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Mona Strader Bismarck CollectionBy Rebecca S. Rice
Famous for her beauty, particularly her trademark silver hair and aquamarine eyes, as well as her fashion sense, Mona was the first American to be declared the Best-Dressed Woman in the World in 1933, a distinction bestowed upon her by Paris designers Chanel, Mainbocher, Lanvin, Vionnet, Molyneaux, Lelong and Mona’s personal favorite, Balenciaga. Upon the closing of Balenciaga’s fashion house in 1968, it was said that Mona took to her bed for three days in despair. She regularly appeared on best-dressed lists on both sides of the Atlantic. Her circle of famous and influential friends included European nobility, politicians, artists, designers, actors, writers and more. Her homes, clothes and lifestyle were regularly chronicled in newspapers and magazines, especially Vogue. Salvador Dali painted her portrait. Cole Porter included her name in song lyrics. She was mentioned in movies and alluded to in books. She was photographed by famous photographers of the day, including Steichen, Horst and her close friend, Cecil Beaton, who was devoted to Mona.
It was Mona’s interest in her native Kentucky that led her to donate her papers and photographs to The
Filson Historical Society in 1976. The Mona Strader Bismarck Papers span 1916-1994 and are primarily made up
of personal correspondence. Most of the letters were written by members of the social world in which Mona lived.
They include her close friends the Duchess of Windsor; Diana Vreeland; Gore Vidal; Randolph Churchill; Constantin
Alajalov, the cover illustrator for The New Yorker and The Saturday Evening Post; jewelry designer, Jean
Schlumberger; Hubert de Givenchy; and Cecil Beaton, among many others. The letters provide an intimate look at international society and fashion, but they are also a valuable source for
descriptions of English and European attitudes and experiences pertaining to World War II and include observations
about life in France under the Vichy government, the French Army and conscientious objectors in England. Later
correspondence discusses anti-Gaullist politics in France. One of the more prolific writers in the collection is Bettina
Bergery, famous in her own right as Givenchy’s favorite “mannequin,” and wife of Gaston Bergery, who served as the Vichy government’s ambassador
to the U.S.S.R. and Turkey. The Mona Strader Bismarck Photograph Collection spans the years of 1860 to 1979. The most beautiful images in the collection are Cecil Beaton’s portrait photographs of Mona. It also includes photographs of family, her husbands, and friends from her years in international society as well as snapshots of her garden on Capri and her apartment in the Hotel Lambert in Paris. |
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Information about Mona Bismarck’s life was taken from the Mona Bismarck Collections at The Filson Historical Society as well as James D. Birchfield’s Kentucky Countess: Mona Bismarck in Art and Fashion.
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The Filson Historical Society Hours |