For 123 years, Camelot was on 5th Avenue, otherwise known as the Henri Bendel department store, the place to be for any fashionable woman worth her salt in 20th century America. So when the timeless Manhattan mainstay announced its imminent, forever closure this month, we kind of lost it. Needed a hat that looked like a cake? Bendel was there with cutting-edge looks. Interested in discovering up-and-coming designers like Ralph Lauren, Sonia Rykiel, or Perry Ellis? Bendel was the nest for so many of the now iconic brands and every detail of the business, from the René Lalique windows to a long-running relationship with Andy Warhol sang of that inimitable, bygone New York charm.
Geraldine Stutz
The cherry on top, of course, was Geraldine Stutz, the woman who cooked up, tended to, and monetised all that charm in unprecedented fashion. In honour of her gusto as a businesswoman, and of the Bendel empire in general, we’re taking a little walk down memory lane in the store…
Bendel was the very first retailer to sell Coco Chanel in the U.S., the first to offer in-store services like makeovers and fashion shows. The store owes its origins to Louisiana native Henri Bendel, whose passion for the finer things in life led him to open a store in Greenwich Village.
Designers at Bendel’s, including Ralph Lauren, 3rd from left
“Bendel made his mark both literally and figuratively by becoming the first retailer to brand himself,” explains the Bendel team, “Having registered his own trademark, he created the now legendary brown and white striped shopping bag and hatbox.”
1981 – Henri Bendel. (Edward Hausner/The New York Times)
And let’s not forget those custom, French windows commissioned from René Lalique in 1912…
He was one of the most sought after glass artisans of his era, and his intricate creations are one of the reasons Bendel’s store is now classified as a historical monument.
The store stayed in family hands until 1954, when Bendel’s nephew retired, and the business was frankly starting to fall into a slump. Enter Geraldine Stutz, the only person they knew who was up to the task of breathing new life into the operation…
“From 1957 to 1986, Stutz led a dramatic turnaround of the specialty store,” explained Parson’s School of Design, who has a fellowship in the businesswoman’s name, “she transformed Henri Bendel from a declining carriage trade store into a chic specialty shop patronised by the city’s most fashion conscious women.”
Geraldine Stutz (C), president of Henri Bendel, 1958
She was the first person in retail management to create merchandising concepts like the “Street of Shops,” wherein little boutiques could be found inside the department store, and fostered budding young talents like Andy Warhol, who was spending his time drawing up swanky shoes and cat illustrations (amongst a number of other odd jobs).
An Andy Warhol shoe design
No one was innovating retail quite like Geraldine, and even fewer women — if any — were at such high management positions in the industry. The “Bendel’s” universe she curated became not only increasingly proftable, but whimsical…
Bendel’ Spring Sale, 1921
“There was a time in New York City, in the 1960s and 1970s, when the name Henri Bendel immediately evoked an image of intimate glamour,” wrote The New York Observer in 2005, “The store at 10 West 57th Street was the manifestation of the impeccable taste and business instincts of one woman, Geraldine Stutz…it was arguably the greatest store in the world,” and it’s with a teary, final swipe of our credit card that we’ll bid it goodbye.
