“Every Inch a Lady: My Amazing Journey from Dear Harlem to Haute Couture & Beyond” by Audrey Smaltz with Alina Mitchell, foreword by Michael Kors, c.2026, Amistad, $27.99, 256 pages
Snaps, zippers, buttons, ties.
Pull that garment up, wrap it around. You know what you like and how to wear it. The color is perfect for your skin tone. The fabric enhances your form. You always look your best and, as in the new book “Every Inch a Lady: My Amazing Journey from Dear Harlem to Haute Couture & Beyond” by former model Audrey Smaltz with Alina Mitchell, your best is fabulous.
”Born, bred, toasted, buttered, jellied, and honeyed in Harlem,” Audrey Smaltz was a force to be reckoned with almost from the time she could walk. Her parents imbued confidence in her, they nurtured her creativity and sent her to charm school, but they never allowed her to create a stir.
“That,” says Smaltz, “is not what ladies did.”
By the time she was a teenager, Smaltz was modeling for New York City designers. Then, she started working for a married man. And had an affair with him. After ending the affair, she attended college, worked a series of jobs that taught her about fashion, along with a few jobs that were unsuitable for her. Later, an ill-fated marriage took her to Chicago where she eventually landed a position at Ebony magazine in the revered Black publication’s New York office.
Working at Ebony was a career-changer, in a way. Smaltz was able to travel the world and learn more about fashion, but she didn’t exactly get along with her boss. But while she was there, she helped launch cosmetics brand Fashion Fair and led global couture procurement for Ebony Fashion Fair, a traveling runway show.
Seizing an opportunity, Smaltz decided to launch her own company, Audrey Smaltz, Inc., a “fashion production business.” But designers refused to take a chance on her. Undaunted, she reorganized, rebranded, hit the streets and knocked on doors until she finally found one client, which led to many others. That’s how Ground Crew, Smaltz’s fashion show backstage management firm, was born.
Through it all, the 89-year-old Smaltz’s personal life has been a whirlwind. She dated “more men than you can shake a book at,” settling down occasionally, briefly. Fashion had always been her first love, but she accidentally found real love, “the love of a woman,” in a leadership class.
Writers often are encouraged to add lots of “color” to their stories. Read a little of “Every Inch a Lady,” and you’ll notice immediately that co-authors Smaltz and Mitchell quite literally take that to heart, mentioning nearly every color of the spectrum in their fashion compendium.
Still, Smaltz is a wonderfully lively storyteller, speaking with the energy of a woman much younger to the hearts of those who love fashion. Vintage clothing collectors will also enjoy reading about how the industry operated decades ago.
Smaltz says she experienced racism – typical for pre-Civil Rights America, but doors were closed for other reasons that will astound anyone who’s savvy about the fashion industry, even today.
If you are a fashionista, find “Every Inch a Lady,” and snap it up.
