When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion

“Department stores were uniquely female universes, where women commanded power in ways that were often unattainable elsewhere. Here, female customers held sway over male clerks and managers whose jobs it was to serve them […] It was here, at the department store, that women could earn a living and, even more, receive the education and training to transform their jobs into lasting careers.”

This passage serves as a thesis statement for the book at large. Satow argues that department stores were empowering spaces for both customers and employees. Female shoppers were able to exercise new spending power and cultural influence, while the women who worked in the department stores were able to build careers and independent lives.

“Hortense embraced her role as a homemaker. ‘I loved caring for my baby and doing my housework. It gave me tremendous satisfaction to know that as my husband was doing his job well, I was helping him by doing mine well,’ she wrote years later in her autobiography.”

Hortense Odlum’s participation in the business of Bonwit Teller distinguished her from many women of her day, who were still fighting to escape the expectation that they prioritize being a wife and mother over their own careers. This passage foreshadows Hortense’s public regret over her involvement in department store business later in her life following the dissolution of her marriage.

“‘Mr. Reyburn—the president. You know, the president of Lord & Taylor?’

Dorothy had never asked what her mother’s cousin did for a living, but she was delighted when she found out.”

Although the text primarily focuses on the ways in which department stores allowed women to exercise independent power, Satow is careful to acknowledge the network of racial, economic, and social privilege and connections that allowed these women to flourish. This passage shows that Dorothy Shaver’s family connections to Lord & Taylor granted her access to an established business when she was new to the city.