NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • 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 .
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: Vogue Smithsonian New York Post and Financial Times "Ms.
Satow’s carefully researched book is compulsively readable: I found myself dashing through it
like a novel. She portrays the women with verve we get a glimpse into their lives as well as
a sense of what it was like at each of these retail meccas." — The Wall Street Journal
"Compelling and colorful" — The Washington Post 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.
