Emily Hoffman | |
|---|---|
 Hoffman in 1900 | |
| Born | Emily Key Hoffman 1876 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | September 12, 1927 (aged 50–51) Nantucket, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | Brearley School |
| Occupation(s) | socialite, dancer, sportswoman |
| Spouse |
Frederick Young Dalziel
(m. 1901) |
| Children | 2, including Diana Vreeland |
| Relatives | Philip Barton Key (great-grandfather) |
Emily Key Hoffman, known upon her marriage as Mrs. F. Y. Dalziel, (1876 – September 12, 1927) was an American socialite, heiress, dancer, and big-game hunter. A prominent debutante of the Gilded Age, she was a leading figure in New York and Newport high society. Hoffman was an accomplished amateur dancer and performed Spanish dances at various social events. Dubbed "the Carmencita of New York society", one of her performances in 1900 at the Waldorf-Astoria earned her a standing ovation and an invitation from Lew Fields and Joe Weber to perform on Broadway, an offer she declined due to the rigid expectations for women of her social class.
After marrying British financier Frederick Young Dalziel in 1901, Hoffman lived the life of an expatriate socialite in Paris during the Belle Époque. She returned to the United States shortly before the outbreak of World War I. An avid big-game hunter, she went on hunting expeditions in the Western United States and in Eastern Africa. She hunted grizzly bears, lions, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses. On one hunting trip she was nearly killed by a charging rhinoceros, but was saved when Sir Charles Ross, 9th Baronet, fatally shot the animal.
Hoffman was the mother of Vogue editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland and of Alexandra, Lady Kinloch.