Someone had to do it!

I just can’t get enough of Helena Rubinstein! Here was a woman who was only 4’10 tall so she had to create an impact, and not only through being one of the world’s richest women. Madame’s business was to make women beautiful, despite her own lack of the attribute and make them beautiful she did.

She entertained lavishly whether it be in her penthouse in New York overlooking Central Park or in her apartment in Paris. Even when entertaining or being entertained she became somewhat notorious for apocryphal quips. On one occasion when a rather inebriated French ambassador expressed vitriol towards Edith Sitwell and her brother Sacheverell: “Vos ancêtres ont brûlé Jeanne d’Arc!” “What did he say?," Madame, who knew little French, asked a guest. “He said, ‘Your ancestors burned Joan of Arc” Madame quickly replied, "Well, someone had to do it."

Madame entertaining in her New York apartment with Guy Laroche kissing her hand.


You have to admit, she had savoir faire, even though it might have annoyed some!