Carmel Snow | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Carmel White 21 August 1887 Dalkey, Ireland |
| Died | 7 May 1961 (aged 73) New York City, U.S. |
| Occupation | Magazine editor |
| Employer(s) | Vogue , Harper's Bazaar |
Carmel Snow (born Carmel White; 21 August 1887 – 7 May 1961) was the editor-in-chief of the American edition of Harper's Bazaar from 1934 to 1958; and the chair of the magazine's editorial board. [1] [2] [3] She was famously quoted as saying, "Elegance is good taste, plus a dash of daring". [4]
She was born in St Justin's, Dalkey, Dublin, Ireland to Peter White, a merchant tailor, and Annie Meyne. [5] After her father's death from pneumonia on April 7, 1893, [1] she and her mother Annie moved to America. [1] Her mother eventually became a noted dressmaker for wealthy New York socialites. [1]
In 1903, Carmel attended school at a convent in Brussels; the Soeurs de Sainte-Marie is where she mastered her understanding of French. [4]
In 1921 she was introduced to Vogue editor Edna Woolman Chase by Anne Rittenhouse, for whom she had done a favor; [6] Condé Nast subsequently offered her the job of assistant fashion editor. [1]
In 1926 she was appointed as fashion editor at Vogue. [1] [7] Also in 1926, she married George Palen Snow, while wearing a gown of cream white satin trimmed with seed pearls and old Burano lace that had been in her family for many years. [1] [8] She later had three daughters; it was rumored that one of them had schizophrenia, but this diagnosis has not been confirmed. [1] [9]
In 1929 her brother Tom White became general manager of the Hearst publishing organization. [1] Though Carmel had promised Condé Nast she would not take a job there, she ultimately did take a job at Harper's Bazaar . [1] In 1932 Carmel became the fashion editor of Harper's Bazaar. She famously described her goal at Harper's Bazaar as creating a magazine for "well-dressed women with well-dressed minds". [4]
She discovered Martin Munkacsi, and in 1933 and persuaded him to photograph the Harper's Bazaar December edition's 'Palm Beach' bathing suit editorial. [1] 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. [1] [4]
She became editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar in 1934. [1]
She hired her art director Alexey Brodovitch based on a 1934 exhibition of his work in graphic design at the Art Directors Club of New York. [4] She described his exhibit as a revelation, mentioning "pages that bled beautifully, cropped photographs, typography and design that were bold and interesting". [4] She found her fashion editor, Diana Vreeland, after noticing her dancing across a crowded room. [4] [10]
In 1947 she exclaimed, "It's such a new look!", thus coining that phrase regarding Christian Dior's 1947 collection. [11] [12]
Snow died in 1961, while she was working with her long-time collaborator Mary Louis Aswell on her memoir, The World of Carmel Snow. [1] [13] The book was published posthumously. [4]
As to why Carmel's reputation faded, while Vreeland's did not, photographer Richard Avedon (quoted in a 2005 biography [14] of Carmel by Penelope Rowlands) said: "She was older, right? and she died before stardom was the thing." [4]
In 2020, Snow was one of a number of famous Irish people featured on stamps by An Post. [15]
She was portrayed by Glenn Close in the television series The New Look . [16]
