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 seven to nine days when international Fashion design, fashion collections are shown to buyers, the pres ...

, 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 accessor ...

, the

Met Gala The Met Gala, formally called the Costume Institute Benefit, is the annual haute couture fundraising festival held for the benefit of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in Manhattan. The Met Gala was and still is popularly rega ...

, 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 ...

Personal life

Lambert was born to a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

family in

Crawfordsville, Indiana Crawfordsville () is a city in Montgomery County, Indiana, Montgomery County in west central Indiana, United States, west by northwest of Indianapolis. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 16,306. The c ...

. She attended the John Herron School of Art and the

Art Institute of Chicago The Art Institute of Chicago, founded in 1879, is one of the oldest and largest art museums in the United States. The museum is based in the Art Institute of Chicago Building in Chicago's Grant Park (Chicago), Grant Park. Its collection, stewa ...

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 generall ...

in Manhattan, dealing mostly with artists and art galleries. She was married twice, firstly to Wills Conner, in the 1920s, which ended in divorce in 1935, and secondly to Seymour Berkson 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 a Modern art, modern and Contemporary art, contemporary American art museum located in the Meatpacking District, Manhattan, Meatpacking District and West Village neighbor ...

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 (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...

and the Art Dealers Association of America.

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

Jacob Epstein Sir Jacob Epstein (10 November 1880 – 21 August 1959) was an American and 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 1910. Early in his ...

, and

Isamu Noguchi was an American artist, furniture designer and Landscape architecture, landscape architect whose career spanned six decades from the 1920s. Known for his sculpture and public artworks, Noguchi also designed stage sets for various Martha Grah ...

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 simply the 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 o ...

to present American fashion for the first time in Russia, Germany, Italy, Australia, Japan, Britain, and Switzerland. In 1962, she organized the

(CFDA) and stayed an honorary member until her death in 2003. In 1965, she was appointed by President

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

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 feder ...

. 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 (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

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

gross domestic product Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performanc ...

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'', Lambert was portrayed by

Kelly Bishop Kelly Bishop (born Carole Jane Bishop; on 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 " ...

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: ''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 women centenarians American businesspeople in fashion People from Crawfordsville, Indiana Herron School of Art and Design alumni