Eleanor Lambert
Template:Short description Template:For Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person
Eleanor Lambert (August 10, 1903 – October 7, 2003) was an American fashion publicist. She was instrumental in increasing the international prominence of the American fashion industry and in the emergence of New York City as a major fashion capital.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Eleanor Lambert, Empress of Fashion, Dies at 100">Template:Cite web</ref> Lambert was the founder of New York Fashion Week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the Met Gala, and the International Best Dressed List.<ref name="Stahl Case Study: Eleanor Lambert Demand Creator">Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
Lambert was born to a Presbyterian family<ref name=Smith>Template:Cite web</ref> in Crawfordsville, Indiana.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">Template:Cite web</ref> She attended the John Herron School of Art and the Art Institute of Chicago to study fashion.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">Template:Cite web</ref> Lambert wanted to be a sculptor, but instead went into advertising.<ref name="Telegraph10Oct2003">Template:Cite web</ref> She started at an advertising agency in Manhattan, dealing mostly with artists and art galleries.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">Template:Cite web</ref>
She was married twice, firstly to Wills Conner, in the 1920s,<ref name="Eleanor Lambert, Empress of Fashion, Dies at 100">Template:Cite web</ref> which ended in divorce in 1935,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and secondly to Seymour Berkson<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref> in 1936, which ended with his death in 1959.<ref name="Telegraph10Oct2003" /> Lambert and Berkson had one son together, the renowned poet Bill Berkson.<ref name="Telegraph10Oct2003" /> She died in Manhattan in New York City.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert, Empress of Fashion, Dies at 100">Template:Cite web</ref>
Career
Lambert moved to New York in 1925 and briefly worked for a Manhattan advertising agency. In the mid-1930s, Lambert was the first press director of the Whitney Museum of American Art and helped with the founding of the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Dealers Association of America.<ref name="Stahl Case Study: Eleanor Lambert Demand Creator" /><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">Template:Cite web</ref> Jackson Pollock, Jacob Epstein, and Isamu Noguchi were a few of the many artists she represented.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">Template:Cite web</ref>
In the 1940s, Lambert founded the International Best Dressed List, the Coty Fashion Critics' Award (which later became the C.F.D.A. Awards), and New York Fashion Week.<ref name="Stahl Case Study: Eleanor Lambert Demand Creator" /><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="time">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Author to Discuss Fashion Industry Impresario Eleanor Lambert, Feb. 2">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1959 and 1967, she was asked by the US Department of State to present American fashion for the first time in Russia, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, Britain, and Switzerland.<ref name="Stahl Case Study: Eleanor Lambert Demand Creator" /><ref name="time" />
In 1962, she organized the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and stayed an honorary member until her death in 2003.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref> In 1965, she was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson to the National Council on the Arts of the National Endowment for the Arts.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref> In 2001, the CFDA created The Eleanor Lambert Award, that is presented for a "unique contribution to the world of fashion and/or deserves the industry's special recognition."<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref> Months before she died, she had left her International Best Dressed List to four of Vanity Fair's editors.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref> Shortly after her last public appearance at New York Fashion Week in September, Lambert died in 2003 at the age of 100.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">Template:Cite web</ref> Shortly after her death her grandson, Moses Berkson, completed a documentary film about her life.
Fashion historian John A. Tiffany was mentored by Lambert.<ref name="Author to Discuss Fashion Industry Impresario Eleanor Lambert, Feb. 2">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="Eleanor Lambert: Still Here by John A. Tiffany">Template:Cite web</ref>
One source described Lambert as "a factor in the gross domestic product of the U.S., and even of the world" for her influence in the fashion industry.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert, Demand Creator">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Dubious Lambert's influence is described as exogenous event risk in mathematical modeling.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert, Demand Creator">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Dubious
In popular culture
In the 2021 Netflix miniseries Halston, Lambert was portrayed by Kelly Bishop.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
References
Bibliography
- Ultimate Style: The Best of the Best Dressed List by Eleanor Lambert and Bettina Zilkha (April 2004) Template:ISBN
- World of fashion: People, places, resources (1973) Template:ISBN
- John Loring, Eleanor Lambert, James Galanos: Tiffany in Fashion. Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York NY 2003, Template:ISBN.