Hats Off to Annie!

I am looking ahead this month to the 22 nd 0f September, designated by Congress as American Businesswomen’s Day. My brief comments salute Women past and present. Perhaps the goal should be only for the present but I choose to give due credit to the printers, milliners, small shopkeepers and entrepreneurs who thought beyond the constraints of their historical period.

     In my own family, some women   took over for their men, adding that needed something special, whether sparkle or financial acumen to make their business grow during hard times. In my husband’s family, a dutiful wife took over her husband’s business seeing it grow eventually beyond early expectations, eventually with an international presence. I was witness in the 1950s to wholesale buying in Cincinnati necessary in the operation of a women’s wear shop in the south. I learned   at a young age that the pretty offerings in store windows appeared because of hard work, decisions and  judgement about fashion trends of the day. 

     In creating my fictional businesswoman, milliner  Annie Elgin,I let my imagination lead me to what may have been exuberance gone wild. I enjoyed watching her look beyond what had been done in seasons past, borrowing ideas from larger successful stores in Denver and Chicago, crafting  what might be eye catching in Ogden Utah at the beginning of the 20th century.

     Hats off then to Annie and all other businesswomen, past,  present and future!