![cristy lane one day at a time cover cristy lane one day at a time cover](https://d3d8y6yhucfd29.cloudfront.net/sports-product-image/996-t1485997-.jpg)
She introduced European ready-to-wear and haute couture for the first time to Texas. The Marcus family on Carrie Marcus’ front porch on Swiss Avenue in Dallas.Ĭarrie was a Jewish woman in a town dominated by Christians and males, but her taste and sophistication made Neiman Marcus an immediate success. But it did have a symphony orchestra, a Shakespeare club, and a contingency of wealthy citizens. She was married and just 24 years old when Neiman Marcus opened on Elm Street in downtown Dallas, a city that was in many ways still uncivilized, with unpaved streets bustling with horse-drawn carriages and saloons. Growing up, Carrie loved classical music, read books in several languages, and devoured European fashion magazines.
![cristy lane one day at a time cover cristy lane one day at a time cover](https://musicrw.com/images/5060/cristy-lane-ask-me-to-dance.jpg)
She didn’t come from money - her family had been German Jewish immigrants who eventually made their way to Hillsboro - but they were cultured and intellectual. The book paints a captivating picture of Carrie Neiman: “the stern looking lady in the black dress” who intimidated Smith as a child but was, in reality, “the quiet genius behind the success of the internationally famous emporium known as Neiman Marcus.”Ī reserved beauty with smoldering features and a regal demeanor, Carrie had innate style and an eye for the best. Smith’s book comes out this month - A Girl Named Carrie: The Visionary Who Created Neiman Marcus and Set the Standard for Fashion (University of North Texas Press). Right: Carrie Marcus’ bridal portrait, April 1905. Left: Herbert Marcus kisses 2-year-old granddaughter, Jerrie Marcus, on the steps of their Dallas house in 1938. “Everybody had a blank sheet for a year, and I thought, ‘It’s now or never.’” I was an avid reader, but I wasn’t a writer.” Years went by, until the pandemic of 2020 finally forced her hand. “But it was hard to get started because I wasn’t a biographer. Many people - including Smith’s late father, Stanley Marcus, and her good friend, Pulitzer Prize winner Doris Kearns Goodwin - suggested she “stop talking about the book and just write it,” Smith says with a laugh. Like many women of the era whose achievements were overshadowed by their male counterparts, Carrie’s trailblazing role has been mostly overlooked by history, says Smith, age 85.Ĭarrie died in 1953 when Smith was a teenager, and she’s made it part of her life’s mission to set the record straight, researching and gathering anecdotes over the decades about her great-aunt, logging the details away with an idea to pen her biography one day. Jerrie Marcus Smith has always been fascinated by her great-aunt, Carrie Marcus Neiman - the enigmatic force behind Neiman Marcus, which she co-founded in 1907 with husband Al Neiman and her brother Herbert Marcus. All photos courtesy of the Marcus family.