Demise of The Damsels of Design | The Bad Blonde Car History

The Demise of The Damsels of Design | The Bad Blonde Car History In 1955 Harley went forth and gathered 10 women to create the Damsels of Design. His goal with this endeavor was to give GM “the feminine touch.” Now, the name Damsels of Design was not a moniker the ladies chose.. In fact, they couldn’t stand it. The designers did not like the extra attention and didn’t think it set them up to be treated fairly as designers. BUT the General Motors PR department saw it as a dream opportunity to gather press and garner support from women consumers. Of the 10 women selected, four were assigned as industrial designers for GM-owned Frigidaire. They were put to task creating the Kitchen of Tomorrow. Feels very jetson-esque. The other six designers were chosen specifically for the GM interior-design department. Those ten women would go-down as the first prominent all-women design team in American history. Though the GM PR team marketed them as decorators, these ladies were designing car interiors from the ground up. They weren’t just picking fabrics and selecting colors. To showcase the Damsels of Design’s work, GM planned the 1958 ‘Femine Autoshow’ a grand display within the GM styling dome. Within this display they had floor to ceiling net columns that housed over 90 rented canaries. A few innovations featured at the Feminine Autoshow: child friendly backseat featuring a magnetic board game and child proof latches, early car phone and built in memo pad, matching luggage, glove box Dictaphone, and hidden umbrella compartment. They proved to be highly innovative, with the Corvette they introduced the first retactable seat belt, glove compartments and light up mirrors. All of which would continue to be features of GM cars for years to follow. Harley Earl would retire in 1958 the same year as the Femine Autoshow. His successor famously once said “no women are going to stand next to my male senior designers. With the change in leadership lead to the end of the damsels, though Suzanne Vanderbilt did tenaciously stay on and worked up the GM ladder for the next 20 years. The Damsels of Design were not designing for women, they were designing for the consumer. There focuses were not solely feminine but for comfort and convenience of the everyday consumer, male or female.