Bettina Bedwell (January 13, 1889 – April 29, 1947) was an American journalist and fashion illustrator. She reported on fashion from Paris throughout the 1920s and 30s.
In 1929, American author Kay Boyle began working for Bedwell as a "secretary." Boyle wrote to her family saying that the work included writing fashion articles for the Chicago Tribune, which appeared under Bedwell's name. Boyle and Bedwell became friends, continuing to work together and visit each other into the 1940s.[4]: 164-5
From 1929 until 1940, Bedwell was a "style spy" for Margaret Hayden Rorke of the Textile Color Card Association of the United States. Bedwell wrote weekly letters to Rorke, reporting on the color trends she saw on the streets, in restaurants, and in the couture houses of Paris. Her letters were often full of swatches and color samples. Rorke used Bedwell's letters and swatches to enhance her own color forecasting in the U.S.[5]
Bedwell understood the pirating of Paris fashions well. She had reported on fashion bootlegging and "style pirates" in a 1930 article that appeared in the New York Times.[6] Bedwell's own columns were sometimes accompanied by sewing patterns that copied the Parisian styles she reported on.[5] Bedwell later put this knowledge to use in outlining a novel, Yellow Dusk (Hurst & Blackett, 1937), a thriller about drug smuggling and fashion theft set in a Paris couture house. The novel appeared under Bedwell's name, but it was ghostwritten from her outline by Kay Boyle, who was paid $250.[7]
Later life and death
Bedwell and Rattner left Paris in late 1939 to avoid the Nazi invasion.[8] They settled in New York where Bedwell later died due to a kidney infection on April 29, 1947.[2]
References
^"New York, New York City Municipal Deaths, 1795-1949," database, FamilySearch (10 February 2018), Bettina Bedwell Rattner, 29 Apr 1947; citing Death, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States, New York Municipal Archives, New York; FHL microfilm 2,133,606.
