On September 25, 1882, the fashion house Hirsch & Cie opened its doors on Amsterdam's Leidseplein. Founders Sally Berg and Sylvain Kahn filled a great need. For the first time, women from the elite could purchase haute couture in their own country. In the imposing Hirsch building erected opposite the city theater in 1912, they could experience spectacular fashion shows. Hirsch was more than a fashion palace. The department store was a hub of contradictions in mass society - between modern and traditional, family and business, production and consumption, seamstresses and ladies, men and women - that this book critically examines. It illuminates Hirsch & Cie as a Jewish family business with a diverse workforce and a distinguished clientele that met in a beautifully designed building. Innovative is the focus on what was sold at Hirsch: exclusive clothing that could, to some extent, make women who they wanted to be.