Eugenia Benbow Sheppard (July 24, 1899 – November 11, 1984) was an American fashion writer and newspaper columnist for some 80 newspapers (including the ''

Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since '' The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication i ...

'', ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'', ''

The Boston Post ''The Boston Post'' was a daily newspaper in New England for over a hundred years before its final shutdown in 1956. The ''Post'' was founded in November 1831 by two prominent Boston businessmen, Charles G. Greene and William Beals. Edwin Groz ...

'', and most notably, the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the '' New York Tribune'' acquired the '' New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and compet ...

''.

Early life and education

Eugenia Benbow Sheppard was born in

Nelsonville, Ohio Nelsonville is a city in northwestern Athens County, Ohio, United States, located about southeast of Columbus. The population was 5,373 at the 2020 census. It is home to Hocking College as well as Rocky Brands. Nelsonville is surrounded by ...

, the daughter of James Taylor Sheppard and Jane (Benbow) Sheppard. She graduated from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh language, Welsh: ) is a Private college, private Women's colleges in the United States, women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as a ...

in 1921.

Career

She was credited with having "revolutionized fashion reporting with her reports in the New York Herald Tribune (1940–56)". Her syndicated column, ''Inside Fashion'', made her the most influential fashion arbiter of the 1950s and 1960s. Her fashion columns at the ''

'' carried Joe Eula's illustrations. Sheppard wrote a children's play, ''Cinderella'' (1928). She also collaborated with Earl Blackwell on writing two novels, ''Crystal Clear'' (1978) and ''Skyrocket'' (1980), both set in the fashion world.

Personal life and legacy

Sheppard married three times. Her first two marriages, to Samuel Black and Preston Wolfe, ended in divorce. She married her third husband, fellow journalist Walter Millis, in 1944; he died in 1968. She died from cancer in 1984, aged 85 years, in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. She was survived by her son Sheppard Black, stepson Walter Millis, Jr., and stepdaughter Sarah Millis McCoy.

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

succinctly memorialized her in his diary entry of Monday, November 12, 1984, writing, "Oh and the day had started out with Eugenia Sheppard dying of cancer. She invented fashion and gossip together."Hackett, Pat, ed. "The Andy Warhol Diaries", New York: Warner Brothers, 1989, p. 614 The Eugenia Sheppard Award for journalism has been given annually since 1987 by 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 ...

. Winners include

Robin Givhan Robin Givhan (born September 11, 1964) is an American fashion editor and Pulitzer Prize winning writer. Givhan was a fashion editor for ''The Washington Post''. She joined the ''Post'' in 1995, and left in 2010 to become the fashion critic and fa ...

Cathy Horyn Cathy Horyn (born September 11, 1956) is an American fashion critic and journalist who worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1998 until 2014 where she had the highly noted and provocative blo''On The Runway'' In 2015, she was appointed critic- ...

Nina Hyde Nina Hyde (; 1932 – May 4, 1990) was an American fashion editor. Following a stint for ''Women's Wear Daily'', she moved to Washington, D.C. in 1961 and established the fashion page for ''The Washington Daily News'', which became the "Hyde & ...

, and

André Leon Talley André Leon Talley (October 16, 1948 – January 18, 2022) was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, author, and editor-at-large of '' Vogue'' magazine. He was the magazine's fashion news director from 1983 to 1987, its f ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, Eugenia 1899 births 1984 deaths American columnists Deaths from cancer in New York (state) American fashion journalists Place of birth missing American women columnists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Journalists from New York City Bryn Mawr College alumni People from Nelsonville, Ohio