Claire McCardell

Claire McCardell (May 24, 1905 – 1958) was an American fashion designer in the arena of ready-to-wear clothing in the 20th century. She is credited with the creation of American sportswear.

McCardell was the eldest of four children born to Eleanor and Adrian McCardell in Frederick, Maryland. Adrian was a Maryland state senator and president of the Frederick County National Bank. As a child, McCardell earned the nickname "Kick" for her ability to keep the boys from pushing her around.

Fascinated by fashion from a young age, McCardell wanted to move to New York City to study fashion design at age 16. Unwilling to send a teenager so far away, McCardell's father convinced to enroll in the home economics program at Hood College instead. After two years of study in Maryland, McCardell moved to New York and enrolled in Parsons (then known as the New York School of Fine and Applied Art). In 1927, McCardell went to Paris, continuing her studies at the Parsons branch school at the Place des Vosges. In Paris, McCardell and her classmates were able to purchases samples by couturiers such as Madeleine Vionnet which they took apart in order to study their structure.

McCardell graduated from Parson with a certificate in costume design in 1923. After graduating, she worked odd jobs sketching at a fashionable dress shop, painting flowers on paper lamp shades and acting as a fit model for B. Altman, before meeting designer Robert Turk.

Late in 1930, McCardell began working as an assistant designer for Robert Turk. Soon after Turk moved to a larger company, Townley Frocks, and brought McCardell with him. In 1932, Turk drowned and Claire was asked to finish his fall line.

The 27 year old chief designer soon traveled to Paris for inspiration, as did most American designers. Uninterested in copying European high fashion, McCardell searched for inspiration in art and street fashion. During the 1930s, began to show innovations such as sashes, spaghetti string ties, and menswear details that would become part of her signature. In 1938, she modernized the dirndl. She also pioneered matching separates.

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