Always in Vogue

I mentioned Edna Woolman Chase's autobiography in my last post.  She was editor-in-chief of Vogue from 1914 until 1952 -- the Anna Wintour of her day.  

Edna Woolman Chase was eighteen years old in 1895 when she got her first job at Vogue.  She describes the effort of dressing for work in that era:  "I could not dream of affording a maid, so I spent hours, when I got home from the office, washing and starching and ironing my petticoats, only to put them on in the morning to have them soiled again by the time I had walked three blocks."  Later, when Chase had risen to the position of editor, her boss Conde Nast rewarded her for her hard work one Christmas with a box of candy.  Under each chocolate was a twenty-dollar gold piece.  Do you think Si Newhouse has ever done that for Ms. Wintour?

Edna Woolman Chase with her daughter and co-author Ilka Chase.

Photograph by Horst.

I don't know when I bought this book.

Chase, Edna Woolman, and Chase, Ilka. Always in Vogue.  New York: Doubleday & Company, 1954.