Jacqueline (Boomis) Block ’52 excelled in a career that spanned decades, time zones and fluctuating hemlines. Her fashion career began during her senior year at the University of Wichita, where she was majoring in English language and literature. She entered and was named a finalist in Vogue magazine’s 17th Annual Prix de Paris, a prestigious writing competition that the previous year, 1951, had been won by another Jacqueline – Jacqueline Bouvier.
Block’s finalist status helped her way into New York City’s Tobé-Coburn School for Fashion Careers. The curriculum included on-the-job training, and Block gained experience working first at Stern Brothers and then at Glamour magazine.
She landed her first full-time position at Stix, Baer & Fuller in St. Louis, Mo., where she was a fashion training coordinator. Soon, she was promoted to the newly created position of fashion show coordinator, “a dream job with unlimited budgets,” she once shared.
After her marriage in 1959, she moved to Dallas. She returned to St. Louis with her growing family in 1967, later accepting the position of fashion director at Stix, Baer & Fuller. After the death of her husband in 1980, she and her son and daughter relocated to Miami, where she joined Lillie Rubin as fashion promotions and publicity director.
Jacqueline Block died Jan. 20, 2015 in Naples, Fla.
