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MCCARDELL, CLAIRE 1905-1958

FASHION DESIGNER

Queen of the Casual Separates

With her first collection in 1941, Claire McCardell became a significant figure in the fashion world. Unlike many of the designs of her contemporaries, which she considered "strident," her dresses were soft in style. She was the first designer to take sportswear and make it for every possible need. Golf skirts and bathing suits were as important to her as evening dresses. Her designs shared a set of characteristic features. Bathing suits were made with the same halter necklines and out of the same fabrics as her dresses. Wrapped or peasant-inspired tops appeared in bathing suits and dresses alike. Jersey, denim, chambray, and taffeta were equally topstitched, spaghetti ties were wrapped around the waists of leisure and dress clothes, and wool was used for leotards as well as wedding dresses.

The "Popover."

McCardell was born in Frederick, Maryland, in 1905. She attended the Parsons School of Design starting in 1925 and two years later went to the Paris division of Parsons to study fashion design. She graduated in 1928 and spent five years working in various fashion houses. In 1932 she went to Townley Frocks as a design assistant; after the first showing of her dress designs she was promoted to designer. In 1942 she conceived the idea for her popular "Popover" wraparound housedress for women whose maids were leaving them for factory and defense work. The Popover dress, which sold for $6.95, was designed in response to a request from Harper's Bazaar for an all-purpose housework dress. With its topstitched denim with a wrap front, large patch pockets, and attached oven mitt, it sold in the tens of thousands.

The "Diaper" Bathing Suit

McCardell introduced many details from men's clothes to women's clothes, such as large pockets, shirtsleeve shoulders, stitching on blue jeans, and trouser pleats. She also introduced ballet slippers as dress accessories as a way for women to deal with restricted amounts of shoe leather. In 1943 she brought out her well-known "diaper" bathing suit, with brass fishing-boot hooks up the side. In the winter of 1946 she showed her Empire collar and in the fall of 1949 her "bandanna" neckline.

Successes and Prizes

Even when working within the guidelines set by the government, McCardell managed to achieve a flowing look. She used colorful patches for dress sleeves and pockets in order to conserve materials. Her use of natural shoulders and generous skirts predated Christian Dior's 1947 New Look. She also designed civil-defense uniforms. She received the Mademoiselle Merit Award (1943), the Coty American Fashion Critics' Award (1944), and the Women's National Press Club Award (1950). In April 1953 she held a retrospective exhibition of her designs from 1933 to 1953 at the Frank Perls Gallery in Beverly Hills.