Condé Montrose Nast (1873-1942) was one of the world's most successful magazine publishers. Through his avant-garde periodicals, including Vogue and Vanity Fair, he set a new standard of fashion and home decorating for American women. He pioneered new techniques in marketing, printing, and magazine content, and nurtured the evolution of "cafe society," a blend of artists and elite society, that had never before come together.

Condé Nast was born on March 26, 1873 in New York City, the son of William Nast and Esther Benoist. When Nast was three, his father left for Europe, where he spent the next 13 years. Esther Nast took her four children to live in St. Louis, Missouri, with her family. Although she was a descendant of French aristocracy, she raised her children on a dwindling personal fortune, with little financial contribution from her husband. The Nast children learned to play musical instruments and...