Background
Hattie Carnegie was born Henrietta Kanengeiser on March 14, 1886 in Vienna, Austria. Her family immigrated to the United States in 1897.
Hattie Carnegie was born Henrietta Kanengeiser on March 14, 1886 in Vienna, Austria. Her family immigrated to the United States in 1897.
She attended public school until her father died in 1902.
After attending New York public schools for two years, Hattie went to work at Macy's department store as a messenger. Her first professional brush with fashion came when a neighborhood shopowner noticed her flair for dressing and gave her a wardrobe in exchange for promoting her merchandise. In 1909 she opened her own business, "Carnegie-Ladies' Hatter, " on East 10th Street in New York City with a friend, Rose Roth. Although unrelated to Andrew Carnegie, she adopted the name, which for her was a symbol of American success. Roth made dresses and Carnegie designed and sold hats. It is legendary that she could not sew. In 1913 the business was incorporated with a capital of $100, 000 and moved to 86th Street and Broadway, then a fashionable center. Even at this time her clothes were expensive, starting at $75. Although short and slight, Carnegie displayed unbounded energy and was the best advertisement for her shop, wearing her own designs at popular meeting places of New York society--the smartest restaurants, the theater, and the opera. At the end of World War I, she bought out her partner and changed the emphasis of the business from the design and sale of solely American creations to the restyling and sale of Paris originals. In 1923 she opened the shop at 42 East 49th Street that was to become a haven for well-dressed matrons and their debutante daughters and the foundation of her fashion empire. From her first trip to Europe in 1919 to the beginning of World War II, Carnegie made 142 buying trips to the European fashion market, returning with more than 100 original models each time. Her buying sprees soon made her one of the fabulous characters of the Paris market. She bought Paris originals without thought to cost, often not knowing where she would get the money to pay for them. Carnegie was known for her ability to spot new talent and on a buying trip to Paris in the 1920's she is said to have discovered the designer Madeleine Vionnet, whom she launched on a career that eventually placed her at the top of Parisian haute couture.
The "little Carnegie suit" became a status symbol of the 1930's and 1940's, and there is evidence that "the little black dress" beloved by women all over America was first adapted for them by Carnegie.
During World War II and into the 1950's her salon continued to prosper. Besides the made-to-order business, the corporation operated a wholesale dress business, a millinery business, and nationally distributed wholesale lines of jewelry, cosmetics, and perfume. She also operated retail shops in Southampton, N. Y. , and Palm Beach, Florida.
She died in New York City.
Carnegie had enormous influence on fashionably dressed affluent Americans and many young designers who were to become greats of the American fashion world, including Bruno, Jean Louis, Claire McCardell, and Norman Norell were trained by her. In 1939 she won the Nieman-Marcus Award and, in 1948, the American Fashion Critics' Award for "consistent contribution to American elegance. "
Carnegie was married three times, including to:
Ferdinand Fleischman, a prominent New York City florist, as his second wife. He was a son of Joseph Fleischman, a florist, hotelier, and owner of the Fleischman Baths. Carnegie and Fleischman married c. 1922–1923; by this marriage, she had a stepson, Frederick Fleischman (born 1915). Fleischman subsequently married, in September 1924, as his third wife, Sallie White, the former wife of Abraham White and one of Carnegie's friends and clients.
Major John Zanft (1883–1960), the vice president and general manager of William Fox Theaters. They married in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 22 August 1928.
