fashion journalism
- Eleni Epstein, fashion history, fashion journalism, journalism history, women's history month, women's page history
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…
-
An Ever Developing Art Form
Guest Blog PostUCF student Rebecca Males When my professor Dr. Voss asked me if I would be interested in doing an independent study on fashion photography and the development of color photography, I said heck yeah. I’ve studied photography since I was a 16-year-old sophomore in high school, seven years ago. As it seemed an elusive dream world, fashion photography has always caught my eye. I’m a daydreamer. There, I fully admit to having one of the wildest imaginations. It’s as if my brain runs in a movie sequence, frame by frame. A favorite past time of mine is to go to Barnes and Noble and sit in the photography…
- 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…
-
More About Fashion Editor Marji Kunz
I received some great material about Detroit fashion journalist Marji Kunz. Here is an earlier post about Marji. The letter above is from Marji to Paul Myhre, director of the Penney-Missouri Awards – the top recognition for the women’s pages. It can be found in the papers of the Penney-Missouri Awards at the State Historical Society of Missouri. Marji won two Penney-Missouri Awards for her reporting on fashion.
-
Day Five of Favorite Fashion Editors: Marji Kunz
Another fashion editor who I am interested in learning more about is Marji Kunz of Detroit – she worked for both newspapers in the city. The Detroit Free Press includes her in an article about the newspaper’s history: “Marji Kunz — fashion writer who often surprised readers and made the fashion makeover popular — once attended a formal affair in an elegant nightgown to prove a point.” She is described this way by the API’s Carol Ann Riordan: “Marji Kunz, a fashion writer for The Detroit Free Press, inspired me when I was growing up. She didn’t cover her beat like every other fashion writer: getting swept away by clothing…
-
Day Four of Favorite Fashion Editors: Marian Christy
One of the most significant fashion reporters of the 1960s and early 1970s was Marian Christy. She started at the Boston Globe in April 1965 and her work was later picked up by the syndicate U.P.I. Her columns then ran in 104 different newspapers. She won Penney-Missouri Awards in 1966, 1968 and 1970. That is Christy sitting in the chair below at a Penney-Missouri Award ceremony. Bobbi McCallum is the Seattle women’s page journalist standing in the lace pantsuit. Christy took a progressive, sociological approach to fashion – rather than writing for advertisers. For example, she described the see-through blouse from a late-1960s Saint Laurent fashion show: “Haute couture is…
You May Also Like
Fashion Writers Marian Christy & Bobbi McCallum
