Fashion & Costume - 20th Century, Fashion & Costume - United States, Fashion & Costume Designers, Professionals & Personalities, Fashion & Costume Design Professionals - Biography
Claire McCardell
Kohle Yohannan and Nancy Nolf; foreword by Dorothy Twining Globus; with an introduction by Valerie Steele; principal photography by Irving SoleroLog in to track your reading progress.
Overview
An independent, pioneering, resolutely American attitude toward the world and, specifically toward fashion, formed the sturdy design backbone of Claire McCardell (1905-1958). Today we credit McCardell as having created an American style of casual dress in the twentieth century that was without precedent. But at a time when every American designer of note was sent to Paris to copy the latest styles, McCardell shrugged off the Paris couture industry, refusing, after 1940, to visit the collections or even to look at Paris design for fear it might influence her. In Claire McCardell: Redefining Modernism, coauthors Kohle Yohannan and Nancy Nolf have told a story that is as much biography as it is fashion history. The 103 photos include many of the designer wearing her clothes, for McCardell was her own muse and fit model.Editorials
From Barnes & Noble
The late designer Claire McCardell refused to pay homage to the Parisian haute couture of her day; in fact, after 1940, she declined even viewing the collections of the prominent French designers of the day. She preferred to keep her vision of a comfortable, casually elegant American look unsullied by outside influences. And her stubbornness paid off, too, as we learn in Kohle Yohannan and Nancy Nolf's lavishly illustrated look at the groundbreaking designer's career, Claire McCardell: Redefining Modernism.Library Journal
Determined and ambitious best describes the extraordinary career of the 20th-century sportswear fashion pioneer Claire McCardell, whose comfort-first philosophy, mix-and-match ensembles, and casual ready-to-wear clothing left a lasting legacy. Authors Yohannan (Parsons Sch. of Design) and Nolf (Hood Coll.) have compiled a delightful and highly informative book that chronicles McCardell's life and outlines her struggling career, from her "discovery" in 1940 through her triumphs in the years to come. Over 100 photographs, including 39 in color, best demonstrate why McCardell's fashion ideas were accessible, sometimes revolutionary, and loved by women of the 1940s and 1950s. Highly recommended, especially for collections focusing on fashion and textile design.--Stephen Allan Patrick, East Tennessee State Univ. Lib., Johnson CityBook Details
Published
January 4, 1999
Publisher
New York, N.Y. : Harry N. Abrams, 1998.
Pages
151
Format
Hardcover
ISBN
9780810943759