Women’s History Month: Eleni Epstein
Day 16 of Women’s History Month features Washington Star fashion editor Eleni Epstein. She was one of the most noticeable Washington, D.C., voices in translating fashion news in the post-World War II era through 1981.
Epstein found fashion to have a unique role in Washington society. After all, as she pointed out, it was her city’s unique social events that required the high couture clothing that she wrote about. “Washington women have always been interested in fashion,” she said. “Our city is one of achievers and doers.” It was a world that Epstein circulated within and would share with her readers as someone who could rarely afford many of the fashions she wrote about. Yet, she also wrote about the fashions of working women. She encouraged her readers to shop in Washington and would be insulted when she learned they instead had gone to New York City for their clothes.
She won numerous reporting awards including the first Penney-Missouri Award for fashion journalism.
Her papers are available in the National Women & Media Collection.
Here is a link to audio of Eleni conducting an interview about hats.
The article that Lance & I wrote about Eleni will be coming out soon in a journalism history journal.
