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New York Times
18-06-2025
- Lifestyle
- New York Times
The Design Genius Who Gave American Women Pockets
CLAIRE MCCARDELL: The Designer Who Set Women Free, by Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson Several years ago, I began to worry that my clothes were making me depressed. I'd gained weight during the pandemic, and shopping online for my new shape was time-consuming and expensive. When I'd luck into a garment that felt good but looked off, or had those useless shallow pockets — two knuckles deep, one house key wide — I'd tell myself it didn't matter. Aren't middle-aged women invisible anyhow? Besides, functional pockets are scarce in women's clothing because they 'ruin the silhouette,' or so I'd heard. (Hence the more-than-century-long crusade for pocket parity.) When I read Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson's exceptional biography, 'Claire McCardell,' my angst turned into … indignation. The problem isn't my body. Or the false promises of online commerce. It's a bazillion-dollar global fashion industry that ignores the midcentury mastermind of American sportswear, among our most significant cultural exports. Many of McCardell's contributions to women's ready-to-wear clothing remain in circulation — including ballet flats, leggings, hoodies and spaghetti straps. But vanishingly few of the designers who've come after embody her driving ethos: Women's clothes can be practical, comfortable, stylish and affordable. And have pockets. As Dickinson writes, 'Stitching Claire McCardell's name back onto the apparel she pioneered is not merely a history lesson in provenance; it is a vital and timely reminder of a designer, and a movement, that was always about far more than clothes.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Forbes
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Meet The Fashion Designer Who Popularized Ballet Flats, Wrap Dresses, Denim, Leggings And Pockets For Women—Yet Many Have Never Heard Of Before
Claire McCardell Courtesy of the Maryland Center for History and Culture There is a designer that defined American fashion—who brought pockets into womenswear (thank you for that), popularized ballet flats (also this) and ushered wrap dresses, mix and match separates, denim, leggings and even hoodies into the fashion conversation. Unfortunately, at least until a new book comes out on June 17, most have probably never heard of her. Claire McCardell is the titular subject of Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson's new biography, with the compelling subtitle The Designer Who Set Women Free ('That's how she thought of herself,' Evitts Dickinson tells me on Zoom). McCardell epitomized the 'American look' in fashion, was the first woman to have a Seventh Avenue manufacturer label and the first to be given full control over her designs. As Evitts Dickinson writes in Claire McCardell, 'Much of what hangs in our closet is Claire McCardell, but it's Dior we remember.' 'I had no idea that Claire McCardell was responsible, effectively, for most of the clothes in my closet,' Evitts Dickinson tells me. After discovering her designs in the late 1990s, 'I'd always wondered why I'd never heard of her, and I never forgot her.' Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson Courtesy of Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson After writing a feature story about her for The Washington Post Magazine, Evitts Dickinson realized that there was a book here. 'I realized there was so much more to her story than even I appreciated,' she says. 'She was so revolutionary, and I don't think we appreciate how revolutionary she was because we take for granted that we can wear the clothes that we wear today. But back then, she was a visionary. She was forging new ground.' Evitts Dickinson was captivated by how a young woman from Frederick, Maryland went to New York City 'and in a few short years became one of the most important fashion designers in America,' she says. 'And so I wanted to understand how she did that. That was my desire to write this story.' A graduate of Parsons (then known as the New York School of Fine and Applied Art), McCardell got her start in the 1930s during a 'forgotten moment of time between the wars [World War I and World War II] where women were breaking new ground in a lot of arenas,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'I think that there is this forgotten feminism that was happening back then, a level of career advancement and advocacy for one another. And in New York, it was a fascinating moment in the '30s and '40s. I mean, you had the [Great] Depression and the world war sort of bookending her professional career, so she's working under these extreme circumstances.' There was a group of women who pulled together to 'effectively invent the fashion industry,' Evitts Dickinson says, and 'McCardell was at the center of it. She was a star, but she wasn't alone.' While McCardell's name and photograph are on the front cover of the book, it was important to Evitts Dickinson to write a story about women working together to build an industry. The pioneer of American sportswear, McCardell was Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren and Tory Burch before any were even born. When McCardell's 1956 book What Shall I Wear?: The What, Where, When, and How Much of Fashion came back in print in 2022, Burch—whose Spring/Summer collection from the same year was inspired by McCardell—wrote the foreward. 'So many of McCardell's ideas and innovations are taken for granted now,' she wrote. 'While other designers looked to Paris couture for inspiration, McCardell elevated the practical needs of American women. It isn't an exaggeration to say she has inspired every designer, and I think she deserves far more recognition.' McCardell 'wasn't Dior making singular, exquisitely handmade pieces that only a handful of women in the world could wear,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'She was dressing every woman.' McCardell questioned haute couture fashion, theorizing that that didn't really work for a woman like her 'who was working, who was taking the subway, who didn't have a ton of money to spend on clothes,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'And so really what she did was pioneer a new kind of unstructured, body-friendly, pragmatic but also elegant style of clothing that allowed you to live in what you were wearing. And it wasn't precious and it wasn't something that she thought about material and whether it wrinkled—she thought about if you could wash it.' The 'American look' stepped away from mimicking Parisian fashion and became its own entity. McCardell put her name on her own label and was the first multihyphenate designer—not just designing dresses or coats but also sunglasses, scarves, jewelry. 'She really created, effectively, what is and what we understand to be the fashion brand today,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'So many not only admire her design chops, they also really admire her business acumen and the way she was able to effectively create what we still know today as the American designer.' McCardell wanted to make her own designs, not just copy others. She had an "ingenious, rebellious mind,' Evitts Dickinson writes, adding that for McCardell, it was 'always about far more than clothes.' McCardell's fingerprints are still felt all over modern fashion today, and even Betty Friedan once wrote that McCardell 'changed the world's meaning of fashion.' Growing up in Frederick, McCardell's grandfather owned his own candymaking factory, so business came more naturally to her than it might to someone else. McCardell's family largely supported her dreams—her desire to go to college, and her desire to go into business for herself. She married in 1943, but 'she also kept her private life very private,' Evitts Dickinson tells me. 'And so for me, it was a little bit of a challenge getting to know her as a private citizen.' She forged a path for herself as a woman entrepreneur when said path did not exist. 'She had to really imagine a business model that didn't exist yet,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'It didn't exist. There were no women at the upper levels. Women did not own the forms. They were not partners in the business. She eventually—and through a lot of hard work—got her name on the label and got a higher stake in the business. And then the other smart thing that she did, which I hadn't appreciated until researching this book, is she also created her own Claire McCardell Enterprises.' She trademarked her name. She protected her designs. She safeguarded her brand. She eschewed the male gaze while designing in favor of the woman's own experience in her clothes—fashionable, yet practical. She subverted the rules—and enjoyed doing it. She encouraged women to not so much worry about fashion, but to find their own style. 'She really emphasized that difference between fashion is what comes out every season—style is what is yours,' Evitts Dickinson says. McCardell's name likely got lost to history because of her sudden death at just 52 years old on March 22, 1958, only one year after she received a diagnosis of terminal colon cancer. There were no succession plans for her business, and the Claire McCardell label closed. 'Claire, again, was a few steps ahead of the curve,' Evitts Dickinson says. 'And if she had lived a little longer, I wonder if we would remember her name.' During her short life, 'Claire was the most famous fashion designer in America when she was alive, arguably, and well-known around the world,' says Evitts Dickinson, whose book—rightfully so—puts McCardell back in the conversation.. 'And her message was, 'You don't have to listen to fashion designers. Take your cues and let us help you. But it's your life. Live your life.''
Vogue
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vogue
Ralph Lauren Resort 2026 Collection
About midway through this lookbook, there's a sweater intarsia'd with the number 67 on the front. That's 67 as in 1967, the year Ralph Lauren launched his company, nearly half a century ago. Lauren is as responsible as anyone for shaping the world's understanding of American fashion. If his resort collection looks familiar, it's because he's been codifying these styles for decades. His tailoring is at once dressed-up and relaxed, in this case, it's double-breasted jackets and paperbag-waist pants, and he's long loved an unexpected mix, like the white tumbled cotton sundress with the vintage feel he favors that he tossed over a fine gauge navy turtleneck. Coming off a smashing fall 2025 collection, one in which he proved that even when he's being quoted left, right, and center, no one knows his work better than he does himself, Lauren was intent on simply refreshing his codes for resort. Still, there was still room for experiment and extravagance. Though at a glance you might guess it's taffeta, the race car yellow jacket worn with a floor-length black slip dress is actually made from an ultra-fine leather treated with a coated membrane that makes it water-repellant. And the lookbook-closing silvery-white strapless gown with its waterfalls of crystals and beads? That took 300 hours to complete.
Vogue
03-06-2025
- Business
- Vogue
Meet the 10 Finalists of the 2025 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund
The finalists for the 2025 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Fresh off celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Fashion Fund, the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Vogue announced early this morning the group of finalists taking part in this year's competition. They are: Ashlyn's Ashlynn Park; Aubero's Julian Louie; Bach Mai; Bernard James; Don't Let Disco by Ashley Moubayed; Gabe Gordon and Timothy Gibbons from Gabe Gordon; Heirlome's Stephanie Suberville; Jamie Okuma; Meruert Tolegen; and Peter Do. The new class features a diverse group of designers across markets—womenswear, menswear, jewelry, and accessories—and also at different points in their careers, a reflection of the precarious state of independent labels in the industry. 'Now entering its third decade, we see just how much the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund has transformed American fashion into a diverse and inclusive industry, and this year's designers underscore the point,' said CFDA CEO Steven Kolb. 'We look forward to seeing how the finalists will make their mark on American fashion.' Along with Kolb, this year's selection committee included Vogue's Anna Wintour, Mark Holgate, and Nicole Phelps; Instagram's head of fashion partnerships, Eva Chen; founder of the Fifteen Percent Pledge and Brother Vellies Aurora James; the model Paloma Elsesser; Nordstrom vice president, fashion director Rickie De Sole; Roopal Patel, SVP of fashion at Saks; CFDA chairman Thom Browne; and Zac Posen, executive vice president and creative director at Gap Inc and chief creative officer at Old Navy. This year's winner will receive $300,000, and the two runners-up will each take home $100,000, along with business mentorships.
Bloomberg
13-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- Bloomberg
The Designer Who Taught American Women How to Dress
Pursuits Books A new biography of Claire McCardell tells the story of her pioneering quest to make women's clothing comfortable, stylish and modern. By Save The following is an excerpt from Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free to be published by Simon & Schuster on June 17. Author Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson describes how McCardell invented the idea of separates, rejecting the pomp of European couture and creating a cost-conscious and utilitarian form of dress that's nonetheless enduringly stylish—and distinctly American. 'Men are free of the clothes problem—why shouldn't I follow their example?'
