Obolensky, Helene

Helene Obolensky (born 1919) began her varied career in fashion, marketing, public relations, and publishing in Paris during the 1940s. She worked initially as a personal assistant to designer Coco Chanel and later as a magazine editor while living in France. Obolensky immigrated to the United States, where she became fashion editor for Town & Country and Redbook . Drawing on her social connections, Princess Obolensky (she was married to Prince Alexander Petrovich Obolensky, a scholar of Slavonic languages), was able to secure the endorsements of celebrities, such as Princess Grace of Monaco, on a wide assortment of projects. She established Helene Obolensky Enterprises, Inc. as a multiple interest corporation and was active in publishing dance books under her own imprint (frequently working out distribution deals with established publishing houses) during the 1970s and 1980s. Among these lavish coffee table works were The Bolshoi Ballet (1975), Clive Barnes's Inside American Ballet Theatre (1977), America Dances (1980) by Agnes De Mille and Nureyev (1982), also by Barnes. During this period, Obolensky also began to become involved with co-producing ballet films and television specials.

From the guide to the Helene Obolensky papers, 1910-1994, 1976-1984, (The New York Public Library. Jerome Robbins Dance Division.)

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