Belle Armstrong Whitney (September 27, 1861 – August 1922), who also used the pen name Dinah Sturgis,Barbara Babcock, Woman Lawyer: The Trials of Clara Foltz (Stanford University Press 2011): 195. was an American writer and "fashion expert","The Women's Apparel Unit of the Women's Overseas Hospitals, U. S. A." The Woman Citizen (August 24, 1918): 251. based in Paris.
Early life Belle Armstrong was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Thomas Ainsley Armstrong and Sarah Sophia Armstrong.John William Leonard, Woman's Who's Who of America (American Commonwealth Company 1914): 878.
Career Whitney lectured"Men Dictate What Women Shall Wear" New York Times (February 4, 1909): 5. and wrote books on fashion, including Suggestions to Dressmakers, and What to Wear: A Book for Women (1916). She discussed the fashion industry's responses to wartime conditions in France during World War I,"The Season of Silk and Ribbons" The American Silk Journal (October 1915): 47-48. and to the changing role of women in the 1910s, declaring that "Women now wish to take a more important place in the scheme of modern life, yet they cling to many of their shackles of dress."Belle Armstrong Whitney, What to Wear: A Book for Women (Good Health Publishing Company 1916): 12. She especially admired the designs of Mariano Fortuny, for their combination of practicality and artistry.Patricia A. Cunningham, Reforming Women's Fashion, 1850-1920: Politics, Health, and Art (Kent State University Press 2003): 215. She held a fashion show in New York in 1915, which was considered somewhat risqué; "men in the audience not with their wives" were asked to leave quietly if they wished, before the lingerie portion."Men Didn't Flinch at Fashion Show" New York Times (September 28, 1915): 9.
As a director of the Whitney-Richards Galleries in New York, Whitney collected, exhibited and spoke on French poster art during World War I.Frank Leroy Blanchard, "War Posters Aflame with the Fighting Spirit of the French People" Printers' Ink (April 4, 1918): 65-71. Whitney was also Foreign Secretary of the Surgical War Dressings committee of the American Red Cross, and lectured in the United States to raise funds for French war relief."Woman Speaker Will Appear Here in June" The Times (April 24, 1918): 10. via Newspapers.com She was recognized by the French government for her service, as a knight of the Legion of Honour. Alt URL
Personal life Belle Armstrong married Charles Alvano Whitney, a medical doctor, in 1885. They had a son, Lloyd Whitney, born in 1888. Belle Armstrong Whitney was a widow"Belle A. Whitney Dead" The Morning News (August 22, 1922): 4. via Newspapers.com when she died at Meudon in 1922, aged 61 years, from heart disease."Mrs. Belle A. Whitney Dies from Heart Disease at Her Paris Home" Boston Evening Globe (August 21, 1922): 3.
References
External links Dinah Sturgis (Belle Armstrong Whitney), "The Kindergarten for the Blind" New England Magazine (December 1895): 433-452.