Diane Arbus

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Book: Diane Arbus Read Free
Author: Patricia Bosworth
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the 1920s he pulled together Russeks wardrobes for movie stars like Mae Murray and Norma Talmadge; he was the first to design a silver-fox fur, the first to introduce fur cardigans. For ten years he published a Russeks fashion-furs booklet which was bought and followed by more than two hundred fine stores throughout the country. It was his idea to make copies of Paris originals—other stores followed his lead. Rip-offs of Chanel suits and Paquin coats were sold at Russeks. In 1928 you could buy a copy of a Vionnet pleated afternoon dress for $23.50 at Russeks—“not extravagant but smart.”
    Nemerov also spent a fortune in newspaper ads extolling Russeks chic.He ran ads every day, alternating photographs with illustrations (also an innovation—nobody used photographs in newspaper ads), and his copy was, according to Andrew Goodman, president of Bergdorf Goodman, “the snappiest of all of retail.”
    Sometimes, however, Frank Russek would read an ad and then throw it on the floor and stamp on the elegant copy. He believed Russeks’ identification with high style would ultimately kill its mass fashion potential. He and Nemerov never stopped arguing about Russeks’ ambivalent merchandising policies. On the one hand, it was a high-fashion fur and specialty shop, its quality comparable to that of Henri Bendel on West 57th Street. On the other hand, flanked by Lord and Taylor and B. Altman, Russeks was in the heart of the 34th Street market and presumably trying to reach that market. Yet, unlike Lord and Taylor or B. Altman, which were spacious, well-designed stores, Russeks suffered from its physical situation. Soon after they moved into the Gorham Building, the Russeks realized—too late—that the seven floors were overly narrow and that selling space was hampered by the design of the rooms: their old-fashioned columns and bays, although lovely to look at, restricted traffic and display areas. The extreme narrowness of the main floor stifled the potential of a bustling main-floor operation, which Frank Russek believed was the mainspring of retail profitability.
    Ben Lichtenstein, advertising director of Russeks for thirty years, says, “Russeks survived as long as it did mostly due to David’s enthusiasm and drive. He was a fantastic promoter—a showman like Bernie Gimbel and John Wanamaker.” He never created exploitation wars with his arch competitor, I. J. Fox (across the street)—the kind of war Gimbels cultivated with Macy’s. “No—David did classy promotion which made Russeks seem successful all the time, even when we were going through rough periods. He knew fashion was theater, that fashion was ephemeral—it kept changing. Fashion kept David in a state of perpetual excitement, and his excitement was contagious.”
    And he seemed clairvoyant. He knew that one season baguette jewelry and lace fans would be the thing, along with fur-trimmed coats. He always could sense what women wanted; he could tell husbands what to give their mistresses for Christmas—French perfume, gold mules, satin lingerie, bunches of artificial violets—and he’d be right. Eventually Russeks got the reputation of being the store for “kept women” and chorus girls. “There was always something a little bit excessive about Russeks,” Eleanor Lambert, a fashion press agent says. “A little bit vulgar.”
    By 1935 Nemerov had established a bureau (with Ruth Waltz, a fashion economist) equivalent to the couturier laboratory in Paris to determine fashion trends. He found that suits sell in cycles—that invariably apeak suit season followed a peak bright-color dress season. And as a creator of Russeks furs—which were the Russeks trademark; “We were the largest buyers of raw fur pelts in the world,” Ben Lichtenstein says—“David Nemerov had a particular genius.” He knew women would always pursue furs because they were so soft and luxurious. So he labored in the Russeks workroom along with the designers to create the

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