“Claire who?”
American sportswear designer Claire McCardell’s name may not resonate with influencers but they may recognize her impact. Ballet flats, the tent-shaped Monastic dress, spaghetti straps, the “Popover” wrap dress and nine interchangeable sportswear pieces were some of her revolutionizing contributions. Now decades after McCardell’s death in 1958 at the age of 52, admirers in her hometown of Frederick, Md., are planning a 7-foot statue in her honor. Led by the Frederick Art Club, the Claire McCardell Project is more than one-third of the way to reaching its $209,000 fundraising goal, according to the project’s chairwoman Linda Moran.
Sculptor Sarah Hempel Irani plans to present a scale model for what will be a bronze statue at the Oct. 11 launch party in her studio. The sculpture is expected to take 18 months to create from start-to-finish, barring any fund-raising or administrative red tape. The sculptor started with a photo of McCardell retrieved from the archives of Hood College, where the designer studied before spending a year in Paris and enrolling at Parsons. Irani hired a model, dressed her like McCardell and photographed her in multiple poses to try to get a likeness. “There’s a little bit of magic there from my
American sportswear designer Claire McCardell’s name may not resonate with influencers but they may recognize her impact. Ballet flats, the tent-shaped Monastic dress, spaghetti straps, the “Popover” wrap dress and nine interchangeable sportswear pieces were some of her revolutionizing contributions. Now decades after McCardell’s death in 1958 at the age of 52, admirers in her hometown of Frederick, Md., are planning a 7-foot statue in her honor. Led by the Frederick Art Club, the Claire McCardell Project is more than one-third of the way to reaching its $209,000 fundraising goal, according to the project’s chairwoman Linda Moran.
Sculptor Sarah Hempel Irani plans to present a scale model for what will be a bronze statue at the Oct. 11 launch party in her studio. The sculpture is expected to take 18 months to create from start-to-finish, barring any fund-raising or administrative red tape. The sculptor started with a photo of McCardell retrieved from the archives of Hood College, where the designer studied before spending a year in Paris and enrolling at Parsons. Irani hired a model, dressed her like McCardell and photographed her in multiple poses to try to get a likeness. “There’s a little bit of magic there from my