Announcing an exciting evening celebrating the definitive new book about the life and legacy of fashion pioneer and Frederick native Claire McCardell! Book author Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson will share insights from Claire McCardell: The Designer Who Set Women Free, to be released by Simon & Schuster on June 17, 2025.

The book talk and reception will take place Wednesday, June 25, 2025, at 6:30 PM at the C. Burr Artz Library, 110 E. Patrick Street, Frederick, Maryland. The event is sponsored by The Frederick Art Club, and proceeds will benefit the club’s art scholarship fund.

Early reviewers are calling the book “riveting” and filled with “buried treasure.”  Dickinson’s book is far more than a fashion history; it’s also the story of a person with ambition and vision who rose to the upper echelons of an industry at a time when women couldn’t even open their own bank account. The book offers an intimate glimpse into McCardell’s life, and Dickinson has promised that she’ll reveal a few little-known details about the designer at the June 25 reception.

“Among my biggest research questions was understanding Claire’s personal life, specifically her marriage to Irving Drought Harris, a socialite architect with two children and a scandalous divorce from an international heiress of a sugar fortune,” Dickinson said. “In addition to illuminating how McCardell became one of the first women to run her own garment firm and get her name on her own fashion label, my book takes you inside a marriage that was kept very private in her lifetime.”

The book offers a compelling look at McCardell’s young life in Frederick through her years in the fashion industry, where her revolutionary design concepts claimed a lasting influence on modern fashion.

Allison Tolman, a McCardell aficionado and a Smithsonian collections manager, will introduce the author and moderate the discussion.

Tickets for this event are $38, which includes a signed copy of the book along with a reception featuring McCardell’s favorite treat—angel food cake—and beverages. Seating is limited and the deadline for ticket purchases is June 9.

To learn more and purchase tickets, visit www.frederickartclub.com/new-claire-book-signing.