the title of president at her store and did wonders for its bottom line, and yet intriguingly, each woman's career played out in a different, and not always happy, way.
Department stores, where women already had a significant presence on staff, were a logical place for female leaders; as Satow puts it, these stores had always been "uniquely female universes" where women could be groomed for enduring careers. Like Satow's previous book, The Plaza, When Women Ran Fifth Avenue is a love letter to a lost New York, and if the city looked great then, as this title's archival photos attest, Odlum, Shaver, and Stutz deserve some credit. --Nell Beram, author and freelance writer