Cowles, Fleur (1910–)

American journalist and editor. Born Fleur Fenton in Montclair, New Jersey, Jan 20, 1910; dau. of Matthew (businessman and manufacturer) and Eleanor (Pearl) Fenton; attended School of Fine and Applied Arts, NY; m. Atherton Pettingell (advertising executive), Feb 13, 1932 (div. 1946); m. Gardner Cowles (publishing magnate), Dec 27, 1946 (div. 1955); m. Tom Montague Meyer (English millionaire), Nov 18, 1955.

Magazine editor, journalist, artist, and author who was founding editor of the innovative and short-lived Flair magazine; on marriage to Gardner "Mike" Cowles, president of Cowles Magazines, took over the women's department of Look magazine; introduced sections on food, fashion, and family problems, and doubled Look's advertising core and circulation within 2 years; launched Flair (1950), which was distinguished by state-of-the art features, the use of advanced graphic techniques, including a variety of paper stocks and printing processes, and pages of varying sizes, and is now a collectors' item; wrote 16 books, including Bloody Precedent (1952), a comparative study of the Argentinean dictatorships of Juan and Evita Perón and their predecessors Manuel and Encarnación de Rosas; moved to England, began to paint professionally (1969), and had over 50 solo shows.

See also memoir, She Made Friends and Kept Them: An Anecdotal Memoir (HarperCollins, 1996); The Best of Flair (1996); and Women in World History.