Word: dirndl
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...what countless ads have presented as the ideal American beauty-tall, slim, long-legged." As one of the most un-American types imaginable (short, curvy, unathletic), I would like to testify that McCardell's clothes have been as if made-to-order for me from the early dirndl and Monastics through to the recent classic shirtwaist...
Rivets & Diapers. The list of McCardell firsts stretches back 20 years. She was the first to modernize the dirndl skirt (1938) and the first to use trouser pockets and pleats in women's clothes (1938). She was the first with the widely copied "Monastic" dress, a full and shapeless forerunner of the pleated Grecian sheath and all the other unwaisted dresses. It seemed to have no form. But when it was belted on, it did great things for the female figure. It was McCardell who first started using blue-jean stitching for design in rough denims...
...Claire to turn out a collection. Says she: "I did what everybody else did in those days-copied Paris. The collection wasn't great, but it sold." Flushed with confidence, Designer McCardell began to experiment. But often her designs were too advanced for the market. She did a dirndl skirt, for example, and no one wanted it. Geiss, now retired, sadly recalls: "Two years later they were all over the place...
Last fall, it was a cinch to cinch yourself. This spring your dirndl cries for a waist-whittling belt, of even wider and more alluring contours. After extensive tests, our model hit upon shiny cowhide contrasted strikingly with even-textured cottons. Departures from standard materials--straw, dog-leases, and metal--will spice up informal, summery outfits...
...dirndl of highly glazed chintz, "Yes" to the bashful young man at the dance, "No" to the man who's been living in France...