But she had made the mistake of telling Thaw, who seemed obsessed with (her) moral purity, of telling him the story of her deflowering. He pursued her relentlessly for four years until she finally consented to marry him.
Thaw was violent, and beat Evelyn while they vacationed in Europe. He was clearly unstable, but it is undeniable that he offered the prospect of a rich marriage, where Stanford White could only give her a damaged reputation if she continued to be his mistress. Collier, the magazine publisher, and fatefully, the millionaire Harry Kendall Thaw.Įvelyn's relationship with Thaw was strange and dangerous from the start. Evelyn had other flirtations - with James Montgomery Waterbury, a polo player, Robert J. White, with the help of Evelyn's mother, soon put an end to that young romance. She also had a romance with the young actor John Barrymore. When Evelyn's mother had to go out of town, White wasted no time in becoming the young girl's lover.Įvelyn may have been pushed into a sexual relationship with White (technically raped), but she did seem fond of him, referring to him as "Stanny." As much as White had become a patron-of-sorts of Evelyn and her career, she did not remain exclusive.
White moved Evelyn and her mother and brother into fancier digs, and showered presents upon them, endearing himself to the whole family. White invited her over to his opulent apartment, which he had tricked out with all manner of "extras," including a room with mirrors on the ceiling and the infamous red velvet swing, which he had installed in an upper floor room. She soon attracted the notice of the married millionaire Stanford White, who she met in 1901. The Nesbits moved to New York and modeling soon led to the world of the theater, where she appeared on Broadway as a Floradora Girl. She earned one dollar. This led to other modeling assignments and she was soon helping to support her mother and younger brother. The family was left destitute, and lived on charity and odd jobs for quite a few years until Evelyn was asked one day to pose for an artist. She found herself at the center of a love triangle, murder, and scandal in 1906 when her husband, Harry Kendall Thaw, shot and murdered her former lover, architect Stanford White.īut before scandal touched her life, Nesbit posed for photographers and artists and became one of the age's first fashion models. Her image appeared on numerous magazine covers, including Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, and Ladies’ Home Journal. But she may never have gotten her start in modeling if it wasn't for the unexpected death of her father, when Evelyn was just 11 years old. Nesbit was not just a fashion icon at the turn of the century, she was also one of its first celebrities. "The Eternal Question," by Charles Dana Gibson She was not just beautiful, but her "look" captured the spirit and imagination of her age. Charles Dana Gibson, the popular illustrator's pen-and-ink drawing of Evelyn, "The Eternal Question," is not only one of his most recognizable works, but helped create the "Gibson Girl." Evelyn Nesbit (1884 – 1967) is a woman whose beauty still manages to look contemporary, even though the height of her style peaked over one hundred years ago.