"The unlikely, lively epic of . . . Manhattan's reigning taste arbiter. A tour de force."-Amy Fine Collins, fashion historian, editor-at-large of Air Mail
An "extraordinary American story."-Lynn Yaeger, Vogue "Allis's thorough and beautifully illustrated account reveals both the qualities that made Bendel successful and the thrilling, volatile history of the industry in which he made his mark. Fashionistas will be delighted."-Publishers Weekly
Henri Bendel. A store of legend. A man of mystery. And the first-ever book to explore and celebrate both in a style worthy of its fashionable subjects.
Henri Willis Bendel was celebrated in his lifetime as a tastemaker and merchant prince but is now a nearly lost figure. Henri Bendel and the Worlds He Fashioned traces his life from his upbringing in a tight-knit immigrant Jewish family to his early dry goods business, then to the romance that led him to New York and the tragedy that would set in motion his rapid ascent. Bendel was treated as a kindred soul in the Paris salons of haute couture and throughout Europe, where he amassed rare antiques, then built dramatic showplaces back home in which to place them. All the while he stayed loyal to his kin down South and to his chosen family up East, including two beloved companions whose true place in Henri's heart required discretion, owing to the constrictions of the time.
Richly illustrated with dazzling fashion photography, Henri Bendel also recounts the history of his storied store from its bustles-and-corsets years through the days of furs and flappers, then on to the tailored chic of the 1930s and '40s. Then, legendary president Geraldine Stutz made Bendel's a cornucopia of cutting-edge designers and innovative merchandising. In its final era, Leslie Wexner of The Limited expanded the store's reach and solicited younger clients, emphasizing jewelry, accessories, and dazzle. Those various and sometimes-at-odds incarnations define Bendel's extraordinary 123-year run under the iconic brown and white stripes first sketched by Henri, who himself said, "A designer, to be successful, must feel the trend of the times."
