MCCARDELL, CLAIRE 1905-1958

CREATOR OF THE "AMERICAN LOOK" IN FASHION

Paper Dolls

The daughter of a banker and state senator, Claire McCardell as a small child cut out and dressed paper dolls from her mother's fashion magazines. After high school she attended the Parsons School of Design in New York, later studying at the school's Paris division for a year.

For Ordinary Women

Unlike other designers of the time who copied the stilted Parisian fashions, McCardell decided to modify them to fit the ordinary woman's pocketbook and demand for comfort as well as fashion. McCardell is credited with originating the so called American Look of the 1950s, the forerunner of today's comfortable, easy fashions. Clothes should be comfortable as well as handsome, she said, and should be appropriate to the occasion. They should fit well and be attractive.

American Fabrics

McCardell used such American fabrics as calico, seersucker, ticking, gingham, denim, and wool jersey to make simple, relaxed, wearable clothes. She picked up many details from men's clothing, such as large pockets, shirtsleeve shoulders, bluejeans topstitching, trouser pleats, rivets, and gripper fastenings. Among her innovations were ballet slippers as dress accessories, the monastic dress, harem pajamas, the "Pop-over" wraparound housedress, and the diaper bathing suit. She also pioneered the idea of interchangeable separates. In addition, McCardell designed sunglasses, infants' and children's wear, children's shoes, and jewelry.

Many Awards

McCardell received many honors, including the American Fashion Critics Award and the Neiman-Marcus Award. In 1950 President Harry S Truman presented her with the Women's National Press Club Award. Her designs were consciously contemporary, and most look contemporary forty years later.