DALLAS – By Michelle Leigh Smith – Beyond square footage, Neiman Marcus remains a place that evokes memories of fashion, luxury, and the women who helped define an era.
Those Neiman Marcus Memories
Gilda Bayegan remembers the fragrance fountain at the 129,000-square-foot flagship store on Main and Ervay in Dallas from her childhood. “You could dab a little Guerlain behind your ears and feel revitalized for the rest of the day,” she recalls with a laugh.
Martha Vita, founder of The Marks Project, bought her wedding suit there more than 50 years ago. “I still have it – tailored in white linen with the most beautiful cut imaginable,” she says.
Carrie Neiman: Vision, Imagination & Grit
One of three founders who opened Neiman Marcus in 1907, Carrie Marcus Neiman was the guiding force behind the store’s ethereal style. Her vision, imagination and determination created what many called the ultimate fashion playground. Dallas honored her with a proclamation from Mayor Eric Johnson—designating Carrie Marcus Neiman Day—and with a champagne reception marking the opening of the exhibit An Eye for Elegance: Carrie Marcus Neiman and the Women Who Shaped Neiman Marcus. A new biography of Carrie, written by her niece Jerrie Marcus Smith and Stanley Marcus’ granddaughter Allison Smith, has also been published.
As the store’s first buyer, Carrie traveled to New York, Paris and London seeking the most exceptional ready-to-wear. She famously wrote dispatches to Texas from Claridge’s in London, sharing news of designers and exclusive orders. In one letter she described Hartnell’s excitement over an order for young Princess Elizabeth, hinting at the discretion expected for royal commissions.
Even when some designs proved unobtainable, Carrie persevered, sourcing exquisite suits and gowns that quickly sold out in Dallas. Neiman Marcus not only shaped local style but also contributed to cultural and economic growth in Dallas and throughout Texas. “We owe Texas a great deal,” says Richard Marcus, the sole surviving Marcus brother. “They believed in the idea and always supported us. We profited greatly.”
Did the Duke & Duchess of Windsor Take Towels from Texas?
Carrie’s relationship with clients and her instinct for personalized service became legendary. Her influence extended beyond clothing to broader questions of taste and etiquette. When the Duke and Duchess of Windsor were expected to visit the Mexican ranch of Dallas oilman Clint Murchison and his wife Virginia in 1949, Carrie suggested monogrammed linen hand towels embroidered with the royal crest. The linens arrived at the ranch within days, and decades later Virginia still marveled that the duke and duchess had taken all twelve towels home.
Long before modern clienteling tools, Carrie relied on intuition and imagination to elevate everyday moments and make life feel extraordinary.
Carrie Marcus Neiman died in 1953, just shy of her 70th birthday. The old-world elegance she embodied endured in memory. “Simply put, her kind has not been seen since,” says Allison Smith, co-author of the biography and a photographer with credits at The Dallas Morning News, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Guardian.
Russell L. Martin, SMU’s Assistant Dean and Director of DeGolyer Library and Special Collections, introduced the exhibit, recalling one of Stanley Marcus’ inscribed books by Ogden Nash that humorously captures the Texan connection to Neiman Marcus.
Born and bred in the town of Dallas
Where every Texan’s home is his palace.
When I die just confirm my carcass,
And close my account at Neiman Marcus.
“Carrie Marcus Neiman was a true trailblazer,” says Mimi Sterling, CEO of The Family Place. “As a Jewish woman in Dallas in 1907, she co-founded Neiman Marcus with her brother and husband, breaking barriers and paving a path for generations of women leaders. Always elegant, inspiring and visionary, Carrie’s essence is captured in the SMU DeGolyer Library exhibition through thoughtful curation of photos, fashions and artifacts.”
SMU’s DeGolyer Library opened the exhibit An Eye for Elegance: Carrie Marcus Neiman and the Women Who Shaped Neiman Marcus in Fondren Library’s Hillcrest Foundation Exhibit Hall. The exhibition explores Carrie’s life and legacy and coincides with the new biography A Girl Named Carrie by Jerrie Marcus Smith.
Opening night drew Neiman Marcus CEO Geoffroy van Raemdonck and his husband Alvise Orsini. Neiman Marcus Group, which also owns Bergdorf Goodman, Horchow and Last Call, operates 37 stores in the U.S., including seven in Texas. The largest Texas location at NorthPark measures 218,000 square feet; the San Francisco store is larger at 252,000 square feet. Neiman Marcus’ Galleria store in Houston remains a retail landmark.
An Eye for Elegance
“I had the privilege of attending the exhibit,” says van Raemdonck. “Carrie was an unprecedented trailblazer who followed her passion to become a co-founder and leader of Neiman Marcus. Her vision remains in Neiman Marcus Group’s DNA as a women-majority organization, from associates to the Board of Directors.”
The exhibit includes contributions from family members and local figures such as Herbert Marcus III and Dallas County District Court Judge Staci Williams, along with curator Anne Peterson and Annette Becker from the Texas Fashion Collection at North Texas State University. Items on display include fashion, photographs, letters and other artifacts, as well as memorabilia tied to Neiman Marcus’ early restaurants like the Zodiac Room and the later Mermaid Room.
Model Sandra Tilley shared a memorable Neiman Marcus anecdote: after advertising a puppy for sale in The Dallas Morning News, a buyer showed up in a brand-new black Cadillac, planning the puppy as a Christmas gift. A few days later Stanley Marcus called requesting the puppy’s measurements so he could commission a custom mink coat. The dog arrived on Christmas Eve wearing her own mink coat.
Such stories, along with Neiman Marcus’s famous fantasy gift catalogs published since 1959, added to its mystique. Over the years the catalog offered extravagant items—from motorcycles designed by Keanu Reeves to lavish multi-day trips to India. In 1960 the catalog famously offered matching “His and Her” aircraft. In later years, unusual items like authentic mummy cases and limited-edition cars made headlines.
His and Hers Airplanes
Catalog anecdotes include a West Texas rancher who bought one of two offered planes for his wife, who had long wanted one of her own. The 1971 catalog featured authentic mummy cases, which sparked global coverage and were shipped to celebrate the opening of the Bal Harbour store. Those cases were later acquired by the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Diego. In 2002, a black Thunderbird listed in the holiday catalog sold out quickly, setting a new sales record for the store.
Drawing on family archives and the Stanley Marcus Papers at SMU, the exhibit is open to the public Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. through Jan. 28. It features photographs, letters, postcards, telegrams clippings, magazines, catalogs, sheet music, jewelry and dresses on loan from the Texas Fashion Collection at UNT, bringing Carrie’s career to life.
From her birth and upbringing in Louisville, Kentucky, to her move to Dallas, her marriage and later divorce, and her role as a dedicated working woman, Carrie Marcus Neiman emerges as an essential figure in the creation of Neiman Marcus’s distinct aesthetic. Her taste for the finest fabrics and details helped build a nationally recognized store that could rival the great houses of New York and Europe.
The exhibit also highlights other influential women from Neiman Marcus’s early days, including buyer Moira Cullen, first fashion promotions director Kay Kerr, interior designer Eleanor Le Maire and food director Helen Corbitt—all of whom shaped the store’s style and the tastes of its clientele.
A 100-edition catalog of the exhibition has been produced and is available for purchase through the exhibition’s official site.
The exhibition was made possible in part by support from Neiman Marcus, the Eugene McDermott Foundation, Friends of SMU Libraries, SMU Women’s Studies and Professor Bonnie Wheeler.
Dec. 14, 2021 Realty News Report Copyright 2021
For more about Texas real estate, see the book Houston 2020: America’s Boom Town – An Extreme Close Up by Ralph Bivins. Available in ebook and print editions.
The Marcus family at the Eye for Excellence exhibit. Photo credit: Jeanette Korab
File: The History of Luxury