Cosmo Girl Helen Gurley Brown dead at 90!

International Editor of Cosmopolitan, Helen Gurley Brown has died at the ripe age of 90 in New York City at the New York–Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia after a brief hospitalization though at this time the cause of her death is unknown.

Known best as the Editor-in-Chief of women’s magazine Cosmopolitan, Gurley Brown gained notoriety when she published her book entitled “Sex and the Single Girl” which was written in 1962 when she was 40.

The book educated women on how to be financially independent and enjoy romantic relationships prior to or without marriage. It was such a success that it sold over two million copies in three weeks, making the bestseller lists of the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and Time!

Sex and the Single Girl was eventually made into a movie in 1964 starring Natalie Wood as “Dr Helen Gurley Brown” and Tony Curtis, as well as Lauren Bacall and Henry Fonda.

In 1965 Gurley Brown became the Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan, bringing new vitality to the women’s publication which was reportedly “failing” and the rest as they say is history…

Helen Gurley Brown had a definitely style of her own, polished, playful and with the right amount of glitz. It brings to mind a gold lamé outfit with baloony harem pants, which she wore to the 2004 ACE Awards on November 1 at the Cipriani on 42nd Street in New York City.

Gurley Brown was once quoted to say, “One of the paramount reasons for staying attractive is so you can have somebody to go to bed with” and “If you’re not a sex object, you’re in trouble.” To say the least, she believed in feminine empowerment.

It was indeed Gurley Brown who uttered the famous words “Good girls go to heaven, bad girls go everywhere.”

Known to wear a bit of animal print now and then, Gurley Brown was also fond of her Chanel bags and fur. The pink Pucci dress was adorable which Gurley Brown wore to the Emilio Pucci Fifth Avenue store opening in 2004.

The original “Material Girl,” Gurley Brown once said, “You can have your titular recognition. I'll take money and power,” “Money, if it does not bring you happiness, will at least help you be miserable in comfort.” and “After you're older, two things are possibly more important than any others: health and money.” And who can argue with any of that?

Though Helen Gurley Brown may have supported women’s autonomy, she was married to film producer (including Cocoon, Driving Miss Daisy and Chocolat) David Brown since 1959, until his death in 2010.

Though Cosmo’s Helen Gurley Brown has passed on, she leaves us with a rich legacy of how to believe in ourselves as women.

Enjoy my tribute to the style and grace of Helen Gurley Brown in my slideshow…