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Dress

Designer Claire McCardell American
Manufacturer Townley Frocks American
1944
Not on view
Pockets are built into a McCardell dress in the overskirt or in the separate apron, as in this one. One can read the garment as an anticipation of Dior's concupiscent "New Look" with padded hips, which often, as in the 1947 "Bar Suit," arose out of the inflated peplum of the jacket. But high style and vernacular apparel are reconciled when the Dior effect is on a lowly apron, including pockets with side access. An apron and a tying neckline could suggest a Heidi-like innocence and thus a connection to folk tradition, but McCardell blended the common culture features of simple tying and waist and neckline with high fashion's impulse to articulate the waist and adjust décolletage.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Dress
  • Designer: Claire McCardell (American, 1905–1958)
  • Manufacturer: Townley Frocks (American, 1929–1938; 1940–ca. 1968)
  • Date: 1944
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: cotton
  • Credit Line: Gift of Claire McCardell, 1949
  • Object Number: C.I.49.37.47a, b
  • Curatorial Department: The Costume Institute

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Raincoat, Claire McCardell American, cotton, plastic, American
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Evening ensemble, Claire McCardell American, linen, cotton, American
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