Author

Cultural historian Maureen Footer holds a B.A. from Wellesley College in French and English literature, an MBA from Columbia University, and studied French eighteenth-century decorative arts and architecture at the Ecole du Louvre in Paris.

Her work focuses on the dynamics of twentieth century culture as revealed through its arts and its creators. George Stacey and the Creation of American Chic (Rizzoli, 2014) chronicles American design as the country came of age culturally, politically, and socially. Dior and His Decorators: Victor Grandpierre, Georges Geffroy, and the New Look (Vendome Press, 2018) examines the intersection and influence of haute couture and high design in Paris in the years following World War II. Ms. Footer’s contribution to Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams (Rizzoli, 2021) charts the interrelationship of French haute couture, post-war America, and the emergence of revolutionary distribution channels for high-style design. Dior: The Legendary 30, avenue Montaigne (Rizzoli, 2022) traces the history and evolution of the House of Dior through its architecture.

Ms. Footer has lectured at the Sorbonne, Sotheby’s, the Institute of Classical Architecture, Winterthur, the Huntington Museum, and the New York School of Interior Design. Her work has received notices from The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Vanity Fair, The New York Times, The Times Literary Supplement, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Le Figaro, The World of Interiors, Corriere della Sera, and La Gazette de Drouot, as well as other outlets.

A lifelong balletomane, Ms. Footer sits on the boards of the New York City Ballet and the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library. She is currently working on a biography of the jazz and tap choreographer, Buddy Bradley.