Bergdorf Goodman oral history, 1977 and 1994, bulk 1994, 1977 and 1994, bulk 1994
Scope and Contents
This series consists of oral history interviews that discuss the history of Bergdorf Goodman, as well as the store's status and future plans as they stood at the time. Interviews were conducted first in December 1977 by Robert Riley, and subsequently in July 1994 by Valerie Steele and Estelle Ellis with Stephen Elkin, Chairman, Berdorf Goodman, Dawn Mello, President, Bergdorf Goodman, Nena Goodman, widow of Andrew Goodman, Edwin Goodman, son of Andrew Goodman.
Dates
- Creation: 1977 and 1994, bulk 1994
Creator
- Ellis, Estelle (1919-2012) (Person)
- Steele, Valerie (1955-) (Person)
- Business Image, Inc. (Organization)
Language of Materials
English Latin
Conditions Governing Access
Access is open to researchers by appointment at the Fashion Institute of Technology Library, Department of Special Collections and FIT Archive. If you have any questions, or wish to schedule an appointment contact us at [email protected] or call (212) 217-4385.
The contents of this collection are also available to the public via our Archive on Demand repository: https://archiveondemand.fitnyc.edu/items/browse?collection=22
Biographical / Historical
Estelle Ellis was born on November 12, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Hunter College in 1940, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in Journalism, Ellis began a career in publishing. Ellis was crucial in the founding of Seventeen magazine in 1943, assisting Helen Valentine with design and advertising for the magazine. In 1958, Ellis founded Business Image, Incorporated, a creative marketing firm that stressed the importance of market and product positioning. Her company worked primarily with Condé Nast publications but other businesses, such as Yves Saint-Laurent Fragrances, Evan-Picone, AT&T, and Scoville, hired Business Image as well.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, Ellis began working with the Fashion Institute of Technology, creating programs and fundraising campaigns to help with financial support. During the 1990s, Ellis focused on writing, co-authoring At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live With and Care for Their Libraries (1995), At Home with Art: How Art Lovers Live With and Care for Their Treasures (1999), and The Booklover's Repair Kit: First Aid for Home Libraries (2000). Estelle Ellis passed away on July 12, 2012.
Biographical / Historical
Valerie Steele is director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she has personally organized more than 20 exhibitions since 1997, including The Corset: Fashioning the Body, London Fashion, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Shoe Obsession, Daphne Guinness, A Queer History of Fashion, and Dance and Fashion. She is also founder and editor in chief of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, the first peer-reviewed, scholarly journal in Fashion Studies.
Steele combines serious scholarship (and a Yale Ph.D.) with a rare ability to communicate with general audiences. She is author or co-author of more than 20 books, including Fashion and Eroticism, Paris Fashion, Women of Fashion, Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power, The Corset: A Cultural History, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Japan Fashion Now, The Impossible Collection Fashion, The Berg Companion to Fashion, and Fashion Designers A-Z: The Collection of The Museum at FIT, as well as contributing essays to publications, such as Fashion and Art and Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity. Her books have been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian.
As author, curator, editor, and public intellectual, Valerie Steele has been instrumental in creating the modern field of fashion studies and in raising awareness of the cultural significance of fashion. She has appeared on many television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and Undressed: The Story of Fashion. Described in The Washington Post as one of fashions brainiest women and by Suzy Menkes as The Freud of Fashion, she was listed among Fashions 50 Most Powerful by the Daily News and as one of The People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry in the Business of Fashion 500 (2014).
Full Extent
From the Sub-Group: 1 placeholder
Custodial History
* This series was created as part of research conducted by Estelle Ellis and Business Image, Inc. for two Educational Foundation award galas in the early 1990s, and were donated to FIT's oral history collection in 1994 from Business Image, Inc. One set of interviews conducted in 1993 speak with key executives from the fragrance industry, and focus on Annette Green's work (see *Fragrance Foundation oral history series, 1993 and 1996* https://atom-sparc.fitnyc.edu/fragrance-foundation-oral-histories) and the other set conducted in 1994 covers the history of Bergdorf Goodman.
* This collection incorporates an earlier interview with Andrew Goodman conducted by Robert Riley in the late 1970s that was not initially part of the donation from Business Image, Inc..
Immediate Source of Acquisition
With an interview of Andrew Goodman conducted by Bob Riley in 1977 as the root, Estelle Ellis and Valerie Steele extended this oral history of Bergdorf Goodman in 1997 by interviewing others who worked for Bergdorf Goodman and knew Andrew Goodman.
Physical Description
5 oral history interview audio recordings originally recorded on magnetic cassette; digitized audio files; PDF/A transcripts and documents
General
Estelle Ellis was born on November 12, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Hunter College in 1940, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in Journalism, Ellis began a career in publishing. Ellis was crucial in the founding of Seventeen magazine in 1943, assisting Helen Valentine with design and advertising for the magazine. In 1958, Ellis founded Business Image, Incorporated, a creative marketing firm that stressed the importance of market and product positioning. Her company worked primarily with Condé Nast publications but other businesses, such as Yves Saint-Laurent Fragrances, Evan-Picone, AT&T, and Scoville, hired Business Image as well.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, Ellis began working with the Fashion Institute of Technology, creating programs and fundraising campaigns to help with financial support. During the 1990s, Ellis focused on writing, co-authoring At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live With and Care for Their Libraries (1995), At Home with Art: How Art Lovers Live With and Care for Their Treasures (1999), and The Booklover's Repair Kit: First Aid for Home Libraries (2000). Estelle Ellis passed away on July 12, 2012.
General
Valerie Steele is director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she has personally organized more than 20 exhibitions since 1997, including The Corset: Fashioning the Body, London Fashion, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Shoe Obsession, Daphne Guinness, A Queer History of Fashion, and Dance and Fashion. She is also founder and editor in chief of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, the first peer-reviewed, scholarly journal in Fashion Studies.
Steele combines serious scholarship (and a Yale Ph.D.) with a rare ability to communicate with general audiences. She is author or co-author of more than 20 books, including Fashion and Eroticism, Paris Fashion, Women of Fashion, Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power, The Corset: A Cultural History, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Japan Fashion Now, The Impossible Collection Fashion, The Berg Companion to Fashion, and Fashion Designers A-Z: The Collection of The Museum at FIT, as well as contributing essays to publications, such as Fashion and Art and Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity. Her books have been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian.
As author, curator, editor, and public intellectual, Valerie Steele has been instrumental in creating the modern field of fashion studies and in raising awareness of the cultural significance of fashion. She has appeared on many television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and Undressed: The Story of Fashion. Described in The Washington Post as one of fashions brainiest women and by Suzy Menkes as The Freud of Fashion, she was listed among Fashions 50 Most Powerful by the Daily News and as one of The People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry in the Business of Fashion 500 (2014).
General
Published
Processing Information
The Andrew Goodman interview conducted by Bob Riley in 1977 falls out of the chronological scope of the wider FIT Oral Histories project, which was started in 1978 by Touhey. I've not yet come across notes that indicate how this interview came to be included in the Oral Histories project, however due to its inclusion in this series by the related documents, it's being included as part of the Oral History Project.
Subject
- Bergdorf Goodman (New York, N.Y.) (subject, Organization)
Repository Details
Part of the Special Collections and FIT Archive Repository