http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005VCP8/?tag=2022091-20
1954
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002ET3674/?tag=2022091-20
1954
Edna Woolman Chase was born on March 14, 1877, in Asbury Park, New Jersey, a lowermiddle class enclave, on March 14, 1877. Her parents, Franklyn Alloway and Laura Woolman, were divorced when Chase was quite young and Chase spent her girlhood with her Quaker maternal grandparents, but maintained a relationship with her mother, who lived in New York City with a second husband and visited often.
Edna's grandparents sent Chase to school during the day and taught her themselves at night.
As a teenager, Edna moved in with her mother in New York, where, through newspapers, she voraciously tracked every detail of the lives of high-society debutantes.
In 1895, Vogue was a small but refined weekly society magazine, and Edna was 18 and in need of Christmas money. A friend who worked at the magazine got her a temporary job there addressing envelopes. A diligent and eager worker, Edna quickly grasped the mechanisms of the publishing business as well as Vogue's editorial approach. She was soon noticed by the magazine's founder and publisher, Arthur Baldwin Turnure, who came to depend on her conscientious work ethic.
After Turnure died in 1906, Chase developed a bond with her new boss, Condé Nast, and continued accepting ever-greater responsibilities from the magazine's editor, Marie Harrison . Chase also began displaying a keen instinct for delighting and influencing Vogue readers. In 1914, she easily slid into the editor's chair when Harrison retired. While Nast expanded the Vogue empire by acquiring and establishing international editions, Chase elevated its reputation and riches with her inventive ideas and hustle.
In 1929, Chase became editor-in-chief of all Vogue editions and controlled virtually every aspect of the magazine. A perfectionist, she brought in only the most talented artists and editors to help Vogue achieve its goal of being the high-society authority on matters of style and elegance. She balanced all the demands of running a large, influential fashion publication: artistic, financial, topical, and even political. She was fiercely loyal to the magazine and never apologized for its openly snobbish, and to some, frivolous nature. During her tenure, her pronouncements on fashion were a powerful force in the fashion industry worldwide.
In 1952, at 75, Chase retired from active editorship, and two years later co-wrote her autobiography, Always in Vogue, with her actress daughter Ilka. She died of a heart attack while on vacation in Florida in 1957.
Edna Woolman Chase is famous for serving "as America's 'high priestess of fashion' in her position as editor of Vogue". Her business sense and taste made Vogue "the world's premier fashion magazine" - and gave its pronouncements the force of law among America's well-dressed women.
Edna was also always proud of having made Vogue a training ground that helped young women launch successful careers in a time when their professional options were limited.
Edna won multiple awards for her work including the medal of Legion of Honor and was named "Key Woman of the Year" by the Federation of Jewish Philanthropists among other awards she received throughout her editorship.
Quotations:
"Fashion can be bought. Style one must possess."
"Fashion is general. Style is individual."
"Ask yourself always: am I harmoniously put together, am I appropriately clad for the deed at hand, and am I free of non-essentials?"
Edna had a bright mind and was a perfectionist.
In 1904, Edna married Francis Chase and they had a daughter, Ilka, in 1905. Francis had trouble supporting his family, and eventually Edna Chase divorced him. She would marry once more in 1921 to Richard T. Newton, an engineer and inventor.
