Shunning shoulder pads, back zippers, boning, and heavily constructed looks, McCardell became known for her self-tailoring, wrap-and-tie styles, backless halters, hook-and-eye closures, coordinated separates, racy bathing suits, and boldly printed, cotton plaid, shirtwaist dresses cut from men's shirting fabrics. From functional outerwear to blue jeans to day dresses, sportswear is made to move, and at its best, exhibits a vigorous American attitude. This 1940s Claire McCardell outfit will be on display in Sportswear to Athleisure: The Creation of Comfortable Clothing, an exhibition from the University of North Texas’ Texas Fashion Collection running from Sept. 8 (Friday) to Dec. 8 (Friday) at UNT ArtSpace Dallas. It was only a short time later when traveling that her talent was spotted: Louis Adler, of wholesaler Adler & Adler, approached the young Cashin about designing. Archives of Maryland (Biographical Series) Claire McCardell (1905-1958) MSA SC 3520-13581. Claire McCardell Sportswear 1953 Claire McCardell Swimsuit Claire McCardell went to school at Paris Parsons and graduated in 1928. Cashin once mused, "Fashion is now. Claire McCardell Statue (Coming Soon) The Frederick Art Club is currently driving a new public art endeavor to honor fashion designer and Frederick native - Claire McCardell (1905-1958). CLAIRE MCCARDELL The American Look. Sportswear: An American Invention As women started enjoying leisure activities in the early to mid-20th century, American designers developed sportswear to meet their needs. Racing home from the flea market, 21-year-old Claire McCardell, future fashion designer and leader of the "American Look," rushed into her dormitory room at Parson’s Place des Vosges campus in Paris. According to New York Fashion: The Evolution of American Style, the California-born designer started out by making ballet costumes for local companies while in high school. McCardell and Cashin took it upon themselves to find a new manners of dressing, honing their innovative skills to address wartime restrictions that could have otherwise mired American style. Claire McCardell's fishing slacks of bright blue denim is worn with a classic little boy's shirt of white and includes matching striped jodhpurs, red leather belt and a straw hat. "Claire McCardell." Claire McCardell and Bonnie Cashin, as different as they may have been, were the first individuals to jump headlong into the read-to-wear category, and together, built the foundation for American fashion. At Coach, Cashin was the first to make leather accessories in bold colors—coral, teal, crimson, canary yellow—which have subsequently become Coach staples that dominate store shelves decades on. I was fortunate enough to see an exhibit of American sportswear years ago where several of her designs were on display, and have almost worn out my copy of Kohl Yohannan’s pictorial on her work. In the spirit of American design, the pair’s greatest accomplishments included keeping the women they dressed (and the lives they led) at the forefront of their minds. In 1943 she married the architect Irving Drought Harris. It is the future. During the time that Townley's partners restructured their business, McCardell worked at Hattie Carnegie; however, Townley soon rehired her as their head designer. – Claire McCardell (1905-1958), award-winning American fashion designer. In the process, she invented the idea of designer swimwear, bringing the same level of technical brilliance to what are often considered throwaway pieces of casual attire. Though some of McCardell’s breakthroughs coincided with or even predated developments in couture, such as her dirndl skirts that came ahead of Dior’s New Look in 1947, she never faltered from her easy, comfort-focused construction that allowed for maximum mobility. Attending Parsons and studying in Paris, McCardell… Claire McCardell was born on May 24, 1905 in Frederick, Maryland. Bonnie Cashin ensemble photographed by Richard Avedon for Harper's Bazaar, August 1965, Photos Model Natalie Paine wearing green Claire McCardell swimsuit, photographed by Louise Dhal-Wolfe for Harper's Bazaar, Coach hired Cashin as their first designer. New York: Rizzoli International, 1991. Her clothes were democratic in both form and price. D. March 22, 1958. The disease claimed her life that same year. During World War II, McCardell's designs earned further credibility, as they reflected an acute awareness of the evolving roles of mid-century American women. Bonnie Cashin was an equally potent powerhouse of American design only a few years younger than McCardell. Her simple use of natural fabrics, such as cotton, denim and wool combined with flattering silhouettes filled a vacancy in women's fashion. Soon after, McCardell created what is possibly her most heralded piece—the ‘Pop-over’ dress. Coach hired Cashin as their first designer in hopes of transforming the brand from a manufacturer of briefcases and tame leather goods into the accessories behemouth it is recognized as today. American women turned away from the laguid delicacy of the prior decade and instead embraced McCardell’s practical style. New York: Quadrangle/New York Times Books, 1975. Why wasn't this page useful? Instead, it is American designers who came to exemplify the ease and simplicity of sportswear. Claire McCardell’s signature brass round hook-and-eye closures are evidence that utility and beauty do mix. She is credited with the creation of American sportswear. “Clairvoyant Claire had the subconscious desires of American women cased to perfection,” Sports Illustrated wrote in 1956 upon giving McCardell its American Sportswear … By late 1929 McCardell was working as a design assistant to Robert Turk, an independent designer and dressmaker, who later took her along with him when he was employed as chief designer at Townley Frocks in the early 1930s. As author Jan Reeder noted in her exhaustively researched tome High Style: Masterworks from the Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cashin was greatly inspired by travel and garb worn by different peoples around the world, such as the poncho found throughout many South American countries. As the veteran fashion model Suzy Parker once described them, McCardell's designs were "refreshingly 'unFrench.'" Made from topstitched denim with a wrap front, large patch pocket and attached oven mit, it sold in the tens of thousands at an affordable $6.95. Claire McCardell on the cover of TIME, May 2 1955. Edited by Sarah Tomerlin Lee for the Fashion Institute of Technology. After studying at Parsons and living in Paris, she returned to America to design functional, affordable clothes for the American woman. Claire McCardell achieved international fame during her lifetime, appearing on the cover of Time magazine and authoring a book on her fashion philosophy, What Shall I Wear? An avid champion of pants and wool jersey for both day and evening wear, McCardell's forward-looking designs and fabric sensibility provided American women with multiseasonal clothing that was easily cared for, comfortable, and stylish, but never conspicuously chic. ... To this day, she is known as the creator of American sportswear. New York: Abrams, 1989. McCardell was born in Frederick, Maryland, in 1905, where she attended Hood College for two years in the mid-1920s before earning a degree in fashion design at the Parsons School of Design in New York City in 1928. Although the clothes bore the prim, tailored silhouettes of their time, they relied on none of the traditional techniques and structures associated with dressmaking. Cashin’s embrace of leather goods and her unique way of treating materials laid the groundwork for decades of future success for Coach. While most of McCardell's contemporaries followed the long-standing tradition of copying Paris fashion, McCardell looked instead to the lives of American women for her inspiration. Claire McCardell is one of my favorite designers of the 20th century. Aug 26, 2020 - Explore Teresa Sturnfield's board "Clare McCardell" on Pinterest. Sportswear designer Claire McCardell revolutionised fashion for the women of America. McCardell remained with Townley throughout her career, with the exception of a brief hiatus in the early 1940s, and eventually became a partner. Claire McCardell was an American fashion designer of ready-to-wear clothing in the twentieth century. McCardell was determined that every area of her customers’ lives be taken care of, and after mastering the highly-functional Pop-over dress, she turned to ‘playclothes’—a form of activewear typically worn while at the beach. Working after graduation as a fit model for B. Altman and Company, McCardell later obtained a job as a salesperson and design assistant with Emmet Joyce, an exclusi… These stylish, well-edited groupings offered women a convenient travel wardrobe that sold altogether for about one hundred dollars and could be tucked into a handbag. She made clothes wearable and affordable but her pieces were always seductive and desirable. Within a matter of months, she was lured away by the knitwear manufacturer Sol Pollack to design and oversee his Seventh Avenue cutting room, where she stayed for less than a year. Designer sportswear would have to be verified by a standard other than that of pure beauty; the emulation of a designer’s life in designer sportswear was a crude version of this relationship. Offering sportswear and daywear that were at once appropriate for the office, cocktail hour, and leisure, McCardell eliminated the fuss, decoration, and strict categorization so often encountered in women's apparel of the time. Best known for her contributions to the "American look," she was inspired by the active lifestyle of American women. Claire McCardell was one of the most influential women's sportswear designers of the twentieth century. Claire McCardell (1905-1958), pioneered a style of modern sportswear that embodied a functional, casual elegance that endures in American design today. LEFT: McCardell swimsuit; RIGHT: Pat Cleveland wearing a Bonnie Cashin coat, 1972. Credited with inventing American sportswear, McCardell created innovative fashions that have defined decades of American fashion. For Cashin’s first collection, she made every garment out of kidskin in vibrant colors, making her the first designer to attempt such a feat. By applying her sportswear ideal to every possible application—from day wear to evening wear, from swimwear to accessories—McCardell’s disregard for convention resulted in fresh, versatile designs with real staying power. McCardell was born in Frederick, Maryland, in 1905, where she attended Hood College for two years in the mid-1920s before earning a degree in fashion design at the Parsons School of Design in New York City in 1928. Deconstructing Claire McCardell The life and work of the designer synonymous with modern womenswear, by Betsy Blodgett. Biography: Claire McCardell was born on May 24, 1905, in historic Frederick, Maryland. Like many other American designers who followed in their footsteps, design contemporaries Claire McCardell and Bonnie Cashin built up their careers working for manufacturers on New York’s famous 7th Avenue. Inspired by the turnlocks that kept the top of her vintage convertible down, Cashin introduced a petite brass version that acted as a practical closure on gloves, jackets, dresses, and the many leather accessories she designed in collaboration with Coach from 1962 to 1974. LEFT: McCardell 'Pop-Over' Dress via The Met; RIGHT: Claire McCardell tennis outfit, Harper's Bazaar, 1947. The early life of Claire McCardell. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1956. McCardell was diagnosed with cancer in 1958, at the height of her success. McCardell in particular has been described as America's greatest sportswear designer. Turk died unexpectedly in a boating accident in 1932, and McCardell was promoted to chief designer at Townley. Answering practical needs, McCardell's 1942 blue denim "Popover" dress, which sold for only $6.95, was made specifically for at-home domestic work or gardening and even included an attached oven mitt. Proudly American and rebelliously innovative, McCardell (who, as a student in Paris, had admired the work of Vionnet, Chanel, and Madame Grès) turned her back on the expensive, handmade confections of the haute couture and instead promoted American mass production, readily available materials, and the form-follows-function approach to design. As fashion historian Valerie Steele points out in Women of Fashion, "without McCardell it is simply impossible to imagine a Donna Karan, Calvin Klein or a Marc Jacobs.". Steele, Valerie. She transformed the traditional version, giving hers a neat collar and a placket secured with hardware that ran down the center. Eleanor Lambert, founder of the International Best Dressed List and New York Fashion Week, said “The look of today...was designed ten years ago by Bonnie Cashin”—and how remarkably right she was right. There were countless iterations designed during her career, but all maintained the same rigorous sense of aesthetic proportions and distinct lines. Much of what we consider sportswear today was initially designed for a specific work environment (like the aforementioned blue jeans for mining and gold panning), but Claire McCardell and Bonnie Cashin were the first to codify these elements into a cohesive body of work. But it was Anne Klein who championed classic, casual work wear that catered to the modern woman. What Shall I Wear? And in 1955 – we had such a long way to go. Another McCardell success story was "capsule dressing," or four- and five-piece, mix-and-match separates groups in supple wool jersey, cotton, denim, and even taffeta. 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