Dorothy Shaver (July 29, 1893 – June 29, 1959) was the first woman in the United States to head a multimillion-dollar firm. She was a well known leader of the

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fashion in ...

industry.

Life

Dorothy Shaver was born in Center Point, Arkansas, in Howard County, Arkansas, to Sallie Borden and James Shaver. Her paternal grandfather was Confederate officer

Robert G. Shaver Robert Glenn Shaver (April 18, 1831 – January 13, 1915) was an American lawyer, militia leader, and Colonel (United States), colonel in the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War serving in several key battles in the Weste ...

. When she was five years old, the family moved to

Mena, Arkansas Mena ( ) is a city in Polk County, Arkansas, United States. It is also the county seat of Polk County. The population was 5,558 as of the 2020 census. Mena is included in the Ark-La-Tex socio-economic region. Surrounded by the Ouachita National F ...

and James Shaver opened a law practice. The Shaver House has been listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

since 1979. Shaver graduated from high school in 1910 at the age of 17 and she was chosen by her classmates to give the commencement address. She then earned a teaching certificate from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. Shaver returned to Mena and began teaching seventh grade. Her teaching career ended abruptly in May 1914, when the local board refused to renew the contracts of Shaver and three other single female teachers because they had attended an unchaperoned dance. In 1916, Shaver and her younger sister Elsie moved to Chicago. While in Chicago, Dorothy studied English literature at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

. A year later, the sisters moved to New York City. Elsie began making dolls out of bandage cotton painted in pastel colors. Inspired by the success of the

Kewpie Doll Kewpie is a brand of dolls and figurines that were conceived as comic strip characters by cartoonist Rose O'Neill. The illustrated cartoons, appearing as baby cupid characters, began to gain popularity after the publication of O'Neill's comic ...

, Dorothy began selling five different versions of Elsie's Little Shaver dolls. A

Lord & Taylor Lord & Taylor was the oldest brick and mortar department store in the United States, in business from 1826 to 2020. The brand was purchased during former owner Le Tote's 2020 liquidation bankruptcy and relaunched by new owner, Saadia Group, as ...

executive and distant cousin named Samuel Reyburn was impressed by the dolls and helped the sisters set up a workshop producing dolls for the next four years. Samuel Reyburn hired Dorothy to head comparison shopping bureau at

in 1921. A year later, she established an interior decorating service at

. Shaver was elected to the store's board of directors in 1927. In 1928, Shaver mounted the Exposition of Modern French Decorative Art at

as a spin-off of the

Exposition Internationale des Arts Decoratifs et Industriels Modernes The International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts (french: Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes) was a World's fair held in Paris, France, from April to October 1925. It was designed by the Fren ...

. In addition to furniture and home goods, Shaver's Exposition included paintings by artists such as

Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

, Utrillo, and Derain. Having made a splash in the media with her French design, Shaver switched her focus to American designers. In 1929, she hired Neysa McNein and other American artists to create fabrics with American themes for Lord & Taylor. Shaver became one of the founding member of the

Fashion Group The Fashion Group International (FGI) is a global, non-profit, professional organization founded in 1930 in New York City to benefit the fashion industry. FGI currently has over 5000 members in the fashion industry including apparel, accessories, b ...

in February 1931. The Fashion Group was a networking organization for women in the fashion industry. Other founding members included

Elizabeth Arden Elizabeth Arden (born Florence Nightingale Graham; December 31, 1881 – October 18, 1966) was a Canadian-American businesswoman who founded what is now Elizabeth Arden, Inc., and built a cosmetics empire in the United States. By 1929, s ...

and

Helena Rubinstein Helena Rubinstein (born Chaja Rubinstein; December 25, 1870 – April 1, 1965) was a Polish and American businesswoman, art collector, and philanthropist. A cosmetics entrepreneur, she was the founder and eponym of Helena Rubinstein Incorporate ...

. In 1932, Shaver created the American Look program to promote American fashion designers. Between 1932 and 1939, the American Look program featured more than sixty designers, including

Clare Potter Clare Potter was a fashion designer who was born in Jersey City, New Jersey in 1903. In the 1930s she was one of the first American fashion designers to be promoted as an individual design talent. Working under her elided name Clarepotter, she ha ...

Merry Hull Gladys Whitcomb Geissmann (August 6, 1908 – June 1978), better known as Merry Hull, was an American designer and inventor. The sister of illustrator Jon Whitcomb, Hull graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University where she was a member of the ...

Nettie Rosenstein Nettie Rosenstein (1890 - March 13, 1980) was an American fashion designer, based in New York City between c.1913 and 1975. She was particularly renowned for her little black dresses and costume jewelry.Libo, Dr. Kenneth; & Skakun, Michael, Two Ou ...

, and Lilly Dache. The clothing lines was moderately priced, well-constructed,

sportswear Sportswear or activewear is clothing, including footwear, worn for sport or physical exercise. Sport-specific clothing is worn for most sports and physical exercise, for practical, comfort or safety reasons. Typical sport-specific garments ...

. Shaver succeeded

Walter Hoving Walter Hoving (December 2, 1897 – November 27, 1989) was a Swedish-born American businessman and writer. He was the chairman of Tiffany & Company from 1955 to 1980. Early life Hoving was born in Stockholm on December 2, 1897. He was a son of Jo ...

as president of

in 1945. She was given a salary of $110,000. This was the highest salary on record for an American woman at that time, and although it was noted by the author of an article in Life Magazine that the salary was only a quarter of what some "similarly placed male CEOs earned" omparing it with Thomas J. Watson Sr., President of International Business Machines the salary was commensurate with what Lord & Taylor paid its top male executives. Walter Hoving, her predecessor, was earning a salary after 10 years as chief executive of $127,015 in 1944. In 1947,

Life Magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

called Shaver "the No. 1 American career woman." By that point, she was managing a $40 million business. Shaver served as president of

until her death in 1959. By the time of her death, sales at

reached $100 million a year.

Designers promoted

Promoted by Shaver and sold at Lord & Taylor * Lilly Dache *

Elizabeth Hawes Elizabeth Hawes (December 16, 1903 – September 6, 1971) was an American clothing designer, outspoken critic of the fashion industry, and champion of ready to wear and people's right to have the clothes they desired, rather than the clothes di ...

Muriel King Muriel King (1900–1977) was an American fashion designer based in New York City. She was one of the first American fashion designers along with Elizabeth Hawes and Clare Potter to achieve name recognition. She also designed costumes for several m ...

Claire McCardell Claire McCardell (May 24, 1905 – March 22, 1958) was an American fashion designer of ready-to-wear clothing in the twentieth century. She is credited with the creation of American sportswear. Early life McCardell was the eldest of four childre ...

Vera Maxwell Vera Huppe Maxwell (April 22, 1901 – January 15, 1995) was an American pioneering sportswear and fashion designer. Background and personal life Born Vera Huppe in The Bronx, Maxwell spent part of her childhood in Austria. She attended Leo ...

Norman Norell Norman David Levinson (April 20, 1900 – October 25, 1972) known professionally as Norman Norell, was an American fashion designer famed for his elegant gowns, suits, and tailored silhouettes. His designs for the Traina-Norell and Norell fashion ...

* Pauline Trigere

References

External links

Little Shaver Dolls (1919)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Shaver, Dorothy 1893 births 1959 deaths People from Howard County, Arkansas Businesspeople from Arkansas 20th-century American businesspeople Women corporate directors 20th-century American businesswomen People from Polk County, Arkansas University of Chicago alumni