Bathing suit
Designer Claire McCardell American
Manufacturer Townley Frocks American
Not on view
The natural drape of a McCardell could pass, as in this example, through the legs, especially in swimwear and when emulating the style of non-Western untailored clothing that gyrates around the body. Many different body types could be accommodated and even flattered by the interplay of fabric contingent on the body and the whirling fullness of drapery. Here, Howard Chandler Christy's graphic all-American girl as Liberty in World War I posters has been inventively transformed. With its simply wrapped and flowing drapery, this playsuit is a World War II rendering of Neoclassical wet drapery. McCardell's summer ginghams of the 1940s are distinct Americana.
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