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. Lambert was the founder of

New York Fashion Week New York Fashion Week (NYFW), held in February and September of each year, is a semi-annual series of events in Manhattan typically spanning 7–9 days when international fashion collections are shown to buyers, the press, and the general pub ...

, the

Council of Fashion Designers of America The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessory d ...

, the

Met Gala The Met Gala, or Met Ball, formally called the Costume Institute Gala or the Costume Institute Benefit, is an annual fundraising gala held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. It is popularly ...

, and the

International Best Dressed List The International Best-Dressed Hall of Fame List was founded by fashionista Eleanor Lambert in 1940 as an attempt to boost the reputation of American fashion at the time. The American magazine ''Vanity Fair'' is currently in charge of the List a ...

Personal life

Lambert was born to a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their n ...

family in

Crawfordsville, Indiana Crawfordsville is a city in Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The city is the county seat of Montgomery County, the only char ...

. She attended the

John Herron School of Art Herron School of Art and Design, officially IU Herron School of Art and Design, is a public art school at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a professional art school and has been accredite ...

and the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago's Grant Park, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the world. Recognized for its curatorial efforts and popularity among visitors, the museum hosts approximately 1.5 mill ...

to study fashion. Lambert wanted to be a sculptor, but instead went into advertising. She started at an

advertising agency An advertising agency, often referred to as a creative agency or an ad agency, is a business dedicated to creating, planning, and handling advertising and sometimes other forms of promotion and marketing for its clients. An ad agency is generally ...

in Manhattan, dealing mostly with artists and art galleries. She was married twice, firstly to Wills Conner, in the 1920s, which ended in divorce, and secondly to

Seymour Berkson Seymour Berkson (January 30, 1905 – January 5, 1959) was an American publisher. Biography Berkson was born to a Jewish family in Chicago, Illinois, the son of immigrants who fled persecution in Russia. His father worked as a tailor. Berkson gr ...

in 1936, which ended with his death in 1959. Lambert and Berkson had one son together, the renowned poet Bill Berkson. She died in Manhattan in New York City.

Career

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 The Whitney Museum of American Art, known informally as "The Whitney", is an art museum in the Meatpacking District and West Village neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1930 by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (1875–194 ...

and helped with the founding of the

Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. It plays a major role in developing and collecting modern art, and is often identified as one of t ...

and the Art Dealers Association of America.

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionism, abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his "Drip painting, drip technique" of pouring or splas ...

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American-British sculptor who helped pioneer modern sculpture. He was born in the United States, and moved to Europe in 1902, becoming a British subject in 1911. He often produce ...

, and

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist and landscape architect whose artistic career spanned six decades, from the 1920s onward. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Graham productions, and severa ...

were a few of the many artists she represented. 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

. In 1959 and 1967, she was asked by the

US Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs of other nat ...

to present American fashion for the first time in Russia, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, Britain, and Switzerland. In 1965, she was appointed by President

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), often referred to by his initials LBJ, was an American politician who served as the 36th president of the United States from 1963 to 1969. He had previously served as the 37th vice ...

to the National Council on the Arts of the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

. In 1962, she organized the

(CFDA) and stayed an honorary member until her death in 2003. 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.” Months before she died, she had left her

to four of '' Vanity Fair’s'' editors. Shortly after her last public appearance at New York Fashion Week in September, Lambert died in 2003 at the age of 100. Shortly after her death her grandson, Moses Berkson, completed a

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

about her life. Fashion historian John A. Tiffany was mentored by Lambert. One source credited Lambert as "a factor in the

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the market value of all the final goods and services produced and sold (not resold) in a specific time period by countries. Due to its complex and subjective nature this measure is of ...

of the U.S., and even of the world" for her influence in the fashion industry. Lambert's influence is described as exogenous event risk in mathematical modeling.

In Popular culture

In the 2021 Netflix miniseries, ''

Halston Roy Halston Frowick (April 23, 1932 – March 26, 1990), known mononymously as Halston, was an American fashion designer who rose to international fame in the 1970s. His minimalist, clean designs, often made of cashmere or ultrasuede, were ...

'', Lambert was portrayed by

Kelly Bishop Carole "Kelly" Bishop (born February 28, 1944) is an American actress and dancer, best known for her roles as matriarch Emily Gilmore on the series ''Gilmore Girls'' and as Marjorie Houseman, the mother of Jennifer Grey's Frances "Baby" Housema ...

References

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 James Galanos (September 20, 1924 – October 30, 2016) was an American fashion designer and couturier. Galanos is known for designing clothing for America's social elite, including Nancy Reagan, Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor, and others. E ...

: ''Tiffany in Fashion.'' Harry N. Abrams Inc., New York NY 2003, .

External links

CFDA website''Vanity Fair'' feature
2004 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Eleanor 1903 births 2003 deaths American centenarians American fashion businesspeople People from Crawfordsville, Indiana Herron School of Art and Design alumni Women centenarians