History of the American Look

September 27, 2021

Last Updated on May 11, 2023 by Dominique de Merteuil

A brief history of The American Look

Have you ever found a book so fascinating on a topic, that it inspired you to follow up with another book and another until you fell down the rabbit hole of research? My journey began as a classic blue pill, red pill scenario.

Of course, I chose the latter. Four weeks, seven books, and copious amounts of coffee later, It’s been quite a journey, but now I believe that I can see the light. Clarity at last!

The topic of my research? The birth of the American style, or more specifically, the origins of the American Look.

Sportswear Fashion & the American Look

Anyone who is familiar with fashion history will be aware of what I’m talking about, Wikipedia describes it under the title of “Sportwear fashion”.

But obviously, there’s a lot more to it than that and many, many volumes were written that go into far greater detail. Trust me, I know!

What I wanted to share with you though, is my condensed version of its history, for the most part by using direct quotes from the source material and it’s that source material that I hope you’ll follow up with, like me, into the rabbit hole. Before continuing though, I’ll headline this with a warning.

After reading the books from my recommended list, you will never look at American and French fashion the same way again. So, proceed at your peril!

The Business of Being a Woman – The Fashions of American Women in 1912 and Lack of Original Designs.

My journey started with a brilliant find; The Business of Being a Woman, by Ida.M Tarbell, 1921. This book included an article written by Ida, who was a writer, muckraking journalist and lecturer, that first appeared in the August 1912 edition of The American Magazine, and was later  published in her riveting book under the chapter; “The Woman and her Raiment.”

The Woman and her Raiment

There are certain industrial and ethical results from this preoccupation with clothes which should not be overlooked, particularly the indifference to quality which it has engendered. The very heart of the question of clothes of the American woman is imitation. That is, we are not engaged in an effort to work out individuality. We are not engaged in an effort to find costumes which by their expression of the taste and the spirit of this people can be fixed upon as appropriate American costumes, something of our own. From top to bottom we are copying. The woman of wealth goes to Paris and Vienna for the real masterpieces in a season’s wardrobe. The great dressmakers and milliners go to the same cities for their models. Those who cannot go abroad to seek inspiration and ideas copy those who have gone or the fashion plates they import. (…) From start to finish it is imitation, and on this imitation vast industries are built—imitations of silk, of velvet, of lace, of jewels. (…) We have failed so far to develop standards of taste, fitness, and quality, strong, sure, and good enough effectually to impose themselves. There is no national taste in dress; there is only admirable skill in adapting fashions made in other countries. (…) The very general adoption of the ugly and meaningless fashions of the last few years—peach-basket hats, hobble skirts, slippers for the street—is a case in point. From every side this is bad—defeating its own purpose—corrupting national taste and wasting national substance

Ida.M Tarbell

The Need for Distinctly American Style

The separation from Parisian influence.

As early as 1912, there was an overwhelming need for a distinctly American style and separation from what was perceived as a foreign influence on fashion.  Not so much on the part of the American female buyers who didn’t know better, but rather the American female visionaries working in the fashion industry.

A Very Brief History of The Fashion Group International Inc., founded in 1931

The Fashion Group International Inc. was the leading women’s professional organization in the American fashion industry.

(From Archives of the New York Public Library)

• In 1928, 17  professional women in the fashion industry, gathered by Edna Woolman Chase, Editor-In-Chief of Vogue met in New York City at the Mary Elizabeth Tea Room to talk about the plans and mission for a club.
• In 1930, the Fashion Group is incorporated, with by-laws, a purpose and an official mission statement.

“The Fashion Group is a national noncommercial association of women engaged in fashion work, formed to advance the principles of applied art in industry and to foster good taste in fashions; to encourage the cooperation of those engaged in conceiving, designing, and executing fashions; and, through education and the dissemination of useful information, to inspire a keener interest in fashion industries, to the end that those engaged in the field of fashion may better serve themselves and the public at large.”

Founding members of the Fashion Group

Elizabeth Arden, Margaret Case, Eleanor Roosevelt, Helena Rubinstein, Julia Coburn, Lily Dache, Jessica Daves, Nan Duskin, Edith Head, Claire McCardel, Clare Potter, Virginia Pope, Dorothy Shaver, Adele Simpson, Carmel Snow, Miss Tobe.

• In 1931 placement Bureau is established. The number of members is growing and by the end of the year, it comes to 375.
• From 1932 onwards, Regional Fashion Groups are established. Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco etc.
• In 1935 the first “Fashion Futures” show presented the best trends from Paris.
• 1954 – the year that the Anual Fashion Training Course is established.
• In 1956 Paris becomes the first Regional Group established outside the USA.
• And finally, in 1957 scholarship fund is established

Fashion is Spinach, by Elizabeth Hawes, 1938 -the leading figure in the American design movement.

If you are interested in the topic of American fashion and have time to read only one book at the moment, “Fashion is Spinach” is the one to choose from. Elizabeth Hawes was a successful American designer and a brilliant writer. She was one of the biggest critics of the Parisian style. Having worked there as a copyist of French couture designs and learning the business inside and out, she challenged French fashion supremacy. Most importantly, Hawes helped to shift the centre of the fashion industry from Paris to NYC. Again, I’ll select a few choice highlights from it to share with you.

Ready-To-Made versus Haute Couture

“There are only two kinds of women in the world of clothing. One buys her clothes made-to-order, the other buys her clothes ready-made. Fashion is a parasite on style. Without style, he wouldn’t exist, but what he does to it is nobody’s business. Fashion is that horrid little man with an evil eye who tells you that your last winter’s coat may be in perfect physical condition, but you can’t wear it. You can’t wear it because it has a belt and this year “we are not showing belts. (…)

The catch was, of course, that although this was apparent in France where there were many designers working out their new ideas and trying them out slowly, in America there were practically no designers. And the American buyers were funny people. They always bought the new version of what they had already seen the season before. They never even looked at the really new things. Manufacturers and department stores are not in business to experiment. They are in business to make money. In the realm of clothes, they are very happy to have the French couturier experiment.”

The Great Depression & Dorothy Shaver’s Master Plan to Promote American Designers

“While men may have set out with disapproving an inexpensive manner of living because it indicated an inability to spend much, and so indicated a lack of pecuniary success, they end by falling into the habit of disapproving cheap things as being intrinsically dishonourable or unworthy because they are cheap. ”

“A cheap coat makes a cheap man,”  The Theory of the Leisure Class, by Thorstein Veblen, 1899.

Well, Veblen was right to say; “A cheap coat makes a cheap man,” but the Great Depression saw a drop in sales and a general change in consumers’ attitudes towards shopping and parting with their hard-earned money.

• French models were expensive. An increase in duties meant that few in the fashion industry could afford to buy them. On top of that, copies of original designs were available to purchase for a fraction of the price. And that was all that mattered to women on a budget.

• Dorothy Shaver finally saw an opportunity to create an American fashion for American women, free of the Parisian influence. Shaver chose three American designers: Elizabeth Hawes, Annette Simpson, and Edith Reuss, to create beautiful yet comfortable and easy-to-care-for, mass-produced clothes for women on different budgets.

• It was the first and moderately successful attempt in creating American sportswear/leisurewear for active modern women who enjoyed outdoor activities. The concept of designer sportswear was not a new one. It originated in France in the 1920s, attributed to the two big rivals Jean Patou and Coco Chanel as its creators.

To quote Elizabeth Hawes in Fashion is Spinach yet again;

“Promoting American Designers was a press stunt for Lord and Taylor. There was the depression. They needed business. What to do? American Designers.”

Unfortunately, despite Shaver’s prowess as a brilliant PR and good press reception, Vogue insisted that Paris still ruled American fashion. Putting American designers on the map wasn’t an easy task, and up until Shaver’s “stunt” for Lord & Taylor no one has ever mentioned American designers by name. She was the first one to do so!

Why the press didn’t mention American fashion designers by their name.

“The New York newspapers developed a uniform policy of mentioning no American names at all in their fashion columns. They often use a little box advising the public to write in and ask where the articles or garments mentioned can be bought. Sometimes they simply write up certain clothes or print pictures of them as general news without any possible identification of the source. The paper protects itself in this manner from the competitive jealousies of its advertisers and at the same time allows the fashion writer to talk about non-advertisers. ” Fashion is Spinach

The manufacturers were not keen on the idea either. They knew that it would give the overworked and often underpaid designer too much power.

The Great American Design Movement

“I reflected on the Great American Design movement, so blithely begun by Lord and Taylor in 1932. Now it was the spring of 1934 and one heard comparatively little of the American Designers. A good many people had originally insisted that there weren’t any.

Then, because Lord and Taylor told them and other stores promoted because dozens of articles were written on American Designers, everyone became convinced there must be some somewhere. And, in fact, myriads of people turned into American Designers who had never been seen before and have never been heard of since.

What had become of that widely hailed “means of stimulating business” in the dress industry? I’ll tell you what became of it. It simply wasn’t profitable. We were a promotion which was dropped because, after a while, either you must show a profit or go the way of all flesh.

The American Design movement had to fall on its face in 1932.

There just weren’t enough trained designers. The designers will learn, finally.

They will graduate more quickly from their infancy if the stores and manufacturers stop throwing France in their faces and will let them use the background God gave them. The designers will find out what the public wants if the stores will stop concentrating on promotions for a while and begin to worry about the specific needs of their clientele. (…) They(Lord and Taylor) promoted another set of American designers, Clare Potter and Muriel King. The promotions were widely publicized as well as advertised. A flood of articles on American Designers came out in newspapers and magazines all over the U. S. A. ”  Fashion is Spinach

Dorothy Shaver Continued to Heavily Promote American Designers who Understood the Needs of American Women & their Active Lifestyle.

When the Germans occupied Paris, the USA was suddenly cut off from the capital of fashion. And that’s when NYC saw its chance to develop and cultivate the American style. Not to mention that shopping for American-made products was a patriotic thing to do during World War II.

In the first wave, we had names such as; Muriel King, Annette Simpson, Clare Potter, Nettie Rosenstein, Sally Milgrim, and Elizabeth Hawes.

Shaver was an unstoppable PR force who made sure that the name of every designer was in print. Thanks to her; Claire McCardell, Vera Maxwell, Adele Simpson, Jo Copeland, Tina Leser, Bonnie Cashin and Anne Fogarty were on everybody’s lips.

Claire McCardell & the American Look

My last but not least book recommendation is Claire McCardell’s little gem from 1956, entitled What Shall I Wear? In a nutshell, it’s the designer’s fashion philosophy and detailed guide on what to wear and what to avoid to look effortlessly chic. And even though the book was published 60 years ago, her advice is as current now as it was then.

“I think a closer look will tell you that one universal statment can be made about any well-dressed woman.” She has spent time on her clothes.” Not a lot of money necessarily. Not where she shops-nor whose label she wears. But time(plus energy and patience and imagination)-all her own.”

Eleanor Lambert & the American Look

The American Look Campaign

It was one of the most memorable and successful advertising campaigns in the 1940s created by Shaver to promote American fashion for American women. It was the birth of the American Style.

What is The American Look?

The American Look involves many things- a natural manner, freshness and enthusiasm, a friendly smile, an easy, confident stride with head held high, an unaffected elegance in make-up and dress. It’s that certain kind of American figure-long-legged, broad-shouldered, slim-waisted, high-bosomed.” On the pages that follow LIFE Photographer, Nina Leen translates these qualities into pictures.

LIFE magazine, 21 May 1945.

My Version of the American Look – Elegance Meets Comfort

One of my favourite American brands popular in the 1940s and 1950s is Handmacher. This 1940s black and green skirt suit is a new addition to my growing Handmacher collection and a perfect representation of the American Look.

She walks erect, holds her head high and she is not nonplussed by the admiring glances or whistles that follow her.

The quintessential American wardrobe staple-the shirt dress!

Suits, separates, shirtwaist dresses-smartly tailored, cut for comfort-here are clothes that should be a mainstay in any wardrobe. They are gifted clothes that go round the clock-round the world with a distinguished air. (…) They are in tune with busy lives; commute well; look at home in the office, at the best restaurants, at the theater.

Claire McCardell in her book “What Shall I Wear?”

I’ve recently purchased this 1940s shirt dress that is officially one of the most comfortable and versatile garments I own, a must-have item described in 1942 by Sylvia Weaver, LA Times Fashion Editor, as a dress that fits the needs of a career woman. Be it business or leisure, a shirt dress will never disappoint or go out of style.

DISCLOSURE: As of October 2021, I’m part of an affiliate program, and I get a small commission for purchases made through links in the Shop My Favourites section. That’s how I keep my website alive, for which I’m very grateful to you. All opinions expressed here are mine! 

SHOP MY FAVOURITE VINTAGE PIECES

 The 1940s sportswear

And last but not least, an ensemble example without which an article about the American Look would be incomplete. The 1940s sportswear! I’ve been looking for a 1940s Koret of California Sportswear skirt suit for years now, and luck has it that I found a spectacular one quite recently.

I purchased this rare beauty from the listitcafe shop on Etsy. Christine has extraordinary taste and therefore you will find some fabulous vintage pieces in her shop!

I hope you enjoyed my article about the American Look and my book recommendations. If you would like to show your support for my blog and help with further fashion history research, please donate to my book fund. Thank you!

Dominique x