Eleanor Lambert : Founder of Press Week

Eleanor Lambert was an American fashion publicist, remembered for establishing the International Best Dressed List in the 1940s and for acting as a precursor for New York Fashion Week. Born on the 10th of August 1903, Eleanor at first had no interest in fashion and instead she wanted to become a sculptor. When she was studying at John Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis, Eleanor was given the opportunity to write about fashion in a magazine. Eleanor then went on to study fashion at The Institute of Chicago and later went into advertising.

Eleanor moved to New York City, with only $200 in her pocket to work for a Manhattan advertising agency. At the agency she was often bombarded by artists and art galleries asking her for advice on how to gain customers and how to expand their businesses. Due to her success and knowledge, during the mid 1930s, Eleanor helped with the founding of the Art Dealers Association of America, where artists such as Jacob Epstein were represented.

However, it was in the 1940s that Eleanor Lambert became a well-known figure in the fashion industry. In 1940, Eleanor established The International Best Dressed List in the hope to boost the reputation of American Fashion at the time. Today the list is regarded as the ongoing record of the world's most glamourous women and men from society, royalty, Hollywood, art, fashion, culture, sports and the media. Vanity Fair is now in charge of the list as Eleanor left the responsibility to the magazine publication a year before she passed away in 2003.

As well as this Eleanor is known for being the founder of Press Week. Press Week was designed to elevate American fashion to international prominence. Before New York became a fashion capital, Paris powerfully dictated the trends. Often designers were inspired by the current Parisian fashion although they could never make a name for themselves. However, during WWII Paris remained under the occupation of Germany and in doing so opened a window for American fashion to emerge into the industry. In 1943, Press Week was launched. A selection of designs curated from New York fashion designers by the fashion press of New York City were presented in showrooms. Lambert created a platform where designers could introduce their garments to the public although only the press could attend at the time. Eleanor and the couture group of 20 individuals invited 150 editors to the event but only 53 came. The editors consisted of a mixture of names as some had never seen full collections in person. If buyers wanted to attend, they had to schedule separate visits to various showrooms to see the various collections.

The launch of Press Week coincided with an explosion of cultural growth in New York City. Jazz, poetry and paintings were breaking through to the mainstream as well as the rise of women entering the workforce. As a result, there became a huge interest for women's fashion that was not already present. The Press Weeks continued to develop and eventually became what we now know as New York Fashion Week. During the 50s and 60s, shows were held in centralized locations such as the Plaza Hotel and many more collections were shown.

Before Eleanor Lambert a "designer was at some point in America, just someone in the back room". It was because of her that designers such as Claire McCardell and Norman Norell were acknowledged in magazines including Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. Lambert made sure that American designers such as Anne Klein and Bill Bass earned the same respect as their European counterparts.

Sources: Fashion By Look "Eleanor Lambert : Defining Decades of Fashion" - Recorded Interview

FIT Special Collections and College Archives : Eleanor Lambert Interview 8th December 1977 - podcast interview

Image Sources: Eleanor Lambert 1963 Associated Press

1943 Press Week New York Getty Images