 |
Iconic script logo.
|
After almost two centuries in the retail firmament, Lord & Taylor filed for bankruptcy late this summer. Although insignificant compared to the loss of human life this year, the demise of this store is a passing of a kind, and I am in mourning.
I especially will miss Lord & Taylor's own brand and the petite range. Petite sizing was championed by Dorothy Shaver, who became the first woman to head a major retail corporation when elected president of Lord & Taylor in 1945, a position she held until her death in 1959. According to her obituary in the New York Times (29 June 1959):
In 1932 she [Ms. Shaver] challenged Parisian domination of fashion by encouraging and developing native American designing talent. During the next eight years she promoted and publicized the clothes and names of sixty young American designers who had previously worked anonymously.
Ms. Shaver also helped establish the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among many other accomplishments.
 |
| Going out of business sale. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Noted for dresses.
|
 |
Store fixtures.
|
 |
Red and black banners signal the end.
|
 |
The jewelry counter, deserted.
|
I visited the Lord & Taylor store at the Natick Mall, to say goodbye, and perhaps make one last purchase. I ended up ordering something from the Lord & Taylor website. Ironic, as a company called the Saadia Group just purchased Lord & Taylor for online business only. It won't be the same.
