Out June 17, 2025
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Claire McCardell:
The Designer Who
Set Women Free 

 

Photo of Claire McCardell courtesy of the McCardell family and the Maryland Center for History and Culture.

The riveting hidden history of Claire McCardell—the most influential fashion designer you've never heard of.

Claire McCardell forever changed American fashion. In fact, much of what we wear today can be traced back to her: ballet flats, mix-and-match separates, wrap dresses, hoodies, leggings, denim in womenswear, and more. She was compared to Albert Einstein for the prophetic original creations that she made over her three-decade career. But most importantly, she designed clothes to support a woman's independence. She tossed out corsets in favor of a comfortably elegant look. She insisted on pockets, during a time when male designers didn't see a need for them. She made zippers easy to reach because, as she said, a woman "may live alone and like it, but you may regret it if you wrench your arm trying to zip a back zipper into place."

After World War II, McCardell fought the severe, hyper-feminized silhouette that was championed by predominantly male designers. Leading the charge was Christian Dior, who favored tightly cinched waists and towering high heels. Dior claimed that he wanted to "save women from nature." McCardell, by contrast, wanted to set women free. Claire McCardell became, as the young journalist Betty Friedan called her in 1955, "The Gal Who Defied Dior." And yet it is Dior's name that we remember today.

This book tells the forgotten story of Claire McCardell and offers an unprecedented look inside a savvy mind that was steadily building an empire at a time when women rarely made it to the upper echelons of business. She was one of the first American designers to have her name carried on the clothing that she designed. McCardell defied gender expectations not just in her professional life, but her personal life as well. She was raised to be a homemaker, yet she chose to remain single until nearly forty years old and didn't have any children of her own.

As entertaining as it is enlightening, this book illuminates how Claire McCardell became a global sensation who imagined, and created, something that didn't yet fully exist: American sportswear. This book is, at its core, the story of our bodies and our rights to choose how we dress, which is a symbol of our right to choose how we live.

Praise & Reviews

“A delightful, inspiring tale of a visionary designer. I loved it! Pockets in women’s clothes? Hoodies? Zippers? We all have Claire McCardell to thank. And now, because of Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson’s riveting new book, we will all know her name.” —Julie Satow, New York Times bestselling author of When Women Ran Fifth Avenue


“A beautifully spun story of resilience and tenacity. Dickinson brings to life the most important and underappreciated designer of the 20th Century.”
—Avery Trufelman, producer and host of the Articles of Interest podcast

"Claire McCardell tossed out the corsets and crinolines and changed the way women dress. This icon of mid-century modernism was the anti-Dior, and her life is a unique American drama of design, business, and sheer nerve. Today, her influence is so pervasive that we hardly see it."
—Ellen Lupton, curator emerita, Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum 

"An insightful, beautifully written tribute to a designer who was ahead of her time. In a world where women are still fighting for full agency, this book reminds us that fashion, at its best, is about freedom on our own terms. It’s an essential read."
—Susan Magsamen, New York Times bestselling co-author of Your Brain on Art.