Author event! Julie Satow with Erich Schwartzel

We're thrilled to host author and journalist Julie Satow at Zibby's Bookshop as she celebrates the launch of WHEN WOMEN RAN FIFTH AVENUE. Julie will be joined in conversation by fellow author and journalist Erich Schwartzel.

Many thanks to Tumbleweed Day Camp for sponsoring this event!

About the book:

A glittering portrait of the golden age of American department stores and of three visionary women who led them, from the award-winning author of The Plaza.
The twentieth century American department store: a palace of consumption where every wish could be met under one roof – afternoon tea, a stroll through the latest fashions, a wedding (or funeral) planned. It was a place where women, shopper and shopgirl alike, could stake out a newfound independence. Whether in New York or Chicago or on Main Street, USA, men owned the buildings, but inside, women ruled.
In this hothouse atmosphere, three women rose to the top. In the 1930s, Hortense Odlum of Bonwit Teller came to her husband’s department store as a housewife tasked with attracting more shoppers like herself, and wound up running the company. Dorothy Shaver of Lord & Taylor championed American designers during World War II–before which US fashions were almost exclusively Parisian copies–becoming the first businesswoman to earn a $1 million salary. And in the 1960s Geraldine Stutz of Henri Bendel re-invented the look of the modern department store. With a preternatural sense for trends, she inspired a devoted following of ultra-chic shoppers as well as decades of copycats.
In When Women Ran Fifth Avenue, journalist Julie Satow draws back the curtain on three visionaries who took great risks, forging new paths for the women who followed in their footsteps. This stylish account, rich with personal drama and trade secrets, captures the department store in all its glitz, decadence, and fun, and showcases the women who made that beautifully curated world go round.

About the authors:

Julie Satow is the award-winning author of “The Plaza: The Secret Life of America’s Most Famous Hotel,” A New York Times Editor’s Choice and NPR Best Book of 2019. Her new book, “When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion,” will be published on June 4 by Doubleday.

A regular contributor to the New York Times, her work has also appeared on National Public Radio, Bloomberg Businessweek, Travel + Leisure, and elsewhere. A graduate of Columbia College, she has a Master’s Degree from Columbia University’s School of International Affairs. Satow lives in New York City with her family.

Erich Schwartzel covers the film industry in The Wall Street Journal's Los Angeles bureau. He joined the Journal in 2013 and has written dozens of front-page stories on life and business in Hollywood, specializing in features where commerce meets culture.

Schwartzel's first book, “Red Carpet: Hollywood, China, and the Global Battle for Cultural Supremacy,” was published in February 2022 by Penguin Press and detailed the growing influence of China on the American entertainment industry. “Red Carpet” was a New York Times Editors' Choice, called a "page-turner" by Foreign Affairs, and named one of the best books ever written about Hollywood by Esquire. Schwartzel's work on “Red Carpet” was featured on NPR's Fresh Air, CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” and excerpted in the Atlantic and the Washington Post.

Before joining the Journal, Schwartzel covered energy and the environment for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, where his work won the Scripps Howard Award for Environmental Reporting. He grew up in Latrobe, Penn., where he got his start in journalism writing a police blotter for the local paper.

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