It is with great sadness that I share with you that Robert McCardell, of Frederick, Maryland has passed away.

Mr. McCardell was very generous with his time back in August of 2007. He allowed me to interview him about his sister, the world renowned Claire McCardell, break out star of American Fashion.

Mr. McCardell was an absolute delight. I wrote a letter to Mr. McCardell seeking an interview with him about his sister, Claire. He was listed in the phone book of his home town. I presumed with smugness that Mr. McCardell would not have a computer so I chose to contact him via snail mail. Imagine my delight when Mr. McCardell emailed me and agreed to allow me to interview him about his sister, Claire.

Mr. McCardell gave of himself and his memories for our interview. I connected on a personal level with Mr. McCardell as he grew up and lived his entire life in the town that my mother grew up in. I visit his town twice a year to see my grandmother, aunt and uncles.

I just want to say to Mr. McCardell's family how sorry I am for their loss. Mr. McCardell could very easily have brushed aside my request. Instead he helped me learn more about his sister, Claire, and for that I will be forever grateful.

As a tribute I am running our interview for one last time.

Today we are featuring the designer credited as the inventor of ready-to-wear for women, Claire McCardell. My interest was piqued when I discovered through various information on the internet that Ms. McCardell was a native of Frederick, Maryland, the town where my mother grew up and where my grandmother, uncle and aunt still reside.

For a visual appreciation of Ms. McCardell's designs we recommend that our readers check out

The Metropolitan Museum Of Art

as well as the

Fashion Institute of Technology


There is a variety of information available on the internet about Ms. McCardell, some of which conflicts with other information available. In searching for clarification of this information I wrote to Claire McCardell's brother, Mr. Robert McCardell, age 94, who resides in Frederick, Maryland in the family home. Mr. McCardell graciously agreed to answer a few questions to help clarify things for us.

Marge: "How young was your sister, Claire, when she showed an interest in clothing design?"

Mr. McCardell: "Claire was interested in clothes from the time she was a little girl. Several times each year our mother had a seamstress spend a week at our house making clothing for the family. Claire spent a great deal of time sitting by the Singer Sewing machine watching "Miss Annie" make the pieces."

Marge: "What in particular do you believe led your sister, Claire, to choose a career in fashion design?"

Mr. McCardell: "The only reason I can think of is that she always loved clothes and fabric."

Marge: Claire attended Hood College in Frederick, Maryland and then the Parsons School of Design. What led to her decision to transfer to Parsons
rather than staying at Hood College?"

Mr. McCardell: "Claire wanted to go to New York at age 16 when she graduated from high school but our parents thought she was too young to go to the big city so she decided to go to Hood. She made terrible grades at Hood and finally after her sophomore year our mother and father decided to let her go to New York where she matriculated at the Parsons School of Design."

Marge: "Were there any designers that you know of that apprenticed with Claire that later went out on their own?"

Mr. McCardell: "There were several friends of Claire at Parsons who went out on their own but they did not seem to make the impression on the fashion world that Claire did. Robert Turk was the head designer at Townley and Claire was his assistant. He tragically died in a diving accident while swimming on vacation and the owner of Townley decided to give Claire a chance at head designer. This was her big break but she had the ability to make it pay off. Her clothes were labeled "Townley Frocks" until she won awards and her name came to be known in the fashion world, at which time her clothes were labeled "Claire McCardell". In the 2007 August issue of Vogue there is an article about Hollywood Hostess Connie Wald who, according to the article, was one of Claire's models."

Marge: Claire had a love of sports. What role did sports play for her?

Mr. McCardell: "Claire needed diversion from her grueling labor in fashions which she loved but on weekends and on vacations she would go skiing in foreign countries and spend time at her summer home on Fisher Island, NY and her farm in New Jersey. She was not athletically inclined."

Marge: "Are you surprised that all these years later your sister's clothes are coveted very much by vintage clothing aficionados?"

Mr. McCardell: "No, I am not surprised that her clothes are coveted very much by vintage clothes aficionados because she seemed to know what women wanted and she was noted for always being ahead of the current fashion. There is no telling how much farther she would have gone in the "rag trade" as they called the fashion world if she had not died at age 52 at the height of her career."

Mr. McCardell also commented: "Did you know there is a memorial to her in the sidewalk on Seventh Avenue in New York's fashion district? In Frederick on the east wall of the former Francis Scott Key Hotel, there is in process a memorial to internationally known Fredericktonions such as Francis Scott Key, Roger Brooke Taney, Patrick Dulaney, and Claire. It should be completed in the next month."

One important bit of information that Mr. McCardell imparted is this: "Several years ago (author's note: 1996) an outfit in New York produced some clothes with Claire McCardell's label. As soon as we found out about it they stopped production.. Hence, the trade mark on the use of her name. If you should purchase any of her originals make sure they are authentic and not poor "copies". "

Our research (thank you Elaine Schuster!) indicated that, if such a line was produced, it was in the spring and summer of 1996, after which the company went out of business. The family did challenge the label and the case was closed after the company went out of business.

We would like to thank Mr. Robert McCardell for taking the time to help us learn more about his sister, Claire McCardell.

A great way to verify whether you are buying a true Claire McCardell item is to check the Vintage Fashion Guild Label Resource.


The reference has many labels from many designers available for comparison and to assist in the dating process and to help assist in authenticating items as well.

Here I am in another box. Seems the last couple of years I've been moved from box to box. I've been up and down the east coast several times already. I remember when I was new as if it was yesterday.

Once upon a time I was the well loved prize from a Manhattan shopping trip my original owner took with her daughter. My soon to be owner was hesitant to take the Greyhound all the way from Baltimore but her daughter didn't have time to make the trip back so off she went after cooking and freezing a weeks worth of meals for her husband and son. Looking at the world with excitement and a bit of trepedition my soon to be owner climbed aboard the bus in Baltimore. She rode for a couple hours to Philadelphia, home of the Liberty Bell and then on to New York City. Of course there wasn't enough time to see the sites in Philly and my soon to be owner would not have ventured off on her own as she had never traveled this far from home.

She really had not traveled. She was the daughter of truck farmers in Frederick, Maryland. She married the love of her life who first taught school at Middletown High School back in Frederick and then they moved to Baltimore for more opportunities. They had a nice brick row house in a nice neighborhood. The only thing missing was a big garden but she made due with a smaller version and grew for the most part tomatoes. It was a simple life and she knew where she belonged. She was the ultimate homemaker and a bit of a political hack. Her husband went to the Greyhound station in Frederick when they lived there and picked up the Daily News from New York so she could follow the news of the day and keep up with the politics of the world.

Her daughter graduated from Middletown High School and joined the army for a chance to see the world. After the service her daughter decided to go to New York City to try her hand at acting. For the most part her daughter had bit parts far far off Broadway and waited more tables than she ever thought she would. It became harder to come home for a visit each passing year as the parts became fewer and fewer and coming home meant admitting defeat.

Thinking her mother would never venture to New York my soon to be owner's daughter suggested a visit to the big city where she would take her mother to just off Broadway plays and shopping in Macy's bargain basement. Imagine her surprise when her mother, encouraged by her father, said yes. I imagine there was a flurry of cleaning and I'm sure when her mother arrived she gave up her own bed for her mother and used her sparse spare linens to sleep on the davenport.

Throwing caution to the wind the daughter called in sick to work and took her mother to the Empire State building and the Statue of Liberty. They ate lunch at the automat and then went to the Village to stroll through the boutiques. Her mother swore the saleswoman at Elaine Starkman's Boutique looked just like that folk singer, Mary Travers, but of course the daughter told her of course it's not her. What would she be doing selling suits in a boutique in the village!

While wandering their way through the bargain basement of Macy's her mother came upon me. Sleek in gray marble patent leather I glistened and flashed in the fluorescent lighting. I was a little rumpled looking from too many weeks on display but her mother had to have me. She glanced quickly at my price and winced a bit. However, she decided just this once she would splurge as gray went with everything and she bought me. Once we made our way back to her daughter's apartment my owner's items were transferred from her old worn black purse to me. We looked right together and in the next 2 days of her visit we saw the sites of the city together.

We left on the early morning Greyhound bound for Baltimore. I watched in silence as mother and daughter said goodbye, the litany the same as it was each time they parted. "You know you can come home to live anytime you want." "I know Mom but I just need a little more time to make sure. "Okay honey but you know we'd love to have you." Silently they turned from each other and we made our way onto the bus.

Of course as soon as we got home to Baltimore I was emptied out, stuffed with tissue paper and a sachet and put in a box and up in the hall closet. For years in the early fall she would take me out and sit on her bed stroking me and thinking about that trip to New York. Then she'd put me away again for another year.

One fall led to another and another and several years went by without me being taken out. Then one day I was pulled from my shelf along with a lot of other long forgotten pieces of clothing. "We really need to clear the clutter and now is as good a time as any", said her son's wife. "Oh my gosh just look at this purse! It's like brand new. I wonder where your mother got it? Of course it's not my style at all. Best to donate it to the Salvation Army."

So I was boxed up with a couple pairs of shoes and a moth eaten cardigan and we were dropped at the local Salvation Army. I was cleaned and set out for sale. Another lady checked me out and grabbed me rather roughly checking out my frame to make sure I was in good working condition. From her conversation with her friend I deduced that she was an Ebay seller and I was going to go to a new home. Hope sprung eternal and I could not wait to see what was going on out in the world.

So off I went listed during a VBO sale (that's Ebay talk for Vintage Blow Out). I went to a buyer in Georgia. It turns out she was an Ebay seller too and bought me to re-sell. So off I went into a rubbermaid container with a bunch of other purses she was some day going to list. Another year went by and I was pulled from my rubbermaid tomb to be photographed and sold again in the VBO sale. So off I went to a new home in Pennsylvania. This seller was a little different. She liked to move her stores around. First l was listed on Ebay, then another auction site and finally I came to rest at Specialist Auctions. Before I knew it I had been sold to a wardrobe person for the musical "Jersey Boys." The seller was excited and so was I. Finally just like my original owner's daughter I'm finally going on stage right in New York, back to my roots!