American Ingenuity: Sportswear, 1930s-1970s

"Beginning in the early 1930s, American designer sportswear came into its own, later becoming a major force in fashion that continued into the 1990s to influence the way women dress. Designers such as Bonnie Cashin, Tina Leser, Vera Maxwell, Claire McCardell, Clare Potter, and Emily Wilkens initiated a new standard of dressing, one that is right for the lifestyle of the modern woman and that is purely American in its practicality, simplicity, and democratic elements ... Richard Martin, Curator of The Costume Institute, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, has brought these designers together again, and his text both examines their position and import as a historical group and discusses their individual accomplishments. His introduction includes period photographs of models wearing the clothes and a discussion of the history of the group, which is integrally related to The Museum of Costume Art in New York City ... The body of this book is divided into five sections, which provide a view of the individual fashions along with discussions of the characteristics and techniques of a number of the innovators of American sportswear"--From publisher's description.