Belle Armstrong Whitney (September 27, 1861 – August 1922), who also used the pen name Dinah Sturgis,[1] was an American writer and "fashion expert",[2] based in Paris.
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Belle Armstrong was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Thomas Ainsley Armstrong and Sarah Sophia Armstrong.[3]
Whitney lectured[4] 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,[5] 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."[6] She especially admired the designs of Mariano Fortuny, for their combination of practicality and artistry.[7] 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.[8]
As a director of the Whitney-Richards Galleries in New York, Whitney collected, exhibited and spoke on French poster art during World War I.[9] Whitney was also Foreign Secretary of the Surgical War Dressings committee of the American Red Cross,[9] and lectured in the United States to raise funds for French war relief.[10] She was recognized by the French government for her service, as a knight of the Legion of Honour.[11]
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[12] when she died at Meudon in 1922, aged 61 years, from heart disease.[11][13]
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