Claire McCardell (1905–1958) was an American fashion designer and was arguably the leading force behind the development of American ready-to-wear fashion. From the 1930s to the 1950s, she revolutionized women's wear by designing clothing that was simple, functional, and stylish, all within the constraints of mass-production. Her ideas have so influenced and pervaded contemporary fashion that Life magazine, in 1990, named her one of the 100 most important Americans of the twentieth century. Four years later, New York Times senior fashion writer Bernadine Morris even dubbed her this country's finest designer.
A quintessentially American artist often compared to Frank Lloyd Wright and Martha Graham, Claire McCardell was the chief purveyor of the American Look, a style of clothing with roots in sportswear that was both casual and chic. Democratic in spirit, she brought high style to everyday clothing. Her work led the way in releasing America's fashion aesthetic from French dominance.
McCardell was incredibly versatile, designing raincoats, ski outfits, and wedding dresses, in addition to the standard coats, suits, and dresses. Her prodigious imagination was evident in the overall look of a piece, as well as the details of its construction, making the practical visually exciting.
Born in Frederick, Maryland, in 1905, Claire McCardell took an early interest in fashion. As a child, she would cut figures from her mother's fashion magazines in order to create paper dolls. She also developed a dissatisfaction with women's wear when her own clothing proved impractical when playing sports with her brothers.
To pursue her interest in fashion, McCardell enrolled in Parsons (then known as the New York School of Fine and Applied Art) in 1925. There, she received a grounding in the general principles of art and design as well as the more specialized disciplines of costume illustration and design. For her second year of study, she attended the school's branch in Paris. The students were often invited to view the collections at important couture houses, including that of Madeleine Vionnet, whom McCardell especially admired. By purchasing and disassembling Vionnet end-of-season samples, she learned about that designer's pioneering use of the bias cut. Ingeniously, McCardell would later apply this technique for making well-fitting and flexible clothing to casual wear. In 1928, after completing a third year in the school, this time at the New York campus, she received her certificate in Costume Design.
McCardell then had a series of short-term jobs before becoming the assistant to New York fashion designer Robert Turk. When, in 1931, Turk assumed the position of head designer for Townley Frocks, she followed him to that company. Soon thereafter, Turk was killed in a boating accident, and McCardell took over. She went on to produce groundbreaking designs under the Townley Frocks name until 1939, when the operation closed its doors. Hattie Carnegie then hired McCardell to work for her famed dressmaking firm, but her designs were not successful with Carnegie's clients, who expected haute couture. In 1940, just before leaving Carnegie, McCardell attended her last Parisian fashion show, preferring from then on to avoid any French influence on her clothing.
After designing briefly for Win-Sum, a low-end manufacturer, McCardell returned to Townley Frocks, which reopened in 1940 under the management of Adolph Klein. The importance of her work was recognized when the company soon began issuing its product under the label Claire McCardell Clothes by Townley, making her one of the first American designers to have name recognition.
McCardell received multiple honors in the 1950s. President Harry S. Truman presented her with the Women's National Press Club Award in 1950. With this award, she became the first fashion designer to be voted one of America's Women of Achievement. In 1953, Frank Perls Gallery, of Beverly Hills, mounted an exhibition of McCardell's garments. According to Look magazine, this may have been the first one-person show that considered dress designs as art objects. A clear sign of McCardell's popularity was her appearance on the cover of Time magazine on May 2, 1955.
As McCardell's fame grew, her importance within Townley also rose. In 1952, she even became a partner in the company. She was to continue designing for only another six years. When ill health made it impossible for McCardell to finish the collection of 1958, Mildred Orrick, her former Parsons roommate, stepped in to help. Scaasi (whose real name is Arnold Isaacs) also produced some designs for the collection. Although McCardell was able to attend the showing of this work, she died soon thereafter from cancer, at the age of 52.
