Claire McCardell 1940-1950 Haley McHenry

Early Years Born May 24, 1905 in Fredrick Maryland Attended college and graduated with design Worked for Townley Frocks McCardell attended Hood college in Maryland from 1923-1925 She then studied in Paris where she learned many of the techniques she used in her designs such as double stitching. McCardell worked for Townley Frocks where she eventually started issuing her designs with the Townley and Frocks name. She was the first designer to have name recognition from a brand.

McCardell’s Inspirations & Notoriety Known for the American ready-to-wear fashion Established the sportswear look "Most of my ideas," stated McCardell, "come from trying to solve my own problems." McCardell believed very strongly in comfortable, affordable clothing. She was not into the extravagant looks of the French fashions. She loved to use pleating and the bias-cut. McCardell had a passion to help women find clothing that could be worn in the daytime and out to dinner at night. This was something she would struggled with in her own personal life.

News of the Times WW II started in 1941 Could not obtain fabrics from France Trends: shoulder pads, use of different fibers, boxy cuts When WW II started the U.S. manufacturers were cut off from getting fabrics from France. This did not effect McCardell’s designs and clothing because she used natural fibers like cotton, denim, jersey.

McCardell’s Impact Today Established the “American” look Timeless designs Use of different fabrics McCardell put the United States on the map in the fashion industry in the 1940’s. Before her everyone would look to France for fashion and clothes. When looking at pictures of her garments it is hard to tell that they are from the 40’s or 50’s. Her designs are the basic makeup of all of our styles. McCardell used all sorts of fabrics, she introduced the use of denim for clothing.

Garments

The wrap around house dress Popover Dress She created this dress because it was comfortable and functional for women to do jobs around the house during the war when their husbands were away. It eventually evolved into many elegant dresses. The wrap around house dress

Monastic Dress Waist- less tent dress This silhouette could be worn with or without a belt and became a design McCardell used for many of her pieces. Waist- less tent dress

Comfortable and functional Diaper Bathing Suit McCardell grew up with three brothers and was very active as a child. She wanted to design sports wear that was suitable for women to wear at the beach but functional as well. Comfortable and functional

Fabric Draping and Gathering One element of her designs were gathering and draping of fabric. She liked to accentuate women’s curves by using these techniques. She also liked to add zippers and hardware to pieces to show off certain areas.

References http://fashionsfinest.fuzzylizzie.com/clairemccardell.html http://www.msa.md.gov/megafile/msa/speccol/sc3500/sc3520/013500/013581/html/13581bio.html http://www.fashionencyclopedia.com/Ma-Mu/Mccardell-Claire.html http://fashionsfinest.fuzzylizzie.com/clairemccardell.html Claire McCardell- “Fashion Designer Encyclopedia.”