When we think of high-powered fashion magazine editrixes these days, our first thought usually goes to the icy, bobbed dynamo that is Vogue's
Anna Wintour (or the fictional version played by
Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada"). However, a splashy article in this morning's New York Times titled appropriately "The Original Carrie Bradshaw" reminds us of a woman who is Executive Realness personified:
Helen Gurley Brown. Remember her, folks? She penned "Sex and the Single Girl" in 1962 and it quickly became a cultural touchstone. It was the first book to speak frankly about sex, careers, and other feminine issues that had long been hidden away in kitchen cupboards and laundry bins. Helen went on to become the editor of Cosmopolitan magazine in the mid-1960s. For nearly three decades, she helped set the agenda for American women before ending her run at the magazine in 1997. While at Cosmo she created the idea of the "Cosmo Girl" -- a free-spirited, intelligent woman who enjoyed fashion, culture, and business as well as sex and fun. And in a new book, "Bad Girls Go Everywhere: The Life of Helen Gurley Brown," Jennifer Scanlon argues that Helen is an often overlooked feminist icon and pioneer of women's rights. (Side note: we just LOVE that title.)
Check out our friends at the
SOAPnet blog for the rest of this article and more news in the realm of fashion and TV!
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