Henri Bendel and the Worlds He Fashioned

Former InStyle editor Allis debuts with an effusive biography of fashion retailer and designer Henri Bendel, who founded his eponymous department store in 1890s New York City. Born into a Jewish family in 1868 Louisiana, Bendel developed a love for fine fabric at a Jesuit school in Grand Coteau, La., and soon began designing dresses for his sisters. After marrying socialite Blanche Lehman—though his homosexuality was an “open secret”—Bendel set up shop in Manhattan, transforming what was first a millinery into a “hybrid of a boutique and a medium-sized department store.” Eventually, it became a “full-scale ladies’ emporium” that sold everything from dresses to furs before it shuttered in 2019. Allis notes that Bendel was devoted to French fashion (he became “probably the largest importer of Paris frocks in the world,” according to Vogue), even as he created competing American designs; innovated in-store fashion shows; and expanded the reach of fashion marketing by placing ads in the newspaper and writing columns for Harper’s Bazaar and other publications. Despite a tendency to slip into hagiography (“He wore his passion on his sleeves—and in the cut of gowns he sold”), Allis’s thorough and beautifully illustrated account reveals both the qualities that made Bendel successful and the thrilling, volatile history of the industry in which he made his mark. Fashionistas will be delighted. Illus. (Sept.)