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Carmel Snow, born Carmel White (21 August 1887 – 7 May 1961), named after Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Was the editor-in-chief of the American edition of Harper's Bazaar from 1934 to 1958; she also served as the chair of that magazine's editorial board. She was famously quoted as saying, "Elegance is good taste, plus a dash of daring".

History

Early life

She was born in St Justin's, Dalkey, Dublin, to Peter White, a merchant tailor, and Annie Meyne.

After her father's death from pneumonia on April 7, 1893, she and her mother Annie moved to America. Her mother eventually became a noted dressmaker for rich New York socialites.

In 1903 Carmel attended school at a convent in Brussels; the Soeurs de Sainte-Marie is where she mastered her understanding of French.

Career

In 1921 she was offered the job of assistant fashion editor at Vogue by Condé Nast. In 1926 she was appointed as fashion editor at Vogue. In 1926, she also married George Palen Snow; wearing a gown of cream white satin trimmed with seed pearls and old Burano lace that had been in her family for many years. She later had three daughters; it was rumored that one of them suffered from schizophrenia, but this diagnosis has not been confirmed.

In 1929 her brother Tom White became general manager of the Hearst publishing organization. Though Carmel had promised Condé Nast she would not take a job there, she did take a job at Harper's Bazaar. She famously described her goal at Harper's Bazaar as creating a magazine for "well-dressed women with well-dressed minds".

She discovered Martin Munkacsi, and in 1933 and persuaded him to photograph the Harper’s Bazaar December edition’s ‘Palm Beach’ bathing suit editorial. For this editorial, he had the model Lucille Brokaw run toward the camera while he photographed, which was the first instance of a fashion model being photographed in motion.

She became editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar in 1934.

She hired her art director Alexey Brodovitch on the basis of a 1934 exhibition of his work in graphic design at the Art Directors Club of New York. She described his exhibit as a revelation, mentioning "pages that bled beautifully, cropped photographs, typography and design that were bold and interesting". She found her fashion editor, Diana Vreeland, after noticing her dancing across a crowded room.

In 1947 she exclaimed, "It's such a new look!", thus coining that phrase in regard to Christian Dior's 1947 collection.

Snow died in 1961, while she was working with her long-time collaborator Mary Louis Aswell on her memoir, The World of Carmel Snow,. The book was published posthumously.

As to why Carmel's reputation faded, while Vreeland's did not, photographer Richard Avedon (quoted in a 2005 biography of Carmel by Penelope Rowlands) said: "She was older, right? and she died before stardom was the thing."

Further reading

• Penelope Rowlands, A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life in Fashion, Art, and Letters London : Simon & Schuster, 2005. ISBN 9780743480451, OCLC 63186302
• Carmel Snow; Mary Louis Aswell, The World of Carmel Snow New York ; London : McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1962. OCLC 547124

References

1. ^ "Women's Museum of Ireland | Articles | Carmel Snow". Womensmuseumofireland.ie. 2017-07-14. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
2. "CARMEL SNOW: TEN INFLUENTIALS - 10 Magazine10 Magazine". 10magazine.com. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
3. John Giacobello (2003). Careers in the Fashion Industry. The Rosen Publishing Group. pp. 106–. ISBN 978-0-8239-4082-0.
4. ^ Penelope Rowlands (2005). A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life in Fashion, Art, and Letters. Atria Books, Simon & Schuster. pp. FM–. ISBN 0743480457.
5. "General Registrar's Office" (PDF). IrishGenealogy.ie. Retrieved 13 March 2019.
6. "Meet The Irish Woman Who Ruled New York Fashion".
7. "MISS WHIBRIDE OF GEOR6Ii P, 5NOW: Daughier of Mrs., Edward Vc:l Pelt Douglas Married at tho Home of Her Mother. ELIZABi'H SINGER WEDS Bishop $tlres Officiates at Her Marriage to H, de R. Lancaster In St.' Thomas's -- Other Nuptials.'".
8. "Before There Was Vreeland: A biography of Carmel Snow, who brought quality fiction and photography into fashion magazines".
9. Vreeland, Diana (1985) . D. V. New York: Vintage. pp. 116–117. ISBN 0-394-73161-1.
10. Company History at Dior's website Archived 7 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine
11. "History of Christian Dior S.A." fundinguniverse.com.
12. "Carmel Snow, Editor, Dies at 73; Headed Harper's Bazaar Board: Leader in Fashion World on Both Sides of Atlantic Had Started With Vogue".
13. "A Dash of Daring". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2018-06-13.

• 1887 births
• 1961 deaths
• Harper's Bazaar
• Irish magazine editors
• Irish women journalists
• People from County Dublin
• People from Dalkey
• Women magazine editors