FIT's Eleanor Lambert Exhibition Is A Fitting Tribute To A Fashion Legend

Eleanor Lambert was instrumental in making American fashion the successful and admired industry it is today. Known as the original fashion publicist, Lambert's creativity and marketing savvy was responsible for everything from keeping the industry alive during World War II to staging a fashion show at Versailles in 1973 featuring both French and American designers - where the Americans outshined the French. The Museum at FIT's exhibition, Eleanor Lambert: Empress of Seventh Avenue is a comprehensive retrospective of Lambert's life and contributions to the industry.

Lambert's brainchild, the International Best Dressed List, saved the struggling American fashion industry during World War II. The various fashion unions came to Lambert for help because people had stopped buying clothes out of fear of a faltering economy, and scarcity of materials.

"I started the International Best Dressed List as a publicity stunt in 1940, when the fashion world was in wartime chaos, and people had to think about clothes without buying more," wrote Lambert in the foreword to Ultimate Style: The Best of the Best Dressed List, published by Assouline in 2004.

                                                           

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