Eugenia Benbow Sheppard (July 24, 1899 – November 11, 1984) was an American fashion writer and newspaper columnist for some 80 newspapers (including the ''

Columbus Dispatch ''The Columbus Dispatch'' is a daily newspaper based in Columbus, Ohio. Its first issue was published on July 1, 1871, and it has been the only mainstream daily newspaper in the city since ''The Columbus Citizen-Journal'' ceased publication in 1 ...

'', ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is a conservative daily tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates NYPost.com, the celebrity gossip site PageSix.com, and the entertainment site Decider.com. It was established ...

'', ''

The Boston Post ''The Boston Post'' was a daily newspaper in New England for over a hundred years before it folded in 1956. The ''Post'' was founded in November 1831 by two prominent Boston businessmen, Charles G. Greene and William Beals. Edwin Grozier bough ...

'', and most notably, the ''

New York Herald Tribune The ''New York Herald Tribune'' was a newspaper published between 1924 and 1966. It was created in 1924 when Ogden Mills Reid of the ''New-York Tribune'' acquired the ''New York Herald''. It was regarded as a "writer's newspaper" and competed ...

''.

Early life and education

Sheppard was born in

Nelsonville, Ohio Nelsonville is a city in northwest York Township in Athens County, Ohio. It is 60 miles southeast of Columbus. The population was 4,612 at the 2020 census originally, but an official citywide recount found the population to be 5,373, thus maint ...

, the daughter of James Taylor Sheppard and Jane Benbow Sheppard. She graduated from

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

in 1921.

Career

She was credited with having "revolutionized fashion reporting with her reports in the NYC Herald Tribune (1940–56)". Her syndicated column, ''Inside Fashion'', made her the most influential fashion arbiter of the 1950s and 1960s. Her fashion columns at the ''

'' carried

Joe Eula Joseph Eula (January 16, 1925 – October 27, 2004) was an American fashion illustrator. He was a prominent illustrator in the 1960s and 70s, having held the post of creative director at Halston for ten years. Early life Eula was born Jo ...

's illustrations. Sheppard wrote a children's play, ''Cinderella'' (1928). She also collaborated with

Earl Blackwell Samuel Earl Blackwell Jr. (May 3, 1909 – March 1, 1995) was an American businessman who was a celebrity promoter and, later, celebrity tracker. In 1939, he founded Celebrity Service, which spawned '' The Celebrity Bulletin'' in 1952.

on writing two novels, ''Crystal Clear'' (1978) and ''Skyrocket'' (1980), both set in the fashion world.

Personal life and legacy

Sheppard married three times. Her first two marriages, to Samuel Black and Preston Wolfe, ended in divorce. She married her third husband, fellow journalist

Walter Millis Walter Millis (March 16, 1899 – March 17, 1968) was an editorial and staff writer for the ''New York Herald Tribune'' from 1924 to 1954. Millis was a staff member of the Fund for the Republic from 1954 to 1968. He later became the director of t ...

, in 1944; he died in 1968. She died from cancer in 1984, aged 85 years, in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. She was survived by her son Sheppard Black, stepson Walter Millis, Jr., and stepdaughter Sarah Millis McCoy.

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (; born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director, and producer who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art. His works explore the relationsh ...

succinctly memorialized her in his diary entry of Monday, November 12, 1984, writing, "Oh and the day had started out with Eugenia Sheppard dying of cancer. She invented fashion and gossip together."Hackett, Pat, ed. "The Andy Warhol Diaries", New York: Warner Brothers, 1989, p. 614 The Eugenia Sheppard Award for journalism has been given annually since 1987 by the

Council of Fashion Designers of America The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Inc. (CFDA), founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert, and headquartered in Manhattan, is a not-for-profit trade association comprising a membership of over 450 American fashion and accessory des ...

. Selected awardees include:

André Leon Talley André Leon Talley (October 16, 1948 – January 18, 2022) was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, and editor-at-large of ''Vogue'' magazine. He was the magazine's fashion news director from 1983 to 1987, its first Africa ...

Robin Givhan Robin Givhan (born September 11, 1964) is an American fashion editor and Pulitzer Prize winning writer. Givhan was a fashion editor for ''The Washington Post''. She joined the ''Post'' in 1995, and left in 2010 to become the fashion critic and fas ...

, and

Cathy Horyn Cathy Horyn (born September 11, 1956) is an American fashion critic and journalist who worked for ''The New York Times'' from 1998 until 2014 where she had the highly noted and provocative blo''On The Runway'' In 2015, she was appointed critic- ...

Quotes

* "It's all terribly cute, but like giving a girl candy when she craves steak." (on some designers' one-time predilection for buttons and bows) * "Pretty sexy for a tall girl, but it may make a short one disappear altogether." (on a dress she was not crazy about) * "Dessès has always been inspired by birds. I think it's time somebody came right out and told this nice guy to switch to biology or some other ology. Anything but birds." (On

Jean Dessès Jean Dessès (6 August 1904 – 2 August 1970) was a world leading fashion designer in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. His designs reflected the influences of his travels, specializing in creating draped evening gowns in chiffon and mousseline, b ...

' "dovetail look") * "For the second time in history, women are in a dither about a young man, called Valentino. This time he is not a movie star, but a fashion designer from Rome." (In 1964 for the ''Boston Post'' about the designer Valentino)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sheppard, Eugenia 1899 births 1984 deaths American columnists Deaths from cancer in New York (state) American fashion journalists Place of birth missing American women columnists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers Journalists from New York City Bryn Mawr College alumni People from Nelsonville, Ohio