This beautifully illustrated book is the first to examine the relationship between innovation and aesthetics as expressed by American couturiers and fashion designers from the late 1910s to the present day. The book, which accompanies a major exhibition at The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, reveals that great design and great style were consistent elements in the work of American’s best fashion designers.

Patricia Mears introduces many great forgotten figures, as well as many familiar names: work by lesser-known figures such as Jessie Franklin Turner, Ro...