It was Fifty Years Ago Today...

420 Lexington: home sweet home

There are certain days you will never forget, though you may forget the date. My first day of work at Glamour Magazine in May of 1965 was really the first day of the rest of my life. Getting the job was an acknowledgment that fashion was not frivolous, and my love for it needn't be a guilty pleasure. It was now my livelihood.

Surprisingly I was not nervous on that first day. I'd barely been in New York City six months, but it felt like this was the place I was meant to be. I'd been reading Glamour since I was thirteen but never thought of working there.

Mine had been a disastrous New York first job experience— at a prestigious firm but without much to do. It must have been apparent how little I knew, and I was too embarrassed to ask for help. I quit and was fired at the same time.

I've written about my early experiences at Glamour here: (sorry that you must copy and paste)

allwaysinfashion.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-way-we-were-when-that-was-way-it-was.html

allwaysinfashion.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-way-we-were-etc-part-two.html

allwaysinfashion.blogspot.com/2013/12/the-way-we-were-etc-part-three.html

What did I wear that first day? I wore what I wore to the interview. For one thing I didn't have a lot of choices, and it may have helped get the job. I wore a navy and white houndstooth wool A-line skirt and a navy silk blouse with white polka dots. The blouse had a scooped Peter Pan collar, self-covered buttons and bound buttonholes. You could buy a little kit to make the buttons, and bound buttonholes were easier than dealing with the buttonhole attachment on the machine. During the interview I told Mrs. Denhof, my future boss, that I liked to sew. She asked if I'd made what I was wearing and seemed impressed when I said I had.

I also wore stockings, because the idea of pantyhose had not sprung from the head of some genius. Short white cotton gloves. Gloves, always gloves in the city, for a few more years at least. I still have the shoes. I threw out my wedding gown (by accident). I dyed my wedding shoes (a mistake), but I still have the navy Capezio heels I wore to the interview and the box they came in. My feet have gotten bigger.

I worked at Glamour for almost 25 years. Over time my responsibilities changed. The publishing business changed. The tools we used evolved from rubber cement and photostats to desktop publishing and Photoshop. The desks became cleaner— and a lot fewer.

It was a good fit