Arden, Elizabeth (1881-1966), was a Canadian-born American business executive who founded the international cosmetics company now known as Elizabeth Arden, Inc. She helped introduce cosmetics to American women at a time when respectable women did not wear makeup.
Elizabeth Arden was born on Dec. 31, 1881, in Woodbridge (now part of Vaughan), Ontario, near Toronto. Her birth name was Florence Nightingale Graham. She moved to New York City around 1907 and worked briefly for an early beauty salon. In 1909, she opened a salon on New York’s Fifth Avenue with a partner named Elizabeth Hubbard. The partnership ended within a year. However, Graham continued to operate the business under the name Elizabeth Arden. The name was probably a combination of her former partner’s name and the name of the hero of Enoch Arden (1864), a poem by the English poet Lord Tennyson. Arden put a red front door on her salon. The red door became a symbol of her company.
At first, Arden’s salons concentrated on providing customers with such “beauty treatments” as facials (cleansing and massage for the face) and body massages. In 1912, Arden traveled to France and was inspired by the cosmetics there. After returning to the United States, she began offering cosmetics—particularly lipstick, mascara, and rouge—at her salons. They soon became popular and more profitable than beauty treatments.
Through the years, Arden’s company expanded worldwide and has sold skin creams and lotions, makeup, clothing, and a variety of perfumes. The company also operates spas and salons. There, people can receive such services as massages, manicures, and lessons on how to apply makeup.
Arden had a long-standing rivalry with another major cosmetics creator of the time, Helena Rubinstein. Though both women owned companies based in New York City, they avoided meeting each other.
In addition to cosmetics, Arden had a passion for horse racing. She owned a stable in Kentucky, where she raised race horses. One of her horses, Jet Pilot, won the famous Kentucky Derby horse race in 1947.
Arden was married twice. She became a U.S. citizen in 1915 upon her marriage to Thomas J. Lewis, an American silk salesman. The couple divorced in 1934. She was married to Michael Evlanoff, a Russian-born prince, from 1942 to 1944. That marriage also ended in divorce. Arden died in New York City on Oct. 18, 1966.
