ELIZABETH ARDEN (1878?-1966) rose from poverty in rural Canada to play a central role in the beauty business in the early 20th century. Born Florence Nightingale Graham, she reinvented herself as Elizabeth Arden and built a $20 million empire that defined success in the beauty industry. With cosmetics as her central product, Arden opened a network of salons worldwide, and harnessed science and technology in the service of beauty. Her global business coincided with women's emergence in public life and, as a result, helped to link beauty to the growing movement for women's rights.

A high school dropout, Graham followed her brother to New York in 1908, where she sought work and independence. After a series of nondescript jobs, Graham landed a position at Eleanor Adair's beauty salon, where she learned facial massage. She went into business with Elizabeth Hubbard, but soon set out on her own and renamed herself Elizabeth Arden. She borrowed $6,000 from her brother and decorated her salon in the lush pink that became her signature color. Her creative marketing plan emphasized youth and beauty and targeted two groups: middle-aged women seeking to recapture their youth and plain women hoping to find beauty in a jar. She opened her first branch salon in Washington, D.C., in 1915, attracting social and political hostesses; this was a turning point in her career. During the Depression, she did not hesitate to expand her New York salon on Fifth Avenue to seven floors and employed over 1,000 workers worldwide.

Behind Arden's feminine facade was a tough, relentless employer who turned the cosmetics industry into a multimillion-dollar business. Arden, unlike many enterprising women, gave little thought to bringing in other women to share her wealth. She singlemindedly pursued her goal "to be the richest little woman in the world."