Hattie Carnegie – March 15

Photo: by John Engstead, Beverly Hills Hattie Carnegie, 1955

“We have the loveliest women in the world in this county and wherever there are beautiful women there will be beautiful clothes.”

H.C.

Name at Birth: Henrietta Kanengeiser

Born: March 15, 1886

Birthplace: Vienna, Austria

Died: February 22, 1956, New York, NY

Retail Category: Millinery, Custom dressmaking, Ready-to-Wear, Jewelry

Known for:  Her “little Carnegie suits” and bringing “the Little Black Dress” into the light of day.

Famous Clients: Included actual royalty – in the Duchess of Windsor also Broadway and Hollywood royalty such as writer Clare Booth Luce and actresses Constance Bennett, Tallulah Bankhead, Joan Crawford, Gertrude Lawrence, and Norma Shearer as well as socialite Barbara Hutton among others.

Awards: The Neiman-Marcus Award in 1939, the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Award for “consistent contribution to American elegance” in 1948 and the Congressional Medal of Freedom, 1952 for the WAC uniform design and for her many other charitable and patriotic contributions.

Fun Facts: In her early 20s, she changed her last name to Carnegie as an homage to Andrew Carnegie, the richest man in the United States at the time. She couldn’t cut a pattern or sew, but knew how to translate what she wanted for others to execute. Lucille Ball worked for Carnegie as a house model in the late 1920s.