Eleni Epstein
- Eleni Epstein, fashion history, fashion journalism, Ford Library, journalism history, Washington Star
Inauguration & Fashion Journalism
There has been heavy media coverage of what First Lady Michelle Obama might wear to the Inauguration tomorrow. Here is an example from ABC News. The First Lady’s fashion sense would have been appreciated by fashion journalist Eleni Epstein who covered my first ladies – including Jackie Kennedy. Eleni Epstein was the longtime fashion editor at the Washington Star. Her papers are in the National Women & Media Collection. Here is a link to a calender from the Ford Library which shows the First Lady meeting privately with Eleni Epstein. My article about Epstein took more than six years to research and write. It will come out next year in…
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Day Three of Favorite Newspaper Fashion Editors: Eleni Epstein
Eleni Epstein was the fashion editor of the Washington Star for more than three decades. She was a native of Washington, D.C. who attended George Washington University and Columbia University. During World War II she began her journalism career as a copy assistant at the Washington Star and was promoted to the position of fashion editor at age 21. Her internationally syndicated articles covered the fashion markets of Milan, Paris, Hong Kong, Tokyo and London. Her position as fashion editor lasted more than 35 years until 1981 when the Star ceased publication. She received many awards for her interpretive writing and her contributions to the fashion industry. In 1960 she…
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Women of the Washington Press
This new book about women journalists in Washington by Maurine Beasley is in a word – amazing. (Dr. Beasley was my dissertation adviser and introduced me to the women’s pages.) It is rich storytelling – with strong anecdotes – grounded in significant research. Washington D.C. with its mix of politics and society has been a special place for women reporters. Dr. Beasley tells their stories well. Two of the women I write about are mentioned in the book – Vera Glaser and Eleni Epstein. The work of both women ran in the women’s pages. Vera Glaser was the longtime political columnist for a national wire service. Her work often ran…
- Dorothy Jurney, Eleni Epstein, Gloria Biggs, Marjorie Paxson, National Women and Media Collection, Roberta Applegate
Happy Archive Month!
October is National Archive Month. I love archives – which we visit as often as we can. Our favorite is the National Women & Media Collection in Missouri. I am writing an article about my discoveries there for the 25th anniversary of the Collection. The NWMC was started by women’s page editor turned publisher Marjorie Paxson. Other women’s page journalists whose papers are at the NWMC include Marie Anderson, Roberta Applegate, Gloria Biggs, Eleni Epstein and Dorothy Jurney. And, most helpful of all are the papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards – the top recognition for women’s pages in the 1960s.
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Fashion, Economy & Newspapers
I loved this book, Overdressed, about the economy, history and the sociology of fashion. It is well written and strongly researched. The author touches on several issues that relate to the women’s pages. For example, she wrote about the increased consumption of cheap clothes or “fast fashion.” In part, this is because so few people sew now. Sewing clothes used to be so common place that women’s pages would include sewing patterns. I am working on revisions for an article about fashion editor Eleni Epstein and will be including information from this book. I plan to write about fashion writer Eugenia Sheppard in the fall.
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Economy of Fashion
Salon posted an interesting story today about the economy of fashion – particularly “cheap chic.” The article begins: “The average American buys 64 pieces of clothing a year. That’s more new tank tops and jeggings than there are weeks in which to wear them. And we buy those items, often, with the tacit understanding that the pullover purchased in January isn’t going to make it to Christmas — or even spring equinox. Elizabeth L. Kline has one such typical American wardrobe. As she admits in her new book “Overdressed: The Shockingly High Cost of Cheap Fashion,” an eye-opening exploration of our mania for bargain-basement fashion.”The article includes a Q & A with…
