History Museum Spotlights Fashion Innovator Claire McCardell August 25

GREENSBORO, NC (August 14, 2025) The Greensboro History Museum and the UNCG Department of Consumer, Apparel, and Retail Studies will host a discussion with award-winning writer Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson at 6 pm, Monday, August 25 at the museum, 130 Summit Ave. Dickinson will discuss her new book, Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free, about the highly influential, but often overlooked, women’s wear designer.

From the 1930s to the 1950s Claire McCardell popularized comfort and practicality in women’s clothing with zippers, pockets, ballet flats, and more. McCardell’s work reinvented American sportswear and set women free from the severe, hyper-feminized silhouette championed by male designers after World War II.

Dickinson’s work has been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Harper’s, The Washington Post Magazine, and many other publications. A book signing follows the discussion and copies will be available for sale from Scuppernong Books. Admission is free but seats are limited. Guests are encouraged to reserve online at greensborohistory.org/rsvp.

This program is another in the museum’s John Floy Wicker Endowment Series, created by Ruth Perkins Wicker in memory of her husband in 1995. The endowment has supported a variety of free public programs at the museum.

The Greensboro History Museum, an AAM-accredited Smithsonian Affiliate, is a division of the City of Greensboro Library Department and operates as a public-private partnership with the nonprofit GHM Inc. In partnership with the community, the Greensboro History Museum collects the city’s diverse history and connects people to that history and one another through engaging exhibits, educational programs and community dialogue. Located in Downtown Greensboro’s Cultural District, the museum is open Tuesdays–Saturdays 10 am to 5 pm and Sundays 2-5 pm. Admission is free.