The Look of men and women’s sportswear changed

dramatically during the Twentieth Century from the

time of Coco Chanel onwards. Give an account of the

most influential fashion designers working with in

this period.

Sportswear changed dramatically from the 1900’s

onward. Industrialisation, and two World Wars saw a great

shift in the roles that women played. Women in the work

force had grown. Women’s clothing that had once been

appropriate was now deemed unfit and in 1929 Vogue

published “The bustling lifestyles, so hard on elegant

fragility”, predicted the end to the ‘lady’ (Arnold

2008,pg 30). Coco Chanel was amongst the last of the true

Parisian couturiers and Claire McCardell was an American

in the midst of a new fashion revolution, ready-to-wear.

Two very different women from two very different

backgrounds set out in what was to achieve the same

results; a new freedom for women of which they achieved

through practical, comfortable and elegant simplicity.

They both accomplished this in their own entirely new,

unseen and unique approach and in turn changed the way

the modern world perceives fashion.

Coco Chanel paved the way to the modern day

sportswear and changed what was accepted in modern day

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women’s attire. Chanel was born into a time of change.

In the same way that the cubists such as Picasso, no

longer believed that traditional techniques and methods

suited modern-day expression, Chanel no longer believed

that fashions popular in France were appropriate.

Fashions amongst the French elite of Chanel’s time were

ostentatious, over embellished with protruding busts and

tightly laced restraining corsets. Not at all appropriate

for the new emancipation of females that was emerging

through out the world. Women were rapidly gaining the

vote world wide and after the first world war women were

being placed more and more in the workforce in positions

other than nursing, such as municipals and factories.

This type of clothing was highly inappropriate for work

or other the leisure activities the modern day woman was

participating in, like driving the new automobiles or

riding the newly established ‘le Metropolitan’ (Cosgrave

2012,pg 9). Chanel recognised how tired women were of

being adorned, how they wanted to be themselves (Simon

2011, pg50).

One world was dying, another coming into existence.

I was there an opportunity beckoned and I took it. I was

the same age as the new century, so it turned to me for

its expression in clothing

-Coco Chanel (Leymarie 2010,pg 60)

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From a poor orphaned background, to a working as a

seamstress Chanel, by luck and good looks made her way

into elite circles as one Etienne Bolson’s (a French

fabric Heir and racehorse breeders) mistresses. He funded

and supported her career, as many men who were often

Chanel’s lovers did. She spent a significant amount of

time at Balson Country estate where she learnt to ride

and was first introduced to speciality clothing that was

required for participating in such sports that were

becoming more popular. The circle of Aristocrats and

courtesans that Chanel counted amongst her friends spent

most of their time dining, riding or vacationing at

luxurious beach towns. Chanel watched the ladies that

would attend the racecourse; she

hated the tight restricting

dresses that were in fashion and

hats that were wider than their

shoulders (Cosgrave 2012,pg 16).

Chanel began to wear little

straw hats with short brims,

modestly decorated. Her circle

of friends admired her look and

immediately commissioned her

work. In no time at all the

whole of Paris were after

Chanel’s creations.

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Chanel’s millinery business was extremely

successful and soon saw her opening a second store in

Deauville, with the financial help of her new lover

Arthur ‘Boy’ Capel. Deauville was a luxury, resort

seaside town with a famous racetrack. Aristocracy and

royalty flocked to Deauville for the summer. Beach

fashions were as silly and impractical as the corseted

dresses and soon Chanel began to design practical

beachwear and cover-ups that included loose turtleneck

sweaters, sailor style shirts and straight linen skirts.

Her designs were radical, but well timed and were well

received. With fabric shortages due to the war Chanel was

excited upon finding a substantial amount of beige jersey

at heavily discounted price, Chanel purchased the lot and

began her first creations with the fabric (Cosgrave

2012,pg 23). Jersey ‘s primary use was in men’s underwear

and hosiery and was considered unusable in fashion

because of its loose open weave. Chanel had noticed it’s

versatility when she was learning to ride and whilst

attending the races at Deauville and Long champ as it was

the fabric that jockeys uniforms were created from. Her

collection included long softly tailored coats were

unadorned with a simple draped elegance. The coats

included deep pockets, borrowed from workman’s wear, a

feature that had yet to be seen in women’s clothing.

Chanel believed deep practical pockets eliminated the

need to be burden by a handbag. Her dresses hung from the

shoulder with silhouettes that were lean and with out the

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necessity for constricting corsetry or the need for

assistance with dressing. Shockingly Chanel also

shortened the hemline much to the shock of other

couturiers (Leymarie 2010, pg60). Even during the war

with its economic hardships Chanel’s clothing remained

popular, it’s simple silhouette and lack of adornment

adhered to the sombre mood of the times.

Figure 2 Coco Chanel wearing sailing inspired pants and jersey top. Chanel was the first to introduce pants into the woman’s wardrobe. (Leymarie 2010.)

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Through out the 1920’s Chanel continued to modify

the traditional silhouette and create classic staples.

Chanel developed a close personal relationship with the

Duke of Westminster, known for his ‘dapper sportiness’.

(Cosgrave, 2012. Pg70) the pair spent time hunting and

yachting together. These activities inspired Chanel’s

next break through design, incorporating traditional

men’s clothing features into women’s wear, but always

with a feminine and elegant twist. Channels wide legged

navy pants were inspired by the crew’s uniform on-board

‘The Flying Cloud’, the Dukes yacht. Chanel was fond of men’s

trousers and out of practicality had worn them on the

yacht commenting, “it was impossible to climb the ladder

in a skirt” (Cosgrave 2012,pg109). The Dukes hunting

wardrobe inspired Chanel to approach the Cumbrian mills

and develop pastel, feminine tweeds, which she then used

in softly tailored, yet structured suits. For added

femininity she removed the collar and again added her

trademark deep pockets for practicality. These tweed

suits, were to become a ‘classic’ Chanel signature.

‘Classic pieces’ in the wardrobe became another Chanel

first. Chanel would repeat and reinvent popular styles,

something that had not been seen before. Previous to

Chanel making it acceptable, being seen in last seasons

clothing was considered horrific experience.

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Figure 3 Model wearing Chanel tweed suit. Thetweed suit, in soft feminine colours would become a stapleclassic in Chanel’s collection and continue to be tweaked and reinterpreted. (Leymarie, 2010.)

Chanel’s elegant sportswear designs had

revolutionised the way French women dressed. Her designs

had been rebellious. Her simple, corset-less silhouette,

profound use of comfortable jersey fabric and use of

men’s wear details were radical. The new modern woman,

who could now vote and drive, embraced the style as it

enriched her newly found freedom and it seemed there

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would be no going back. In 1926, Marjorie Howard, the

editor of American Harper’s Bazar, was surprised to see that

sportswear had not taken off in New York same way that it

had in Paris (Martin 1998,pg77). American fashion was

still heavily influenced by traditional Parisian haute

couture. This wouldn’t truly change until 1940 when Paris

was under Nazi occupation. Under the Nazi regime Paris

and its couture houses were completely cut off from the

rest of the world. World War II was a major factor in the

rise of American sportswear. Manufactures no longer had

access to copy couture designs and restrictions on fabric

for the war effort created new predicaments for

manufactures and designers. American department stores

had struggled to keep a float through the depression and

with the impeding war ahead began to look to home grown

designers for the first time and in so developed ‘the

American Look’ and the beginning of the American

sportswear phenomenon.

In the 1937 the legendary vice president Dorothy

Shaver, of the American department store Lord and Taylor,

launched a campaign in store that promoted talented

American fashion designers. (Kirkland 1975,pg 243) This

was a chance for the American public to know American

designer’s name in the same, familiar sense as the names

of Christian Dior and Cristobal Balenciaga. This was

unheard of. Prior to Dorothy Shaver’s campaign, American

designers remained anonymous, hidden behind the

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manufactures and department store labels. Dorothy Shaver

highlighted many American names promoting them in store

and in magazine advertisements. It was patriotic and in

timing with the struggling American economy that was said

to feel the effects of the depression right up to the

beginning of World War II. She called the campaign ‘the

American Look’ (Kirkland 1975,Pg 243). The campaign was so

successful the manufacturers could not keep up. Arguably

the most successful designers promoted, the pioneer of

American sportswear, was Claire McCardell.

Claire McCardell was American. She was attractive

with blonde hair and blue eyes. She was born in a lovely

part of Maryland to a well to do typical American family.

Her father was a hard working bank manager and her mother

is said to be a ‘Southern Belle’ (Kirkland 1975, pg215).

Her mother had admired the clothes from Paris and

McCardell studied from her mother’s style and fashion

magazines. Eventually Claire went off to New York to

study fashion at Parsons where she spent a semester far

away at their Paris campus. This gave McCardell the

opportunity to study the greats Parisian couture’s Madame

Vionnet and Madame Grès, from whom she learned, admired

and was influenced. McCardell loved Paris, but she was

always American. When McCardell was growing up she

recognised while playing with her brothers “that some

dresses, while pretty, are not good for climbing

trees“(Kirkland, 1975, pg216). McCardell saw couture in a

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similar sense. Parisian couture although extraordinarily

beautiful, was not necessarily practical for the American

way of life.

The American way of life in the 1930’s was difficult

due to the Depression. All the sectors were struggling to

stay afloat, including the fashion industry. Despite or

because of the depression, ready-to-wear had grown in

importance (Arnold 2008,pg77). After McCardell’s return

from Paris and graduating from Parsons McCardell found

her self in a rather difficult time finding work, but her

determination and spirit eventually found her working at

at Townley, a ready to wear clothing manufacturer who

specialised in dresses and a new emergence of ‘spectator

sport’ clothing.

Like all designers at the time, McCardell was

expected to copy Paris. She adapted it to suit the

processes of ready-to-wear. Ready-to-wear was the way of

the future; it provided affordable fashion to women, in

times when the economy was low. McCardell along with

other designers would be sent to Paris to watch and

sketch the latest couture designs. If time saw fit, she

would often travel with her friends around near by

countries. McCardell seemed more influenced by the travel

it’s self rather than the couture clothes themselves.

After lugging steamer trunks around, McCardell returned

to develop a collection of separates, including skirts,

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culottes and halter-tops made from wool jersey. The

pieces could be swapped around, easily packed, hand

washed and made more or less formal with the use of

accessories. In 1936 the buyers were still not quite

convinced. What would they do with the excess sizes?

Where is the hanger appeal? A problem McCardell often

faced in the first few years was getting the buyers and

customers on the same page, although they would

eventually catch up. McCardell’s career took off at

Townley. For a short while the business closed it’s doors,

but later, with a new enthusiastic partner Adolph Klein,

it reopened. McCardell returned and developed a

relationship envied by other designers on 7th Avenue

(Yohannan 1998, pg. 51). Klein gave McCardell free reign

over design. Klein had the label changed to read CLAIRE

MCARDELL CLOTHES, by Townley (Kirkland 1975, pg239), a first

amongst manufactures.

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McCardell dresses based on her original bias cut, monastic dress. The spaghetti strings meant the dress could be changed and modified to suit a variety of figures. (Yohannan 1998)

By 1939 McCardell had found success with the monastic

dress. A tent like, bias cut dress with no waistline that

was belted into shape something so simple but never seen

before (Yohannan 1998,pg 41). It was simple to make,

perfect for production and suited a range of women.

McCardell strongly believed that clothes should be useful

as well as nice-looking. Until then it had taken a

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sophisticated woman to understand McCardell’s designs,

most of the young fashion editors were already wearing

McCardell designs, mainstream had not yet picked up

(Kirkland 1975,pg 267). It was not until the Second World

War that the rest of America really began to embrace

McCardell’s innovative design. The war had completely cut

off Paris couture and McCardell’s simple no fuss designs

were harmonious with the wartime sensibilities. Wartime

fashion was restrained and respectful. It had become

stuck in a sombre utilitarian look, usually of a suit

made from sturdy wool fabric. McCardell began offering

alternatives, creating low cost dresses with no frills

styling from heavy durable fabrics that still managed to

look pleasing. The war had caused a shortage of domestic

manpower and begun to see women entering the work force

in unprecedented numbers. McCardell’s wartime outfits

appealed to students, office workers, factory workers and

housewives. When times became tough, McCardell embraced

the challenges of rationing fabric, trim and fastenings

for the war effort. She began to look to alternate

fabrics and was able to see past their accustomed use.

When the government declared a surplus on weather balloon

cotton, McCardell ordered as much as possible (Yohannan

1998, pg58). When there was an increasing lack of

closures, McCardell invented the spaghetti string and

wrap designs that eliminated the problem.

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McCardell looked everywhere for inspiration. She saw

that menswear had none of the problems of women’s

clothing she began to incorporate these in her designs.

Deep cut armholes and deep practical pockets. She used

‘American’ denim borrowed from typical workers clothing,

that was sturdy and tough and along with the fabric

borrowed the contrast double topstitching used to sew it.

Light weight cotton calico, another American fabric that

had been tainted with it’s association to the old and

poor, McCardell with her seemingly simple Vionnet

inspired bias cut drape and geometric designs made the

fabric fun, elegant and new again. McCardell embraced new

and improved technology in man-made fabrics and was

always the first stop for the sample salesmen to stop by.

McCardell could never understand the point of a back

zipper, especially now that women dressed themselves

(Morris 1994, C.18) She used practical fastenings such as

eye and hooks, press-studs from children’s wear, brass

lace hooks from men’s boots and leather buckles from

skiing equipment (a favourite past time of hers).

McCardell saw the innovation in these details and instead

of hiding them she highlighted them in her design and

they were

easy to use. These features were to become fondly known

as “McCardellisms”(Yohannan, 1998. Pg95).

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Figure 4 McCardell design with bias cut top and eye and hook closures and wrap design.(Yohannan, 1998)

McCardell’s success and popularity continued to grow

through out the 40’s and 50’s. In 1944 Harper’s Bazaar ran

an illustrated feature on her now separates collection,

it read “Be nifty… be new...be interchangeable” (Yohannan

1998,pg 80). They called it a ‘new system’ of dressing

even though it had originally designed by McCardell

nearly 10 years ago in 1936. The design was now perfect

for the post war economical state, where one could update

her look without purchasing an entire outfit. McCardell

continued with firsts as she experimented with wool

jersey. She used it in her signature unpadded, diaper

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style bathing suits, in simplified, elegant day and

evening wear, in leotards and in casual active wear.

McCardell, like Chanel understood that the ‘bread and

butter’ best sellers could be updated and modified rather

than an entirely new collection developed each season,

these pieces would become classics. McCardell always with

her finger on the pulse foresaw that as war was ending,

and fabric restrictions lifted, she predicted that women

would want a longer fuller silhouette and was well timed

when Dior released his ‘new look’ (Kirkland 1975,pg 271).

McCardell managed to achieve a similar silhouette with

out the unnecessary internal structuring by her signature

use of drape, bias cut and wrapping techniques that read

as simple but involved complicated design knowledge.

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Figure 5 McCardell wool jersey bathing suits; showcase her practical use of fabric with aesthetic design (Yohannan, 1998)

McCardell was once told that if she stoped designing

for herself and began designing for women she might have

a chance. (Kirkland 1975, pg219), McCardell chose to

ignore this piece of advice. She understood what women

needed and wanted, often before they did and it was often

radical and misunderstood. Why should she look to Paris

to dress the American lifestyle? Her predictions,

although sometimes before her time were eventually

embraced because her clothing was versatile, practical

and answerable to the women who wore it.

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Coco Chanel and Claire McCardell both achieved

remarkable feats in changing the way the world perceived

fashion. The great wars had changed the way the world

operated and both designers had watched and experienced

the major changes that were happening around them and

embraced them. Fashions that inhibited movement, was

unnecessarily adorned or restricting did not support the

new opportunities that were excitingly available.

Although McCardell and Chanel were designing at opposite

ends of the market, both knew what women wanted and what

women needed. Their ability to see things differently,

think out of the box led both women to create practical,

comfortable and elegant designs. McCardell and Chanel

managed to produce timeless classic clothing, that

continues to be referenced and has completely changed the

way we dress today.

Reference List

Arnold, R 2008. The American Look: Sportswear, Fashion and the Image of Women in 1930s and 1940s New York. I. B. Tauris.USA

Cosgrave, B 2012. Vogue on: Coco Chanel (Vogue on Designers). Edition. Quadrille Publishing Ltd, U.S.A

Leymarie, M 2010. Eternal Chanel: An Icon's Inspiration. THAMES & HUDSON Edition. Thames & Hudson.USA

Kirkland,S 1975. American Fashion: The Life and Lines of Adrian, Mainbocher, McCardell, Norell, and Trigere .Quadrangle/New York Times Book Co.USA

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Martin, R 1998. American Ingenuity: Sportswear 1930s-1970s. Edition. Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA

Morris,B 1994, ‘DESIGN REVIEW; Up-to-date Clothes, Ahead of Their Time’, The New York Times, 30 December. C18

Simon, L 2011. Coco Chanel. Reaktion Books.UK

Yohannan, K 1998. Claire Mccardell Redefining Modernism. Harry N. Abrams.

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