Stylish Read: "When Women Ran Fifth Avenue"

Fashion! Shopping! New York! "When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion" promises a lot. I wanted to love this book. I didn't. While the subject is fascinating, and the three women profiled have interesting stories, author Julie Satow has crammed in much extraneous information, literally sowing these chapters into the book in a different typeface. 

In truth none of her main subjects (Hortense Odlum, Dorothy Shaver and Geraldine Stutz) "ran" Fifth Avenue. In its heyday Fifth Avenue was home to dozens of male-run department and specialty stores. Not to put too fine a point on it, Henri Bendel wasn't even on Fifth Avenue when run by Stutz. Each woman was important but ran only her own show.

Instead of telling one woman's story in a linear manner we time travel between Hortense and Dorothy and Geraldine for no particular reason. Satow will come to a decisive moment in someone's life, end with a teaser (..."and there were changes on the horizon that would soon threaten Dorothy's impressive legacy") then move on to another subject. Resisting the temptation to skip ahead, I went along with the clunky style, finding myself more and more annoyed.

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Hortense when she ran Bendel's

Hortense Odlum is an unusual choice to profile as she was president of Bonwit Teller for barely seven years. She had never worked a day when her husband picked up an ailing Bonwit's as an investment. Hortense reluctantly took on the task of updating staid Bonwit's, ostensibly to allow him more time with his manicurist girlfriend. Floyd Odlum eventually married the manicurist, Jaqueline Cochran, who, as a crack pilot, did much for women in the WWII air forces. See what I mean about wandering?

Dorothy in her office

Dorothy Shaver at Lord & Taylor, deserves a book of her own. A southern gal who came to New York with a dream, she achieved her lofty goals with visionary ideas and the knack for getting things done. Her tenure at Lord & Taylor was a long one. Under Dorothy Lord & Taylor set the stage for department store as style arbiter. Many of her innovations (like the College Shop) were adopted all over the country. Hired in 1921, she was President from 1945 until her death in 1959, and her influence guided the store for many years after.

Geraldine at Bendel's

Henri Bendel may not be familiar to as many readers. Bendel under Geraldine Stutz was small but mighty and dripping with cachet. Her embrace of upcoming young designers brought recognition to many. A master of display and believer in visual merchandising, her "Street of Shops" concept became the model for shopping as an Experience. These chapters feel the most complete, likely because Satow was able to interview many who knew or worked with Stutz.

And while interesting nuggets on their own, her forays into other areas (the first Black-owned department store, Elizabeth Hawes' experiences purloining couture to copy in Paris, the history of store window mannequins, etc.) feel like padding.

Would I recommend "When Women Ran Fifth Avenue"? For the information, yes. For the pleasure of reading a well-paced, well-edited book? Not so much.

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Unlike the author, who regrets she missed the Great Age of these stores, I remember them well. I miss those days, when walking into a store filled one with delight and promise, longing and satisfaction. Some of my own recollections from that magical time long, long ago:

Bonwit's NY flagship in the '30s

Bonwit Teller had a teeny-tiny branch in Cleveland, but it was the place to shop when you could, if you could. That was where my Aunt Sally bought a $40 handbag back when $40 was equal to $400 today. She swore me to secrecy. My one-and-only Lanz dress came from Bonwit Teller, as did the Hattie Carnegie label I found on the dressing room floor that I sewed into a cotton dress. It then ran in the wash.

L&T— famous for its Christmas windows

Lord & Taylor was so much a part of New York, its closure can only have been met with disbelief. L&T was where my mother and older sister bought winter coats on our family trip in 1951. I can still see my father impatiently tapping his feet while they tried them on and reacting in mock horror when he got the bill. Me? I was just biding my time until we got to FAO Schwartz. Years later Lord & Taylor was where my mother, since moved to NYC herself, got her post-retirement job in the lingerie department. She loved it.

The 57th Street Bendel's

 
I interviewed once at Henri Bendel with Geraldine Stutz for the position of Art Director. I had no business even applying because I was woefully unqualified. She was incredibly nice and never told me I wasn't right for the position, but I'm sure she knew. Once I realized what it entailed I was truly relieved not to get the job.