Author Talk with Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson, on Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free

In her highly-acclaimed, non-fiction book named by The New York Times Book Review as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2025, author and journalist Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson examines the life and trailblazing accomplishments of Claire McCardell, the “most influential fashion designer you’ve never heard of.”

Pockets in women's clothes? The wrap dress? Ballet flats? Zippers women could open and close themselves (because women, as McCardell reportedly said, “may live alone and like it”)? We have fashion designer McCardell to thank for all of those—and Evitts Dickinson to thank for telling her tale, in Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free (Simon & Schuster, 2025).

Evitts Dickinson will share some of that tale here, at Kingsborough, when she is joined in conversation with Michael Palladino, seasoned fashion aficionado and lecturer in Kingsborough’s Business of Fashion program, on April 30, 12-1:30 p.m., in The Cove (U101A). An audience Q&A will follow.

Don’t want to wait until April to learn about how the designer described as “the girl who defied Dior” became popular yet forgotten? Read more about McCardell in this The New York Times book review.

This event is free and open to the KCC community and the public. Register here.