How to Shop in NYC (in 1965)

If you look at the list of top fashion Substacks, almost all are devoted to shopping and to the very nuts-and-bolts advice of telling their readers where to shop and what to buy. While I find them the very antithesis of inspiring and interesting, it is clear that many want to be told exactly what to wear and how to wear it. This is obviously nothing new—as long as there have been fashion plates, there has been guidance on the “what” and “how” with store advertisements and later fashion magazines providing an idea of the “where.” Fashion Substacks and influencers seem to provide more handholding than traditional fashion magazines, which generally sold fantasy and aspiration as much as garments.

In mid-century America, if you wanted this kind of intense guidance (“buy one of these two shirts, don’t buy that”), you had to go in person to a department store or a small specialty store and find a saleswoman (or series of saleswomen at a department store) who could personally walk you through the store’s selection. But what if you wanted something more than that? What if your interest in clothing drew you from your small suburb to America’s fashion capital, New York City? Where and how would you start to find that shopping advice?

According to an article I found tucked away in journalist Marylin Bender’s papers at Smith College, a fashion-aspirant could hire a tour company to take them on an epic shopping excursion around the city. Written by Bender for the May-June 1965 issue of The Continental Magazine (a bi-monthly published by the Lincoln-Mercury Division of Ford Motor Company), “Private Key to New York’s Fashion World” opens the world of Fashion Tours Ltd., a guided tour company established by two women who had worked as models and in retail before retiring to become housewives. Drawing on their insider knowledge and friendships within the industry, they set up their tours to guide style-hungry tourists on a day trip around “half a dozen shops, custom salons, and (during certain seasons) Seventh Avenue showrooms,” all by chauffeur-driven limousine.

The directors, Joyce McDonald and Mary Farley, would “tailor a tour to suit a group or will offer its own fashion smorgasbords for women who have no requirements but just want a three-hour saturation in luxury,” and they revealed, “that out-of-towners prefer to visit name designers and shops while suburbanites are eager to be led off the beaten track.” Some of the places mentioned in the article and depicted in the wonderful photographs are famous, while others were completely unknown to me, such as the third-floor apartment boutique of Ellen Herbert. Though not named in the article yet shown in a photo, Elizabeth Arden’s red doored Fifth Avenue establishment was likely one of the most desired sites, especially since Fashion Tours Ltd. brought their customers high up—past the boutique and floors of spa—to the custom salon, to be shown “some of the gowns created by the designer of the house, a Dominican who once worked for Balenciaga in Spain and for Castillo in Paris”—i.e. a young Oscar de la Renta.

This is the kind of shopping adventure that has you trying on totally unexpected items, like knee-high, red lace boots (“But where would I wear them in Cleveland?”), and contemplating lavish, floor-length chinchilla opera coats or a striking red rose-patterned suitcase. Now, doesn’t that seem more fun than a list of affiliate links?

Text by Marylin Bender and photos by Carroll Seghers II

Most women who go to New York as tourists or as tagalongs on their husbands’ business trips look forward to soaking up some of the city’s much-heralded elegance. New York is unquestionably America’s fashion hub. (Hubert de Givenchy, the great Paris couturier, comes here to buy lingerie). But although high fashion is created, sold, and worn in Manhattan, finding it, especially if the visitor doesn’t know the ins and outs, can be frustrating.

Many of the publicized fashion houses whose clients’ wardrobes are regularly described in the press do not encourage inquiries from strangers. Then there are the hideaways, patronized by very fashionable ladies, whose addresses are closely guarded secrets. How is a woman fresh out of Detroit, New Orleans, Butte, or even the Connecticut suburbs to discover and penetrate these formidable portals?

She can do so via Fashion Tours, Ltd., a guided tour conducted by two young housewives who formerly worked in retailing and modeling and who have obtained entrée to the inside of New York fashion that outsiders yearn to see. Their three-hour tour costs $15 and includes transportation by chauffeured limousine to and from half a dozen shops, custom salons, and (during certain seasons) Seventh Avenue showrooms.

A typical tour began one afternoon in spring when the directors, Joyce McDonald and Mary Farley, were chauffeured to the Americana Hotel to pick up Mrs. Helen Kolo, her daughter Elaine, and Mrs. Henrietta Partyka, who had written from Cleveland to make reservations.

The first stop took them through the famous red door of a Fifth Avenue establishment that insists on anonymity (lest unescorted individuals turn up on the doorstep pleading for tours). A willowy woman with an international accent led them through twelve floors of activity. They fingered filmy scarves and fitted travel cases, were sprayed with fragrances, and peeked into pink chambers where women were being shaped into svelteness, having their facial muscles toned up, and their locks cut into new coiffures. In the custom salon they were shown some of the gowns created by the designer of the house, a Dominican who once worked for Balenciaga in Spain and for Castillo in Paris.

Although there is no pressure whatsoever to buy, many women take the tours do find their way back to make purchases later on. The next day, Mrs. Kolo went back through the red door and bought a handbag and cosmetics.

Lafitte, just off Fifth Avenue on East 54th Street, is the kind of shop that a tourist would be unlikely to find by herself. An adjunct of Staron, Inc., it sells Staron fabrics by the yard as well as shoes, handbags, and “fantasies” (such as paisley pillows and blouses made of French pheasant feathers) of exclusive design. Coffee was served here and Mrs. Partyka tried on a pair of knee-high, red lace boots. “But where would I wear them in Cleveland?” she wondered.

On West 57th Street, the women filed into a small, self-service elevator and ascended to the gilt and crystal salon of Mr. John, the milliner. They examined his miniature hat collection and the signatures of Marlene Dietrich and countless other renowned customers whom he has hatted. Peter Brandon Ammann, Mr. John’s associate, lectured them on the milliner’s fashion philosophy until John P. John himself appeared. He looked on while Mrs. Kolo and Elaine tried on some of his hats (which, they decided, were fantastically becoming).

The tour moved on to Jacomo, across the street from the Colony Restaurant on East 61st Street. It is in this doll-sized shop, owned by James Kaplan and Heidener Laurenz, that such accessory trends as the alligator handbag with jeweled frame for evening were spawned. Jacomo made a green crocodile evening pouch to match Elizabeth Taylor’s emerald engagement ring as well as a black crocodile, gem-studded carry-all shaped like a Bible for Mrs. Wyatt Cooper (née Gloria Vanderbilt). The visitors looked at handbags made of kangaroo, sueded snakeskin, shrunken lamb, and African anteater, and a shopping bag made of elephant hide.

The tour concluded with another ascent in a tiny elevator in a former mansion across the street to the third floor quarters of Ellen Herbert. While music played softly in the background, the tourists sipped coffee again and browsed among Mrs. Herbert’s inimitable collection of clothes, luggage, candies, toys, and bibelots from here and abroad.

The limousine then deposited the women at their hotel where they resolved to return in a month for another tour and, now that they feel self-confident, to make some fashion investments.

Fashion Tours, Ltd. will tailor a tour to suit a group or will offer its own fashion smorgasbords for women who have no requirements but just want a three-hour saturation in luxury. Among the places Mmes. Farley and McDonald have up their sleeves are Lilly Daché, the milliner whose building includes a beauty salon and a boutique for apparel and accessories, and Sally Victor, another modiste favored by the wives of presidents (both corporate and governmental) and who once gave the economy of Ecuador a shot in the arm by reviving Panama hats.

The tour directors have noticed that out-of-towners prefer to visit name designers and shops while suburbanites are eager to be led off the beaten track. The latter like Adele Ross, whose boyish designer, Flynn II, is responsible for many of the stunning costumes worn by socialites to theater and art gallery openings, and Vivienne Colle who makes needlepoint skirts, paisley coats, and appliquéd sweaters that are not easily imitated at any price.

Jolie Gabor’s jewelry shop on Madison Avenue is fascinating for its wares as well as for its ebullient proprietress, who is the mother of Eva and Zsa Zsa. D/R International, on East 57th Street, appeals to devotees of modern and Scandinavian design. This shop is a branch of the Radcliffe College girl’s mecca in Cambridge and, like the original, sells Marimekko dresses from Finland, mohair throws and pillows, furniture, china, glass-ware, and toys.

The three-hour tours accommodate two to six persons. Six-hour tours, including lunch at a restaurant where fashionable women are bound to congregate, start at $35. Inquiries can be addressed to: Fashion Tours, Ltd., 510 Madison Avenue, New York 10022. Telephone: EL 5-5633.

Maine Chance: Elizabeth Arden's Spa-Resort

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August 25, 2024

“For Maine Chance Farm is a gold-plated rest cure and reducing ranch for the pampered daughters of the idle rich, conducted with all the discipline and smooth efficiency of the ordinary army post.” – Boston Globe, July 31, 1938

A Stroll Down Madison Avenue, 1947

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January 19, 2025

Returning to Fortune’s December 1947 portfolio on Madison Avenue, following the overview and history I sent out the other day was a six-page exploration of the many stores and establishments that made the street so special. Many of these businesses were already long-established by the 1940s—several over one hundred years old—yet few remain today.