Eleanor Lambert
Eleanor Lambert | |
|---|---|
| Born | 10 August 1903 Crawfordsville, Indiana, U.S. |
| Died | 7 October 2003 (aged 100) Manhattan, New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Fashion publicist |
| Known for | Founding New York Fashion Week, Council of Fashion Designers of America, Met Gala, International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List |
Eleanor Lambert (August 10, 1903 – October 7, 2003) was a pioneering American fashion publicist who played a crucial role in raising the global stature of the United States fashion industry and was instrumental in positioning New York City as a leading international fashion hub. She was the visionary behind several foundational organizations such as New York Fashion Week, the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the Met Gala, and the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame List.
Personal life
Born into a Presbyterian family in Crawfordsville, Indiana, Lambert pursued her education in fashion at both the John Herron School of Art and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Originally aiming for a career in sculpture, she later transitioned into advertising, collaborating with artists and galleries based in Manhattan.
Lambert was married twice: her first marriage was to Wills Conner during the 1920s, which ended in divorce by 1935. She subsequently wed Seymour Berkson in 1936, remaining married until his passing in 1959. Together, they had one son, the poet Bill Berkson. Eleanor Lambert passed away in Manhattan, New York City.
Career
After relocating to New York City in 1925, Lambert briefly joined a Manhattan advertising firm. By the mid-1930s, she became the inaugural press director for the Whitney Museum of American Art and played a role in founding both the Museum of Modern Art and the Art Dealers Association of America. Her clientele included notable artists such as Jackson Pollock, Jacob Epstein, and Isamu Noguchi.
During the 1940s, Lambert established several key fashion initiatives: the International Best Dressed List, the Coty Fashion Critics' Award (which evolved into the C.F.D.A. Awards), and New York Fashion Week. The US Department of State enlisted her expertise in 1959 and again in 1967 to promote American fashion abroad, organizing exhibitions across Russia, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, Britain, and Switzerland.
In 1962, she founded the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and served as an honorary member until her death in 2003. President Lyndon Johnson appointed her to serve on the National Council on the Arts under the National Endowment for the Arts in 1965. To recognize outstanding achievements within fashion, the CFDA created The Eleanor Lambert Award in 2001. Nearing her centennial year in 2003, Lambert entrusted her International Best Dressed List legacy to four editors from Vanity Fair. Her grandson Moses Berkson later produced a documentary chronicling her life.
Among those she mentored was fashion historian John A. Tiffany.
Lambert's contributions have been acknowledged as vital to both national and international economic sectors related to fashion. Additionally, her influence is cited within economic frameworks as an example illustrating exogenous event risk.
In popular culture
In the 2021 Netflix miniseries Halston, actress Kelly Bishop portrayed Eleanor Lambert.
Bibliography
- Ultimate Style: The Best of the Best Dressed List by Eleanor Lambert and Bettina Zilkha (April 2004)
- World of fashion: People, places, resources (1973)
- John Loring, Eleanor Lambert, James Galanos: Tiffany in Fashion. Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York NY 2003, .