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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Eleanor Lambert, Empress of Fashion, Dies at 100">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Lambert was born to a Presbyterian family<ref name=Smith>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> in Crawfordsville, Indiana.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lambert wanted to be a sculptor, but instead went into advertising.<ref name="Telegraph10Oct2003">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She started at an advertising agency in Manhattan, dealing mostly with artists and art galleries.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
She was married twice, firstly to Wills Conner, in the 1920s,<ref name="Eleanor Lambert, Empress of Fashion, Dies at 100">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which ended in divorce in 1935,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and secondly to Seymour Berkson<ref name="Eleanor Lambert believed in destiny ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
CareerEdit
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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Eleanor Of Seventh Avenue: Where Fashion Week Came From ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="time">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="Author to Discuss Fashion Industry Impresario Eleanor Lambert, Feb. 2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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 ">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="Eleanor Lambert: Still Here by John A. Tiffany">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=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">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }} Lambert's influence is described as exogenous event risk in mathematical modeling.<ref name="Eleanor Lambert, Demand Creator">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }}
In popular cultureEdit
In the 2021 Netflix miniseries Halston, Lambert was portrayed by Kelly Bishop.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
ReferencesEdit
BibliographyEdit
- 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.