When Women Ran Fifth Avenue

Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion

By: Julie Satow

Narrated by: Karen Murray

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A glittering portrait of the golden age of American department stores and of three visionary women who led them, from the award-winning author of The Plaza.

A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Vogue, Smithsonian, New York Post, and Financial Times

"Ms. Satow’s carefully researched book is compulsively readable: I found myself dashing through it like a novel. She portrays the women with verve; we get a glimpse into their lives, as well as a sense of what it was like at each of these retail meccas." —The Wall Street Journal

"Compelling and colorful" —The Washington Post

The twentieth century American department store: a palace of consumption where every wish could be met under one roof – afternoon tea, a stroll through the latest fashions, a wedding (or funeral) planned. It was a place where women, shopper and shopgirl alike, could stake out a newfound independence. Whether in New York or Chicago or on Main Street, USA, men owned the buildings, but inside, women ruled.

In this hothouse atmosphere, three women rose to the top. In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband's department store as a housewife tasked with attracting more shoppers like herself, and wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II--before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies--becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel re-invented the look of the modern department store. With a preternatural sense for trends, she inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers as well as decades of copycats.

In When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This stylish account, rich with personal drama and trade secrets, captures the department store in all its glitz, decadence, and fun, and showcases the women who made that beautifully curated world go round.

Inspiring

This book was so inspiring as it laid out the stories of three incredible women who faced such challenges and appeared to stare these challenges in the face with bravery, courage, determination and vision.

Great story telling

I thought the book was very interesting and as somebody who was a fashion, major in college and been in the retail business my entire life I found it very fascinating. It was an excellent read. The author was easy to listen to, and I learned a lot! I would highly recommend this book.

Interesting history

I enjoyed learning about women’s history in retail but felt it could have been more concise.

An era I lived through

This account of women who ran 5th Ave was quite good. Having lived through the
Later years of Bonwit Tellers in the 1970’s and definitely through Henri Bendel’s I can relate to how the author describes those major retail stores.
What I didn’t appreciate was the authors somewhat but obvious dislike for Donald Trump’s purchasing of the Bonwits building to replace it with the magnificent Trump Tower.
It was unnecessary and cheapens the book.
Other than that ~ the book is fine

Meticulous research and detail

I grew up in NY and lived in the Bendel era, and the heyday of Lord and Taylor, especially the introduction of Calvin Klein and standing on long lines as a kid to see their Christmas windows. I believe I tiptoed into Bonwit’s once. Such was the hype. She did get that right. And I had never known there were women at the head of these palaces other than Bendel’s and Dawn Mello at Bergdorf. .
I think her Afterword sums it all up - she uncovered so much material, not enough opportunity to get to the ldepth needed to take it to the next level . Having said that, I enjoyed this book very much. It moved much more quickly than i expected and the stories and highlights
she chose to uplift held my attention throughout.

My 2 peeves certainly don’t stop me from recommending the book to those interested in that slice of time and the connection to what we’re seeing now in retail ( shaking my head) .
It was the narrator, who I thought had a very pleasant voice and was well cast, not being corrected in her pronunciation of certain places and eras; and the author’s constant reference to today’s dollars after saying what the number was at the time of the story, I wanted to know, but I didn’t need to hear that phrase and inflection so repeatedly. Just give us what it is today! Picky picky.
Enjoy!