NY, Dec 09: November 21 – In her 70-plus years as one of its most impassioned champions, Eleanor Lambert—who died last month at the age of 100—came up with many ways to promote American fashion. She helped found the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and its famous annual gala, started the Coty Awards, and helped orchestrate the first “New York Press Week” (now known as Fashion Week). She was the force behind the legendary 1973 event held at the castle of Versailles that pitted American designers against their French counterparts to see whose designs were more exciting (the Americans took the day). To this day, fashion folk refer to it simply as “Versailles.”
Lambert, who was still hard at work until a few months before her death, was on intimate terms with pretty much every designer of the last half-century. But her influence extends far beyond the fashion community, thanks to one of her most enduring creations: the International Best-Dressed List, which she revived as a publicity stunt in the forties. At first the list mostly called out the rich (Paleys, Bismarcks, Windsors, Cushings, and Guests) and sometimes the famous (Cary Grant, Lauren Hutton). In recent years, it’s gotten more of a Hollywood component (Nicole Kidman, Halle Berry), but the list never fails to get plenty of press, a sure sign of its success. Lambert, whose memorial service is being held today in New York, would brush off most of the kudos that came her way. “I’m enthusiastic enough to get other people to run with an idea and turn it into reality,” she once said. A very good-looking reality, that is. Bureau Report