McCardell, Claire, 1905-1958

Claire McCardell was born 24 May, 1905 Frederick, MD. During her early adolescence she began making her own clothes. At 18 she enrolled in Hood College in Fredrick, MD. She left after to years to peruse fashion illustrations at New York School of Fine and Applied Art (Known today as Parsons School of Design) in NY. She lived at the Three Art Club, where she began buying old couture garments, take them apart, study their construction, alter and wear them herself. In 1927 she transferred to the Parsons brunch in Paris at the Place de Vosges. There she gained hands on experience with Paris couture, and perfected her understanding of garments construction. When she returned to NY she worked as a model, a seamstress and as a designer for small knit-goods company before arriving at Townely Frocks Inc in 1930 as assistant to head designer Robert Turk. A month before the showing of 1931 spring collection Turk tragically drowned, and McCardell was left responsible for completing the collection, which was mostly composed of Paris styles. The collection was well received. For the following collection she experimented with shapes and materials in a more avant garde style, but these were too advanced for the mainstream market and were not received well. In 1938 she launched her famous 'Monastic Dress', a shapeless bias-cut dress that was worn with a belt to cinch the waist. It was extremely successful and widely copied by mass retailers, eventually contributing to the collapse of Townely Frocks Inc in 1938. She worked briefly at Hattie Carnegie (1938-1940) along side Norman Norell. She later returned to the ready-to-wear market which was begging to grow rapidly due to World War II and the German occupation of Paris.

In 1942 she designed the 'Pop-over' dress, a warp dress that was meant to be popped-over pants, bathing suit or the bare skin. It was simple, comfortable and functional- a style that became McCardell's signature. The dress was very successful and was incorporated in different variations into every collectionfrom then on. During her short carrier she collaborated with many retailers and manufacturers and received several awards and accolades for her innovative fashion. Among them Mademoiselle Merit Award, Nieman Marcus Award and Women's National Press Club Award. She died in New York, 22 March 1958, from cancer, at age 52.