Lesley M. M. Blume is an author, journalist, and cultural observer based in New York City. 

The daughter of a classical pianist and a journalist, she followed her father’s footsteps into the newsroom, beginning her career at The Jordan Times in Amman and Cronkite Productions in New York City.  She later became an off-air reporter and researcher for ABC News Nightline with Ted Koppel in Washington, D.C., where she helped cover the historic presidential election in 2000, the 9/11 attacks, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and a myriad of other events and topics.

Now writing full-time, Ms. Blume covers culture, media, politics, and fashion (and sometimes the thorny politics of fashion).  Her work has appeared in many publications, including Vogue, Vanity Fair, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, and The Daily Beast, among others.  She co-created and served as founding editor of The Window, Barneys New York’s online fashion and culture magazine; she is also The Huffington Post‘s longtime contributing style editor.

On November 1, 2010, Chronicle Books released to great acclaim Let’s Bring Back, Ms. Blume’s cultural encyclopedia celebrating hundreds of forgotten-yet-delightful objects, pastimes, fashions, delectables, and personalities from bygone eras.  Starting in 2012, Chronicle will release a series of topic-specific new editions of Let’s Bring Back, as well as a line       of ancillary products.

Ms. Blume also recently published It Happened Here (Thornwillow           Press, 2011), a book detailing the raucous social history of New                 York City’s St. Regis Hotel.  The book is the first volume of               Thornwillow’s new “Libretto series,” which will showcase the work               of literary lions past and present.  Future contributors include Peter Matthiessen, Stacy Schiff, Adam Gopnik, and Jonathan Galassi, among others.

For the amusement of children, Ms. Blume has authored three critically-acclaimed novels for Knopf.  Upon the release of her third children’s novel, Tennyson, reviewers compared her to writers Flannery O’Connor, Eudora Welty, and Truman Capote (“Brilliant, unusual writing.”—The Chicago Tribune).  Ms. Blume’s first collection of short stories, Modern Fairies, Dwarves, Goblins, and Other Nasties, was released in 2010.  She will publish another collection - The Wondrous Journals of Wendell Wellington Wiggins - in fall 2012.

Vogue recently picked Ms. Blume as a founding member of the Vogue 100, an organization of “influential decision makers and opinion leaders known for their distinctive taste in fashion and culture, [and who] personify the rising influence of women over the past several decades.”  Her individualistic personal style has been showcased in many publications, including Vanity Fair; Elle; O, The Oprah Magazine; Women’s Wear Daily; Style.com; and the websites of American Vogue and Vogue Italia.

She studied history at Williams College, Oxford University, and Cambridge University, where she was a Herchel Smith scholar.

Sadly, most of her heroes and heroines are dead or fictional. They include but are not restricted to: Diana Vreeland, Marlene Dietrich, Isak Dinesen, Katharine Graham, Zero Mostel, Royal Tenenbaum, the Marchesa Casati, Oscar Wilde, Elsa Schiaparelli, Anthony Blanche, Flora Post, Eleanor Roosevelt, Lee Miller, Edith Wharton, and Collette.

Photograph of Ms. Blume taken by Dan King for Elle magazine, October 2009 issue.        Header illustration used with permission from the Erte Estate. Copyright © Sevenarts Ltd.