Dorothy Shaver

Dorothy Shaver (July 29, 1893 – June 28, 1959) was the first woman in the United States to head a multimillion-dollar firm. She was a well known leader of the fashion industry and became president of Lord & Taylor.

Life Dorothy Shaver was born on July 29, 1893, in Center Point, Arkansas, in Howard County, Arkansas, to Sallie Hunter (née Borden) and James D. Shaver. Her paternal grandfather was Confederate officer Robert G. Shaver. Her father was a lawyer and judge. When she was five years old, the family moved to Mena, Arkansas, and James Shaver opened a law practice. She then earned a teaching certificate from the University of Arkansas. Inspired by the success of the Kewpie Doll, Dorothy began selling five different versions of Elsie's Little Shaver dolls. A Lord & Taylor executive and distant cousin named Samuel Reyburn was impressed by the dolls and helped the sisters set up a workshop producing dolls for the next four years.

Samuel Reyburn hired Dorothy to head comparison shopping bureau at Lord & Taylor in 1921. Shaver was elected to the store's board of directors in 1927.

Having made a splash in the media with her French design, Shaver switched her focus to American designers.

In 1932, Shaver created the American Look program to promote American fashion designers. Between 1932 and 1939, the American Look program featured more than sixty designers, including Clare Potter, Merry Hull, Nettie Rosenstein, and Lilly Dache. The clothing lines were moderately priced, well-constructed sportswear. She was given a salary of $110,000. and although it was noted by the author of an article in Life Magazine that the salary was only a quarter of what some "similarly placed male CEOs earned" [comparing it with Thomas J. Watson Sr., President of International Business Machines],

In 1947, Life Magazine called Shaver "the No. 1 American career woman." By that point, she was managing a $40 million business. She died on June 28, 1959, at Hudson Hospital in Hudson, New York. By the time of her death, sales at Lord & Taylor reached $100 million a year.

In 2026, a food hall named after Shaver opened on the ground floor of the Lord & Taylor Building in Midtown Manhattan. The food hall, named "Shaver Hall", features 11 food vendors and three restaurants.

Designers promoted Promoted by Shaver and sold at Lord & Taylor Lilly Dache Elizabeth Hawes Merry Hull Muriel King Claire McCardell Vera Maxwell Norman Norell Clare Potter Nettie Rosenstein Pauline Trigere