Babs Simpson
Born
Beatrice Crosby de Mendocal

(1913-04-09)April 9, 1913
Beijing, China
DiedJanuary 7, 2019(2019-01-07) (aged 105)
Rye, New York
OccupationMagazine editor
Employer(s)Harper's Bazaar

Vogue

House & Garden

Babs Simpson (born Beatrice Crosby de Menocal; April 9, 1913 – January 7, 2019) was an American magazine editor. She is best known for her 25-year tenure at Vogue as a fashion editor.

Biography

The oldest of four children, Simpson was born in 1913 in Beijing (then called Peking), China, to Daniel Ammen de Menocal, a banker from an aristocratic Cuban family, and Beatrice (Crosby) de Menocal, a New York City socialite.[1][2] The family lived in South America before settling in Boston, Massachusetts.[1][2]

Simpson married William Simpson in 1935 and moved to Locust Valley, New York;[3][4] they divorced seven years later.[1] In 1944, two years after moving to Manhattan, Simpson obtained (through a friend) a position at Harper's Bazaar, working in a photographer's studio.[1][2] She was then hired to work for the magazine itself, under editor Carmel Snow.[1]

In 1947, she left Harper's Bazaar to work at Vogue, where she would remain until 1972.[1] As a fashion editor, Simpson covered fashion shows and produced photo shoots.[2] She collaborated with the photographer Irving Penn on many of his iconic images.[4] She styled what would become Marilyn Monroe's final photo shoot, photographed by Bert Stern a month before her death.[4][5]

After leaving Vogue, Simpson worked at House & Garden magazine from 1972 until it was shuttered in 1993.[1]

In 2006, at the age of 93, Simpson became the oldest person to be featured in Vogue, when she appeared in its annual Age Issue.[6][2] In 2012, at age 99, she was featured in In Vogue: The Editor's Eye, an HBO documentary about the fashion editors at Vogue.[5][6][7]

Simpson was in a 35-year relationship with art dealer Paul Magriel; they lived in separate apartments in the same Manhattan apartment building throughout their relationship and did not marry.[2][4] Simpson owned a Paul Lester Weiner-designed modernist home in Amagansett, New York, built for her in 1963.[4][8] She spent her later years in a retirement community in Rye, New York.[1][2] She died on January 7, 2019, at the age of 105, in Rye.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Schneier, Matthew (2019-01-07). "Babs Simpson, Taste-Making Fashion Editor at Vogue, Is Dead at 105". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Holgate, Mark (2019-01-07). "Remembering Babs Simpson: Vogue Editor and Great American Free Spirit". Vogue. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  3. ↑ "Miss Beatrice de Menocal weds Mr. William Simpson". The Boston Globe. 1935-06-08. p. 15. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Bowles, Hamish (2019-01-07). "Babs Simpson, a Former Vogue Editor Who Collaborated With Irving Penn, Has Died at 105". Vogue. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  5. 1 2 Atkinson, Nathalie (2012-12-06). "In Vogue: The Editor's Eye is keen on details". National Post. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  6. 1 2 "Babs Simpson, Vogue fashion editor who championed the minimal look and was once stranded on an Andean peak – obituary". The Telegraph. 2019-01-11. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  7. ↑ "In Vogue: The Editor's Eye". HBO. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
  8. ↑ Nobel, Philip (1999-07-22). "DESIGN NOTEBOOK; Footprints in the Sand From the 60's". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-12-08.
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