BALTIMORE — Ready to wear and pockets, two ideas about clothing that mean a lot to any woman looking for a place to put her hands, keys, and more before she runs off to her busy day. The Maryland Center for History and Culture holds the archive of a Maryland woman who made the fashion world ready to wear.
"McCardell was boisterous. She had a very infectious laugh."
Watch as the design of a dress is explained
Claire McCardell made what we think of as American design starting in the late 1920s. But her name was nearly forgotten after she died at the age of 53. She grew up in Frederick Maryland, the oldest child and only daughter of the McCardell family.
Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson has admired McCardell’s designs since she first visited the MCHC back in the nineties and first saw an exhibit of McCardell’s dresses, she says while standing in a frustratingly uncomfortable outfit. She learned where McCardell’s comfort concept had it’s beginnings.
"She was what we would sometimes call a tom boy."
Nicknamed Kick, she ran around the woods of Frederick County with her three brothers. McCardell dealt with a different set of rules for how she could dress verses the boys. She wanted to be comfortable and able to move without restriction. But in the 1920s, women were still subject to modesty rules..... Like they had to wear wool stockings just to go swimming.
Dickinson elaborates, "She was a swimmer. She was very active, so she rolled off her swim stockings, got into some trouble." The police were called, but as they say, ‘Well behaved women rarely make history.' She bared her legs to defy the double standard. Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson wrote in her new biography about McCardell’s rambunctious beginning and how it informed her style. The book is titled “Claire McCardell, The Designer Who Set Women Free.”
"McCardell believed that every woman should have a pocket."
Designing comfort, mobility and forms ready to highlight a woman's shape to best advantage.
"She said men are free of the clothes problem. Why can't I be too?"
Dickinson says two innovations really define McCardell’s work. Her monastic dress with it’s off the rack, ready to look fabulous look and the ballet flat still popular today. That came about thanks to a collaboration between Capezio, the top ballet shoemaker in the world and McCardell.
Evitts, "She became one of the first designers to ever have her name on her clothes."
McCardell earned her place at the top of fashion thanks to innovations that defied the restrictive nature of women’s fashion at the time.
Pretty much since the invention of the cell phone women have been frustrated that more clothes don't have pockets. That's the kind of design McCardell made sure was by your side.
Vice President of Collections and Chief Curator Catherine Rogers Arthur gets it, "She didn't even have a phone that she needed to stash, but here you've got pockets."
The MCHC Executive feels the need for function in clothes that McCardell saw.
"Now that we're carrying cell phones around with us all the time, you know, we're like, well, where do I put my phone?"
The Center houses the largest archive of McCardell’s life. She gave us a sneak peek at some new acquisitions.
The dress above on the left is a version of the popover dress, and the dress on the right is a version of McCardell’s wrap dress.
A ninety-year-old visitor to the Center held on to these dresses since the forties. Her father bought it for her and one for her mother when they were on vacation in Miami. The perfect dress for a hot summer day. There really is something special about a McCardell. Evitts really appreciates the McCardell family’s close relationship with the center in helping to preserve and show the innovative designer’s work.
"I mean she really was so far ahead of her time. I have to applaud her, her visionary uh qualities and in making that a priority."
Her power landed McCardell on the cover of Time magazine. And a creative collaboration with Picasso and Chagall. Women like Georgia O’Keefe, Lauren Bacall and Joan Crawford loved the McCardell look. So the next time you stick that cell phone in a pocket, thank McCardell for that function. You can purchase Evitts Dickinson’s book here.
And if you’d like to see these dresses and others for yourself, visit the Maryland Center for History and Culture where you can see rotating examples of McCardell’s work.
