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ARDEN, ELIZABETH 1884-1966

COSMETIC EXECUTIVE

Entrepreneur

Elizabeth Arden reached heights of business success traditionally reserved for men by building a business that relied upon women for support. She astutely tapped into several important trends of the twentieth century when she entered the cosmetic business, taking advantage of the rise of a growing youth culture and consumerism and the increasing presence of women in the workforce. A strong-minded, driven woman who fit the classic image of the American entrepreneur, she relied on implementing good ideas, innovation, and invention to make her business prosper.

Background

Florence Graham, the future Elizabeth Arden, was the fourth of five children born in Canada to immigrant tenant farmers; her mother was from England, her father from Scotland. Upon reaching adult-hood she tried a variety of jobs, working as a dental assistant, cashier, and stenographer before she moved to New York City with her brother. There she took a clerical job with Eleanor Adair, who operated a beauty salon, and began her education in the use of facials and cosmetics. She realized that there was little chance of advancement for her as long as she worked in someone else's salon, so she entered into a partnership and opened a salon in 1909. When the partnership broke up she adopted the name Elizabeth Arden from Alfred Tennyson's poem "Enoch Arden." She entered the cosmetic business just as it was about to explode, and soon she was opening branch salons. While other businesses, often owned by women, sold beauty creams, Arden was among the first to make the salon a widespread success. Instead of selling products to women to take home and use, Arden provided on-site services, such as manicures and facial peels, in her salons. The women who worked at the salons took advantage of advancements made in dermatology to claim professional status. By the 1930s she had hundreds of salons throughout North America, South America, and Europe.

Contra Roosevelt

During the early 1940s Arden enjoyed her wealth even as her business empire expanded and engaged in a wide variety of high-priced endeavors. She developed a reputation as a blue-blooded Republican and disliked President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, campaigning for Republican Wendell Willkie in 1940. After the election the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigated Arden for violating the Robinson-Patman Act by inadequately training her employees in the use of the products they sold. She believed that the Democrats were punishing her for campaigning against Roosevelt and appealed the FTC decision against her to the U.S. Supreme Court. Though the court ruled against Arden, it did so in such a way that allowed her to continue her business practices with little change.

Women at Work

With the mobilization for war, women entered the workforce at a rate previously unseen in American history. Arden took advantage of the movement of women into an increasingly diverse array of jobs formerly held by men by offering an Arden career course, which provided help in selecting clothes and career orientation in addition to tips on exercise and grooming. The war also allowed her to expand her business horizons as the fall of France to Germany meant that Parisian fashion designers could no longer dominate the American industry; she began offering an exclusive designer line of clothes at her salons, and her success continued after the war. During the 1940s her sales reached $60 million annually. In addition to her chain of salons, by 1947 she had opened health and beauty resorts in Maine and Arizona. She also took up horse racing, with Time magazine running a cover story on her success. In 1947 Jet Pilot, her horse, won the Kentucky Derby.

The Promotion of Beauty

Throughout her life Arden never stopped working on her businesses. She pushed her message, "Hold fast to life and youth," in a vigorous advertising campaign. At the time of her death she left a multimillion-dollar business empire and a legacy worth $4 million to be divided among her employees in addition to inheritances divided among surviving relatives. While Arden made a fortune, she believed that she had dedicated her life to the promotion of beauty and business.