Word: bonwit
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...Bonwit's! Now Bergdorf...
...until her death at 61 in 1959, was the archetype of the breed. At elegant Henri Bendel, Geraldine Stutz became president at 33, has successfully given her store an aura of yé-yé. Last week able, low-keyed Mildred Custin, 58, took over as president of twelve Bonwit Teller stores that stretch from Fifth Avenue headquarters south to Palm Beach and west to Oakbrook...
...Year." Bonwit's Vice President William E. Humphreys, 48, disappointed that he did not get the job, resigned a day after the announcement. Generally, however, the trade applauded Mildred Custin's promotion: in the idiom of fashion, her career has been simply divine. Born in New Hampshire, she went to Simmons College in Boston, was later hired by Boston's now defunct R. H. White Co. She then joined John Wanamaker, Inc. and rose to become its Philadelphia store's first woman vice president. Picked as Bonwit Teller of Philadelphia's president...
This dedication did not escape Maxey Jarman, the Nashville corporate builder whose giant Genesco Inc. (annual sales: $589 million) owns Bonwit's and 63 other apparel companies. Jarman likes to have women executives around: he picked Jerry Stutz for Henri Bendel, also a Genesco subsidiary, and his House of Fragrance perfume and cosmetic company is headed by President Helen Van Slyke. "Women who are interested in a career and have a feminine viewpoint," says Jarman, "usually have intuitiveness as well as good promotion and advertising sense." Casting around for a new boss to replace resigning William L. Smith, Jarman...
Sprucing Up. One of her main jobs will be to spruce up Bonwit's image, which has been somewhat fading of late. Bonwit's still ranks with neighboring Bergdorf Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue, but it was once the fashion leader. In spite of exclusive designs from the U.S. and Europe, the store does not attract as many as it would like of the fashionable women who set style, does not have a reputation as a fun place to shop. Miss Custin intends to spruce up outside and inside, as she did in Philadelphia. "Display," she says...