As part of the Library of Congress Fashion initiative celebrating America’s 250th anniversary, and to honor women during Women’s History Month, I decided a post featuring Tobé Coller Davis, Eleanor Lambert, and Virginia Pope would be perfect.
I thought I would start with Tobé Coller Davis, who was born in Wisconsin in 1888. She moved to New York and, after working for a few years, co-founded the Tobé-Coburn School for Fashion Careers and the publication, Report from Tobé. An article in the April 1937 issue of The Delineator, provided a window on Davis’ history. It also recounted how, when she was asked what her profession was, she replied that she didn’t know but decided “stylist” best described it.
A piece in the June 27, 1959 edition of the Saturday Evening Post showed her influence on the fashion industry:
Tobé’s influence, like copies of the latest Paris designs, ranges through all price levels, from exclusive shops on Fifth Avenue to Sears, Roebuck’s ready-to-wear racks. Her weekly reports evaluating innovations in all types of merchandise largely determine the orders placed by 1250 clients as far as six months in advance of seasonal requirements. When Tobé turns an imperious thumb down on a new wrinkle, stores hesitate to stock it, for results through the years have proved that adopting her advice is a sound investment in a notoriously tricky business. (“She Knows What Women Will Wear,” p. 35)
Now known as the Tobé Report, this publication has been an important resource on the fashion industry. In the beginning, the Tobé Report included coverage on the fashions in Paris for American clients. Beyond that, it reported on fashion trends, including fabrics, colors, and styles. It was primarily interested in women’s clothing and accessories, but it did occasionally report on children’s clothing as well.
The 1959 Saturday Evening Post piece also provided a peek into the business, including information on subscriptions. It was clear she was the heart of the publication:
Tobé’s gross approaches $1,000,000 a year from her various activities. A staff of thirty-five people scouts the domestic and foreign fields for information, but the operation is strictly a one-woman show (“She Knows What Women Will Wear,” p. 102)
The war years were crucial for the American fashion scene and Davis, along with Virginia Pope and Eleanor Lambert were central figures. World War II brought changes to the fashion industry as Paris, the traditional fashion capital, was sidelined. The American fashion industry looked for ways to satisfy the need for women’s clothing and promote itself through a difficult time, which saw restrictions on all industries. This included limitations on clothing and, specifically, General Limitation Order L-85 (p2722), which limited the amount of material that could be used for women’s apparel. Women still wanted to be fashionable; Virginia Pope and Eleanor Lambert wanted that too.
New York was a major center for the garment trade in the U.S., and Virginia Pope, a Chicago born newspaper journalist who became a fashion editor for the New York Times, was in a position that made her a natural advocate for the industry. In the December 7, 1941 issue of the New York Times Pope wrote an article making her case — “Fashion First Nights; Now that New York has taken over the job of creating and launching fashions a glamorous industry is on parade.”
During the war Pope worked with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to promote the American fashion industry. The Fashion Group, a forum formed to promote the American fashion industry and women’s participation in it, had been founded in the late 1920’s by a number of notable women, including Elizabeth Arden, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Lily Dache, among others and Pope served as the head of the in 1951. Pope was the fashion editor for the New York Times for 20 years and worked for the paper for 30 years before retiring in 1955. She also helped found the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) and continued to attend shows long after she retired. Pope died in 1978, but to honor her contributions to the paper, the New York Times Magazine ran a piece, “Our Miss Pope” in 1993.
Pope’s contemporary, Eleanor Lambert, was a publicist at the center of American fashion for decades and left a major impact on the industry. She helped to found the New York Dress Institute, and was associated with the Couture Group and their “New York Creation” label. She was the driving force behind the founding of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) in 1962 and the establishment of the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Awards. She was also instrumental in starting the “Fashion Press Week” now known as New York Fashion Week. If you want to know more about Lambert, in 2012, author John Tiffany spoke at the Library about his book, Eleanor Lambert: Still Here, and Inside Adams published a post about Lambert. Business also has This Month in Business History entries for Lambert and the CFDA for more information.
These women, along with many others helped to make the United States and New York City in particular, one of the world’s fashion capitals. If you’re interested in additional resources for studying the industry of today and its history, we have a guide on the fashion industry with books, trade magazines, and more.
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