Like her subject, Dickinson thrives on the limits of her craft. McCardell never met her fellow expat Ernest Hemingway, but Dickinson highlights the resonance, noting that 'the novel, like clothing, was being reinvented' ... Dickinson’s book is the linchpin I didn’t know I needed, the first cradle-to-grave biography of McCardell written for a general audience ... Drawing on those archives, and much more, Dickinson weaves a dynamic and immersive narrative, reconstructing McCardell’s time and place with the vivid immediacy necessary to fully appreciate her genius. At last, we have everything there is to know about McCardell — the woman, and the designer—under one cover ... Now that I know McCardell was the patron saint of this mind-clothing connection, I fervently hope that Dickinson’s marvelous, necessary book will return her to the mainstream.
Smart, insightful ... Dickinson is an admirable champion of McCardell’s legacy. It’s a challenging cause, as the designer was not one of fashion’s outsize characters, ruled instead by modesty and decency. This biography is written in concise prose, though Dickinson exhibits a tendency to empty her notebook, plucking useless tidbits—mentioning, for instance, that Ernest Hemingway traveled on the same transatlantic voyage as McCardell.
Dickinson engagingly integrates McCardell’s work and life with the evolution of the fashion industry and American society from the 1920s through the 1950s. Even the least fashion-conscious reader will appreciate learning about Claire McCardell’s accomplishments.
