Right after finishing college, Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson felt unsure about how to dress like a professional woman. In 1998, she went to the Maryland Historical Society wearing a very uncomfortable suit. She remembered struggling to carry things like lipstick and keys because her outfit had no pockets.
At the museum, she saw some clothes that were light, comfortable, and loose. They were very different from what she was wearing. She noticed the label on the clothes: “Claire McCardell.” Elizabeth had never heard of her before.
She soon learned that many of the clothes she owned were inspired by Claire McCardell, a designer who changed women’s fashion in the 1930s and 1940s. McCardell’s clothes were modern but also comfortable and practical—things Elizabeth felt were missing in women’s fashion.
Elizabeth got curious about how Claire McCardell, a woman from a small town in Maryland, became so important at a time when women couldn’t even open their own bank accounts. She wrote an article about McCardell, which later became a book called Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free.
Claire McCardell didn’t like the tight, uncomfortable clothes girls had to wear. She said, “Men don’t have to worry about clothes—why shouldn’t I be free like them?” She made clothes that were easy to wear and comfortable. Some of her ideas were mix-and-match outfits, wrap dresses, sweaters with hoods, leggings, swimsuits, zippers on the side for easy wear, and most importantly—pockets.
Even though McCardell’s designs are everywhere today, many people don’t know her name. Her clothes feel so familiar that no one thinks of her as the original creator.
McCardell’s style was different because she designed clothes for women’s real lives, not to impress others or follow fancy Paris fashion. Back then, Paris designers were very popular, and American women were told to copy their styles. But McCardell made clothes that were simple, useful, and American.
At that time, many female designers had big roles in fashion, which is rare today. Elizabeth calls this time “forgotten feminism” because women led the fashion world in New York, even though men controlled factories.
After World War II, things changed. Women were pushed out of jobs and back into homes. Fashion became tight and uncomfortable again, with small waists and stiff bras. McCardell spoke out against this change. She saw that fashion was showing how women were expected to be just pretty homemakers. She even argued with French designers who thought men should design clothes, and women should only wear them.
Claire McCardell died young, and her name is not as famous as some other designers. But her ideas live on. Famous designers like Calvin Klein and Anna Sui say she inspired them. Many people who like simple, useful wardrobes today follow ideas that started with her. Her 1956 book What Shall I Wear? is like the style advice you see on TikTok now.
