to hire an African American - Gordon Parks - at LIFE magazine. Awards In July 1954 in Rome, the stylists Emilio Schuberth, Vincenzo Ferdinandi, the Sorelle Fontana, Giovannelli Sciarra, Eleanora Garnett and Mingolini-Guggenheim gave her a prize for her role as ambassador of Italian fashion in the United States during the "Alta Moda in Castel Sant'Angelo", in the evocative setting of the famous castle. Kirkland also received in Florence at Palazzo Pitti the "Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity" in 1954 from the Italian Government for her reports on Italian clothes. "I was secretly pleased", she told a friend, "because the medal was green and gold and looked well on an orange evening dress I had to whip up for the affair." Together with Grace Kelly and Vera Maxwell, Kirkland received a Neiman Marcus Fashion Award in 1955 for her contribution to fashion. Death Kirkland died of emphysema, aged 77, at St. Vincent's Hospital, New York City. She lived on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. References 1912 births 1989 deaths American magazine editors Women magazine editors Deaths from emphysema Writers from Oklahoma City Writers from Philadelphia Fashion editors 20th-century American non-fiction writers Journalists from New York City Journalists from Pennsylvania 20th-century American journalists