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Fashion Group International, 1928-1997

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Fashion Group International, 1928-1997 St. John's University St. John's Scholar Theses and Dissertations 2020 The Business of Fashion: Fashion Group International, 1928-1997 Larissa Marie Knopp Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.stjohns.edu/theses_dissertations THE BUSINESS OF FASHION: FASHION GROUP INTERNATIONAL, 1928-1997 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY to the faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY of ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SCIENCES at ST. JOHN’S UNIVERSITY New York by Larissa Knopp Date Submitted: 4/20/2020 Date Approved: 4/21/2020 Larissa Knopp Lara Vapnek ©Copyright by Larissa Knopp 2020 All Rights Reserved ABSTRACT THE BUSINESS OF FASHION: FASHION GROUP INTERNATIONAL, 1928-1997 Larissa Knopp In 1931 a group of women formed an organization that would serve as a clearing house for American fashion and as a support group for women professionals in the fashion industry. Members included Dorothy Shaver, Edith Head, and Eleanor Roosevelt, as well as other well-known professionals. Fashion Group soon grew into an international organization that helped launch careers in every area of the industry. Fashion Group International helped women create space for themselves in the upper echelons of the fashion world. Through a careful examination of archival documents, including letters, meeting minutes, newsletters, and speeches, this thesis shows how Fashion Group International helped women achieve professional success in the fashion industry. This dissertation looks at the women who held positions of power in the fashion industry after 1930 and it traces how they helped other women achieve similar positions. Furthermore, it shows how Fashion Group International helped guide the American fashion industry for six decades, as it transformed from a local to a global business. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank Lara Vapnek for her patience and support during this process. She was always willing to read drafts of chapters and guided me through each stage of writing. I would also like to thank Dolores Augustine and Tracey-Anne Cooper for sitting on my committee and providing excellent feedback. Special thanks to the archivists and librarians at the New York Public Library who assisted me in my research. Thanks should also go to my friends and family for their patience and belief in my abilities. Specifically I would like to thank my parents, Bill and Lori Knopp, for their unfailing support throughout the entirety of my graduate studies. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 Statement of Research Question ................................................................................................. 1 Historiography ............................................................................................................................. 2 Overview of Chapters ................................................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................................ 11 First Meetings ............................................................................................................................ 11 Networks .................................................................................................................................... 17 Education ................................................................................................................................... 24 Professionals .............................................................................................................................. 28 Lacking Authority ....................................................................................................................... 34 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 37 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................................... 40 Women’s Organizations ............................................................................................................. 40 Growth ....................................................................................................................................... 47 Growing Pains ............................................................................................................................ 51 Structural Changes ..................................................................................................................... 60 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 64 CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................................. 67 Networking Opportunities ......................................................................................................... 67 Continuing Education ................................................................................................................. 76 Professional and Personal Support ............................................................................................ 80 The Everywoman and Superiority .............................................................................................. 89 Stereotypes and Success ............................................................................................................ 95 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 98 CHAPTER FOUR ............................................................................................................................ 100 Fear and Tension ...................................................................................................................... 101 Diversity ................................................................................................................................... 108 Politically Aware ....................................................................................................................... 117 Bicentennial ............................................................................................................................. 121 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 129 iii CHAPTER FIVE .............................................................................................................................. 131 Constant Change ...................................................................................................................... 132 Goals and Structure ................................................................................................................. 145 Fashion and the Environment .................................................................................................. 156 Technology ............................................................................................................................... 158 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 159 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................. 162 iv INTRODUCTION “Everybody else seemed to think we had to follow Paris and that our own designers were nothing but helpless copyists,” Dorothy Shaver told the guests of the Fashion Futures show hosted by Fashion Group in 1934. Shaver, who worked for Lord & Taylor, was one of the founding members of Fashion Group and believed that American designs could be the same quality as Parisian and that women had a place in the top positions of the fashion industry. 1 Paris had been the undisputed fashion capital of the western world since the seventeenth century, but a group of women in New York wanted to challenge that claim. This dissertation shows how members of Fashion Group helped professionalize the fashion industry in the United States through education and the promotion of American design and helped professional women advance in the field and find positions of power in the rapidly changing industry. Statement of Research Question This dissertation will explore the contributions of Fashion Group to the fashion industry. Though the Fashion Group International is mentioned in various books and articles there has not been a significant piece of work that examines how Fashion Group influenced the industry. It is not clear the extent in which Fashion Group helped pave the way for middle class women to join the work force of the fashion industry at the managerial and executive levels and the types of support Fashion Group provided to help the women become professionals in the field, but the research presented here will show that the organization helped women advance in the field. 1 Katherine Smith, “More About ‘Fashion Futures’ Show,” [ca. 1934], Series 3, Box 7, Folder 34, Dorothy Shaver Papers, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Washington, D.C. 1 With a better understanding of how Fashion
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