Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free

Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free

Dickinson, Elizabeth Evitts

Paperback

Biographies GeneralHistorical Figures20th Century United States History

Publisher Price: $20.00

ISBN10: 1668045249
ISBN13: 9781668045244
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: Jun 16 2026
Pages: 336
Weight: 0.60
Height: 1.00 Width: 5.50 Depth: 8.30
Language: English
Named one of The New York Times's 100 Notable Books of 2025 The riveting hidden history of Claire McCardell, the most influential fashion designer you've never heard of. Claire McCardell forever changed fashion--and most importantly, the lives of women. She shattered cultural norms around women's clothes, and today much of what we wear traces back to her ingenious, rebellious mind. McCardell invented ballet flats and mix-and-match separates, and she introduced wrap dresses, hoodies, leggings, denim, and more into womenswear. She tossed out corsets in favor of a comfortably elegant look and insisted on pockets, even as male designers didn't see a need for them. She made zippers easy to reach because a woman may live alone and like it, McCardell once wrote, 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 championed by male designers, like Christian Dior. 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. Filled with personal drama and industry secrets, this story reveals how Claire McCardell built an empire at a time when women rarely made the upper echelons of business. At its core, hers is a story about our right to choose how we dress--and our right to choose how we live.

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