Empresses of Seventh Avenue World War II, New York City, and the birth of American fashion

Paris dominated all things fashionable during the three centuries preceding WWII. Louis XIV, who exerted control over everything from court dress to guild membership to the manufacturing of mirrors, established international standards. While WWI barely caused a ripple, the WWII Nazi invasion of Paris and the subsequent blow to Parisian couture created mass pandemonium. Prolific journalist and fashion historian MacDonell (The Classic Ten, 2003) meticulously documents the deliberate and incredibly successful campaign mounted by clothing manufacturers, the media, and politicians to promote American design and make New York City the fashion capital of the world. She concentrates on the women who orchestrated these changes, providing satisfying profiles of archrivals and competitors like Edna Woolman Chase, the editor in chief of Vogue, and her avowed enemy, Carmel Snow of Harper's Bazaar, and also highlights the battle between ready-to-wear and haute couture. MacDonell effortlessly weaves in period detail: celebrities and the uber-rich, luxury liners, society galas, department stores, gossip columnists, magazine fashion spreads. The story ends in 1973 with the triumphant victory of American fashion at the much-ballyhooed "Battle of Versailles" fashion show. This rich, engaging, and insightful title will enhance fashion history and popular culture collections.

Fashion writer MacDonell (The Classic Ten) delivers a colorful chronicle of the female journalists, designers, and retailers who revolutionized American style during WWII. American designers, who'd long deferred to French couturiers for inspiration, were at a loss after the Nazis invaded France in 1940, according to the author. Thankfully, with the "flow of ideas" from Paris cut off, a coterie of New York fashion innovators stepped up to the plate. They included designer Claire McCardell, who introduced comfortable ready-to-wear separates marketed to working women; Lord & Taylor vice president Dorothy Shaver, who spearheaded promotional campaigns spotlighting American designers; and Harper's Bazaar editor Diana Vreeland and photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe, who teamed up for fashion shoots that depicted the confident and athletic "modern American woman." By the war's end, the popularity of the "American Look" and the country's supercharged mass production capabilities had elevated New York City to a fashion capital on par with Paris. MacDonnell's fine-grained character studies (Dahl-Wolfe could be "huffy and thin-skinned, especially if she thought another photographer was infringing on her territory") complement her fascinating insights into the political and cultural forces that ushered in a new era of American style. Fashionistas won't be able to put this one down. (Aug.)