"Life's Dress" (Life, April 12 1943)

I've often wondered why nobody has ever written a biography of Hattie Carnegie (1886-1956).  She was not only one of America's first "name" fashion designers and a successful businesswoman, but as she started from the bottom and worked her way up her life was a true rags-to-riches story as well. 

Born in Vienna as Hattie Kanengeiser she immigrated to Manhattan's Lower East Side with her family as a child.  Her career began when she left school at the age of eleven to take a job at Macy's.  In 1909 she set up her first business—a hat shop—with a partner, whom she later bought out.  By the 1940s she was producing three ready-to-wear lines: Hattie Carnegie Originals, Spectator Sports and Hatnegie, as well as custom made fashions for individual clients.

A number of well-known fashion designers worked for her before striking out on their own.  These include Norman Norrell, Pauline Trigérie, and Galanos.

She specialised in simple dresses and neat suits, so it's not surprising that the United States Government hired her to design the uniform for the WAC in World War II.

She was also sufficiently well known to the general public for Life to commission her to design this dress for home dressmakers in 1943.  In the wake of World War II do-it-yourself dressmaking suddenly became very popular on the home front!

Though clothing wasn't rationed in the United States as it was in Great Britain and other countries, economy was the word of the day.  You'll notice that this pattern is laid out in a way that makes use of ever scrap of material!  You'll also notice that though the design is stylish, it doesn't have any extraneous details.

Life pointed out that it would cost $175 to have this dress made up at Hattie Carnegie's workshop (that is about $2,500 today) as opposed to as little as $5 (that is around $72) at home!