The Art of Attire: Revisited wisdom from Claire McCardell

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The American designer Claire McCardell's 1956 book, "What Shall I Wear?, now reissued, is reviewed in both the New York Times by Vanessa Friedmanno less, and in the September issue of Vogue.

McCardell, who died in her fifties in 1958, has long been a dream designer, but the few remaining pieces for sale on the vintage market are stratospherically out of reach; this dress is listed on eBay for nearly $US 600:


She called certain signature effects "McCardellisms": bias cutting, hook-and-eye or asymmetrical closures, the use of casual fabrics like suede or denim for evening. Like Mary Quant, she had little use for effects that served only to decorate. When I find myself muttering, "Why are these buttons here if they don't button?", that's the McCardell muse. 

A few comments in her book have dated, such as her assertion that you "want to look nice for your husband when he comes home from work", but because my mother did exactly that, I view these admonitions with tolerance.

Other advice, though, is durable as her trench coat. Several gems are quoted in the Vogue article written by Laia Garcia-Furtado. Garcia-Furtado's favourite is, "Know your audience": know where your  originality will be admired, where it will discomfit, and by all that's holy, whether your 'creative touch' suits you. (Why didn't someone tell me that in my fake wolf-fur coat with shoulders wider than a Volkswagen, I looked like Mr. Snuffleupagus?)

McCardell respected a range of expression—from conformity to daring deviation — but always guided by an awareness of the kind of life one lived  She knew women wanted to cook a company dinner in a dress and then appear at the table looking, as she said, "casual but not careless". She writes, You, too, can start a trend. For yourself. Something that can identify you, be just for you.” 

Echoes of her elegant pragmatism are around today, though they are expensive. (In her day, McCardell's sportswear was egalitarian in spirit, but still pricey.) Just these three pieces took me hours to find, in a sea of generic sportswear.


Tie-neck cotton chambray dress (with pockets); price, $CDN 365 at Toast.

Stella McCartney Glitched Herringbone coat; price, $CDN 3, 715.

"Anya" Mary Jane flats from J. Crew in metallic silver; price, $CDN 217. Qunitessentially Claire,  thanks to metallic leather and a squared toe.

Then, I found the mother lode, Tory Burch. Many of her pieces could slip into a McCardell retrospective.  Burch wrote the foreword to the re-issue of "What Shall I Wear?" She has announced a fellowship in both hers and McCardell's names at the Maryland Center for History and Culture, to preserve her work.


The "Picnic Plaid Silk Claire McCardell Dress"; price, $CDN 1,198, is sold out in many sizes in silk but the cotton version is on sale for half price. 

Witty cat's-eye sunglasses show a classic McCardell touch, a distinctive angled curve. Sale price, $CDN 189, in various colours.

Woven sateen anorak, $CDN 399 (sale price, from Private Sale section of site). Anoraks abound, but this is sateen with a removable lining in wallpaper floral and a shearling-lined hood. The topstitching on the gentle band collar...! That's what I'm talkin', sisters.

Seventy years later, these labour-intensive techniques are if not extinct, hard to find. In 1955, McCardell said, "I've always designed designed things I needed for myself. It just turns out that other people need them too."

Betsy Blodgett has written an outstanding review of her career and an in-depth analysis of her designs here, published by Seamwork.


Comments

Mary OK said…
I was lucky enough to find an ex-libris copy of "What Shall I Wear?" about ten years ago at a sidewalk sale of books weeded from a university library collection. Many of the titles had supported the former clothing, textiles, and related arts major in the home economics program. My mother had been a major in this department in the 40's, and my son was entering the university that fall. I also picked up a few tailoring and pattern drafting texts at the same time. These books have no re-sale or collectors' value, as they have library marks, and the McCardell book had been re-bound in a mustard-colored buckram. Still, what a lucky find! I consult all of them from time to time.
Duchesse said…
Mary OK: What a find, and that your copy was re-bound speaks to its popularity. (More and more books are replaced, not repaired, these days.) Any library administrators in the Passage? They will know more about this than I do. I had a Textiles and Related Arts roommate at university and I still remember the things she taught me about assessing clothing quality.
Mary said…
This post reminds me of my mother(b. 1909) who sewed almost all my clothes from childhood until well into my 20s. Retail clothing wasn't the norm for us, but she wanted me to know what to look for when buying clothing so she periodically took me into stores to show me how to assess clothing. The first thing she would do was look at the way an item hung (on the hanger and a person)--was the fabric cut properly based on its weave and/or was it appropriate for the design. Were darts in the right location. If it was a plaid or striped fabric, did lines match up properly at the seams and elsewhere on the garment, such as the sleeves. If there were buttonholes, were they properly aligned and sewn. Were buttons or other closures attached well. Then she would turn the item inside out and inspect seam allowances--enough for possible minor alterations? Were there loose strings or fraying fabric. And if there was a lining, did it hang properly or did it twist because it was not cut correctly. She had high standards for garment construction that I'm not sure a lot of manufacturers could meet these days.
Vancouver Barbara said…
It's always a big treat to read about Claire McCardell. Thank you for this excellent post. I realize that in the 50s her designs had filtered down to the very small town I lived in.
Duchesse said…
Mary: My mother was born the same year as yours and did that, too. She was very particular but then you could actually •find• clothes sold in department stores that were made with bound buttonholes, and hand-picked lapel detail. She bought what passed muster and expected many years of wear. An innate frugality plus the Depression meant nothing was wasted. In 8th grade, I made my first dress, an uninspired shirtdress in a prim cotton foulard print, at school. Years later I noticed she had made napkins out of the dress, which I had outgrown.

Vancouver Barbara: Thanks. It is hard for us to imagine now how revolutionary these clothes were, and what a breath of modernity this kind of American sportswear was. Now so much of it looks like pyajamas.
Jean Shaw said…
Julie Eilber is working on a book about McCardell. As part of her research, she has been recreating patterns. Given Julie's deep knowledge, I expect it to be spectacular...
Bytowner said…
Thank you, I was not familiar with Claire McCardell, will do some digging now as these examples of influence are lovely. My grandmother trained as a dressmaker and always loved well made clothes, home sewn or store bought. I do love that checked Burch dress!
Duchesse said…
Jean Shaw: I am sure I'll want to read Julie Eilber's book, thank you!

Bytowner: I'm going to be watching Tory Burch more closely. I'd evaluated the brand as too preppy for me but her McCardell-influenced designs are covetable.
Laura J said…
Many Tory Burch items are quite wonderful…just spent some time on her website. Luckily not available locally.lol
I've owned a copy of "What Shall I Wear?" since 1956 when I stole it from the library. Yes, I've made amends and returned it (many years later when I was able to snag one on ebay). I understood at a very young age that this book spoke to me. I’ve carried it around in my head and heart ever since. I'm always delighted at new appreciation of her work; her influence is truly amazing. My only quibble is the new book has typos and missing illustrations from the original. I feel both Tory Burch's foreword and the afterword apologize too much for some of the dated verbiage, but that shouldn't take away from the book's charm and real-life, down-to-earth advice that every woman can use.
Allison said…
After reading the Vogue article I came away with so much to ponder and a few answers to sartorial questions that I have asked myself over the years.
Dressing for one’s audience. At face value I thought ‘Ridiculous, I’ll damn well dress for myself’ after a little introspection it came to me that THIS is what constitutes ‘well dressed’. We live in a society where we fear to offend but if we are dressing for our audience at least our outfit won’t be called out. In another blog a reader wrote in concerned about the appropriateness of certain muted shades worn to a family memorial service instead of black. The correct answer..dress for your audience! The mourning royal family wore exclusively black because they are dressing for the audience (which is simply another way of saying royal protocol)If they had been the middle class family down the street then other muted shades besides black would have been accepted by their ‘audience’.
When going to tea with wildly eccentric aunt Imelda then wear the jazzy jacket and earrings but if dining with cousin Louise who could have taught the late Queen a thing or two about decorum then …dress for your audience!! It’s the perfect answer to that age old ‘what shall I wear?’ question.
In the end it doesn’t take away our individuality nor our freedom to choose. It actually makes us more creative! The woman who staunchly armours herself in classic clothing might need to step up with something more interesting for an evening with the Boho in-laws but she can still maintain her personal style.
I also love,love the comment that the same colour in different fabrics won’t be well, the same colour. Discussion on another blog about an EF colour Cassis. Many found it read differently in different fabrics well, duh! Of course it will! My mother was a fabulous sewist and we once famously argued about a dress with a velvet top and satin skirt. The woman had an eye for colour like no other and insisted the two fabrics took on the colour differently. The emerald green of the satin looking ‘minty’ and washed out and…cheap looking. We went all velvet, luxurious fabric being the perfect medium for the deep green we were after. The satin would not only not been the colour we were after but would have ultimately downgraded the final look. Ha, it was a lot more expensive too.
Some of McCardell’s advice is very dated, of its era of course and sexist but it was the fifties and ‘feminine wiles’ such as wearing spindly heels so your male companion would spring for a taxi were encouraged. Who the heck wears a dress to cook a major company dinner and then sports the same rag to the dinner table???
Like cook books of the era there is advice we can apply to our times but much to shake our heads at and just leave on the table or under it along with the spindly heels.
Mary OK said…
allwaysinfashion,

I am a retired librarian, and I love your story. Two of S.R. Ranganathan's laws of library science are "Every reader his book" and "Every book its reader." I love it when books find their readers!
Mary OK,
Of course I still feel a little guilty about what I did, so being forgiven by a librarian helps a lot! Thank you.
Duchesse said…
allwaysinfashion: I understand book lust, and share your youthful impulse. About 30 years ago, In a friend's cottage that my mother had rented for us, I found a first-edition copy of Genevieve Dariaux' classic "Elegance". I knew the owner would not miss it, but, well, karma. I spent $50 on a used copy then! it has since been reissued and like McCardell's book, contains both good advice and dated content.

Allison: Thank you for building on this post so articulately. My mother had the same advice about the appearance of colour in different fabrics. When I was still too young to buy clothes, she taught me that all blacks are not the same colour, also navy blue. (She would not wear such imprecise 'matches').

I do wear a dress (or a dressy top) to do the last-step cooking for a festive or special-occasion dinner, when you can't avoid some kitchen activity. I usually remember to whip off my waiter-style apron when joining the guests. My friend Jim, who dislikes aprons and is always on view in his loft kitchen, wears a chef's jacket. I think that's a very McCardell solution.
Duchesse: I too have an old (1964) copy of "Elegance" which I've never read (too many times re-reading "What Shall I Wear" I'm afraid). It does look fascinating though. I will definitely get to it, especially now that the (American) fashion press is being so unhelpful.
Linda said…
I, too, have a used copy of Elegance, although I have not finished it. Talk of Claire McCardell immediately brought to mind vintage sewing patterns, and a blog that is no longer seems active but now has a substack newsletter, No Accounting for Taste. One of her blog posts goes into detail about the details of a WWII era McCardell dress. I lap that kind of thing up! Just beautiful, woman-friendly, classic clothes. Thank you for the post.
Duchesse said…
allwaysinfashion and Linda: One of the benefit of living some years is that we have seen what withstands the test of time. I love the descriptor "Woman-friendly clothes".

"Elegance" is still useful for its comments on colour and quality; however, no one I know wears certain clothes only in morning or in the afternoon.
Duchesse said…
allwaysin fashion: Thank you for the referral to No Accounting for Taste. (I searched "No Accounting for Taste blog".)

I love how Jessica Parker thinks. Though I am not into vintage anymore, I was heartened by her account of how she came to terms with who she was, and how dismally the current marketplace served her.

There is a time in life, which for me was by the time I turned age 50, when vintage did not make me look smart in any sense of the word, it just made me look like I had not gone shopping for 25 years.

I will still swoon over a beautifully-made item from the '30s- '50s, but since Ms. Parker wrote the blog, vintage has been so heavily picked-over that treasures, such as a Dior raincoat I once found in a Sally Ann in the early '90s, are the suff of legend. I do buy some secondhand contemporary clothing and delight in thriftfinds like a like a good cashmere sweater.

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