{"id":480,"date":"2023-04-10T09:32:33","date_gmt":"2023-04-10T09:32:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/?p=480"},"modified":"2023-04-10T09:32:35","modified_gmt":"2023-04-10T09:32:35","slug":"what-shall-i-wear-a-fashion-guide-ahead-of-its-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/2023\/04\/10\/what-shall-i-wear-a-fashion-guide-ahead-of-its-time\/","title":{"rendered":"What Shall I Wear:<\/em> A Fashion Guide Ahead of its Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Emma Sosebee, Monday, April 10, 2023<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Shall I Wear? The What, Where, When, and How Much of Fashion <\/em>was the only book Claire McCardell wrote in her lifetime; just two years before her death, the book was originally published in 1956 by Simon and Schuster of New York. Accompanied by a variety of delightful illustrations created by Annabrita McCardell\u2013\u2013whose specific relation to the designer is now unknown\u2013\u2013the text is quite practical in essence. Witty and sincere, the book reads like a fashion advice column: from how to tie a scarf to suit one\u2019s figure to sharing the importance of creating a signature look, McCardell used her professional insight to help American women in the 1950s dress with intention for any occasion. Though developing a sense of fashion may feel elusive due to the industry\u2019s ever-changing trends, McCardell\u2019s belief was that any woman could train her eyes to recognize good style and get her wardrobe in line; all it takes is a good teacher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Fig. 1 Cover of the 1st edition of What Shall I Wear? The What, Where, When, and How Much of Fashion,<\/em> by Claire McCardell (1905\u2013<\/strong>1958). Published in 1956 by Simon and Schuster, New York. Illustrated by Annabrita McCardell.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"
Fig. 2 The designer\u2019s biography, located at the back of the book.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What is most interesting about What Shall I Wear <\/em>is how much of the book remains appropriate for women\u2019s lives (and, really, anyone interested in fashion) today, despite its 67-year-old status. As a product of an America quite different from the contemporary period, the book obviously has its moments of traditional 1950s thought\u2013\u2013from glove etiquette to suggestions for appeasing one\u2019s husband. Nevertheless, many of the designer\u2019s ideas about fashion and how women should dress were relatively progressive for her time. In the first chapter, \u201cWhat is Fashion,\u201d McCardell addresses what I would argue was her most important philosophy: that clothes are for real<\/em> people, and should therefore be designed in ways that are fully functional for the wearer. She adds that clothes are \u201cmade to be worn, to be lived in. Not to walk around on models with perfect figures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Fig 3. \u201cWhat is Fashion?,\u201d chapter 1, page 11 of Claire McCardell\u2019s 1956 What Shall I Wear.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On a similar note, the designer also uses her introduction to remind her audience that there is no such thing as a \u201ctype\u201d to fit into\u2013\u2013if something in fashion does not feel right, there is no reason to force yourself into a certain style just because it is popular on the runway or the city streets. She recommended women wear the fabric or silhouette they feel best in, have fun, and play around. Fashion, though it can be intimidating to the average person, \u201cisn\u2019t meant to be taken too seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead of trying to confine women to a particular style\u2013\u2013in which she very well could have used the book to only promote her latest collections\u2013\u2013McCardell\u2019s What Shall I Wear<\/em> humbly served its readers by acting more as a general fashion guide. Better yet, it helped women of all ages to regain a sort of individual agency; <\/em>to the American designer, understanding Fashion with a capital \u2018F\u2019 was not about conformity. A person\u2019s chosen style should reflect their own<\/em> imagination, thought, time, and energy. In other words, \u201cThe more yourself <\/em>in your clothes, the better.\u201d Evidently within her sportswear she stressed physical ease, but McCardell also hoped to impart the importance of \u201cmental ease.\u201d Above all, a woman should wear what makes her feel confident and comfortable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With chapters on what clothes to pack for different trips, suggestions for mothers worried about their teenagers\u2019 following certain trends, and even a helpful glossary of fashion-associated terms the designer labeled as \u2018McCardellisms,\u2019 What Shall I Wear <\/em>was a necessity for 1950s women who were looking to both develop their personal taste and to understand the fashion world at large. The book\u2019s reissue in 2022 with a foreword by contemporary fashion designer Tory Burch speaks to McCardell\u2019s continued relevance within the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About the Author<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Emma Sosebee (she\/her\/hers) is a senior in the AHMP program and one of the curators of Claire McCardell: Practicality, Liberation, Innovation, <\/em>on view at The Museum at FIT starting April 5th. Throughout her undergraduate career, Emma has developed an enthusiasm for how arts institutions care for their numerous objects. She hopes to pursue her interest in the collections management field upon graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

McCardell, Claire.<\/strong> <\/strong> <\/strong>What Shall I Wear? The What, Where, When, and How Much of Fashion<\/em>. Abrams, 2022. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Martin, Richard Harrison.<\/strong> American Ingenuity: Sportswear, 1930s-1970s<\/em>. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strassel, Annemarie.<\/strong> \u201cDesigning Women: Feminist Methodologies in American Fashion.\u201d Women\u2019s Studies Quarterly<\/em> 41, no. 1\/2 (2012): 35\u201359.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sperling, Joy. <\/strong>“Dressed for Freedom: The Fashionable Politics of American Feminism, Einav Rabinovitch-Fox (2021).” Fashion, Style & Popular Culture<\/em> 9, no. 3 (2022): 418-422.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Emma Sosebee, Monday, April 10, 2023 What Shall I Wear? The What, Where, When, and How Much of Fashion was the only book Claire McCardell wrote in her lifetime; just two years before her death, the book was originally published in 1956 by Simon and Schuster of New York. Accompanied by a variety of… Continue reading What Shall I Wear:<\/em> A Fashion Guide Ahead of its Time<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":604,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[72377,72388,20674,167,12779,72387,220,9010,1],"tags":[72386],"class_list":["post-480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ahmp","category-claire-mccardell","category-curation","category-design","category-exhibition","category-fashion-history","category-illustration","category-museum-at-fit","category-uncategorized","tag-claire-mccardell","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/604"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.fitnyc.edu\/arthistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}