So much is written about 19th century French and English fashion magazines, but these important, not to mention influential, publications existed in America as well. Saratoga-born Nell Curtis had a fashion consciousness that belied her humble and provincial background. With the financial help of her father, she embarked upon a career in millinery, then dressmaking, all the time keenly eyeing the fashions that arrived on boats from England and France. She met Williams Jennings Demorest, a widower with two children who'd made a career out of merchandising, and married him in 1858. No doubt a large part of his appeal was his staunch belief in Nell's talent and business sense. They moved to New York, where, together with Kate, her "Negro" maid, Nell devised easy to cut and assemble dress patterns made from thin paper. These won the ladies two medals at a Philadelphia exhibition.
Being a born promoter, Mr. Demorest brought out the first issue of Mme. Demorest's Mirror of Fashions, a handsomely decorated quarterly which sold for ten cents and soon held its own against Sarah Josepha Hale's Godey's Lady's Book. Sample patterns were included from the start, with details for ordering others by mail. When their patterns became the patterns to use, they hired designers to draw new fashions and Kate Curtis used her skill to adapt French fashions to American tastes. Nell employed the best workers, whether they were black or white, and gave all the workers the same workspace, pay and respect. Customers who balked at such forward thinking were told to take their business elsewhere. Soon, Mr. Demorest was editing five publications and Nell was introducing her designs for comfortable French corsets and dictating matters of fashion on both sides of the Atlantic. Her fashion dictates had become "supreme law." It was Nell who designed the gowns worn by Mrs. Tom Thumb at Queen Victoria's court. Mr. Demorest soon offered carte de visite's of Mr. and Mrs. Thumb and P.T. Barnum to all new subscribers.
The Demorests instituted their own annual fashion show, which was attended by all who mattered or wanted to. But Nell's great elan was best seen at the Paper Dress Masquerade she held on Christmas Eve, 1867, at her premises at 838 Broadway. Two hundred ladies dressed in gowns representing the fashions of the past three hundred years. The dresses withstood the evening, as the paper was tensile and gummed to a thin muslin base.
In 1869, Nell finally saw Paris-and sent reports of everything she saw back home. Her magazines had the latest Paris fashion news before Harper's Bazaar and were soon being looked at by Julia Grant, a first lady not known for adopting the cutting edge of fashion. To Mrs. U.S. Grant, as to the rest of America's women, Nell's magazines, advice and fashion guidance had become indispensable. In 1871, the magazine was published also in London and they soon opened premises on the Rue Scribe in Paris, creating a world-wide circulation for the magazine.
New and elegant premises were taken near Delmonico's and the Demorests traveled regularly now throughout Europe. In 1879, they simplified the name of their magazine by changing it to Demorest's Family Magazine and they simplified their personal lives by turning over the daily running of their publications to their grown sons. Social issues, including temperance and women's rights, were important to both.
In 1895, Mr. Demorest died at 73, and Nell followed him in
1898. Their interests, business and sense of adventure took the
Demorests into many social circles, many countries and through
some of the most exciting decades in the history of New York City
and the fashion world. This article cannot do their experiences
and contributions justice and so I advise you to read their
detailed stories in CRUSADES AND CRINOLINES by Ishbel Ross.
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