Translating the “French Legend”

Abstract

The early twentieth century saw dramatic growth in America’s garment industry, and textile mass manufacturers aimed to efficiently produce lucrative goods. Fashions were set by Paris. Rather than compete with this authority, American businessmen capitalized on it by reinterpreting or reproducing these styles for a clientele that demanded French looks. To this end, mills subscribed to Parisian design intelligence services: pioneer companies such as J. Claude Frères et Cie gathered textile swatches of novelties and current styles and sent them by mail to customers around the world. These sample subscriptions vastly increased the efficiency of trend researching for American manufacturers. Staff at American mills might duplicate a sample’s pattern or construction exactly, but the majority of samples were modified or informed design direction. This study seeks to broaden the scarce historical narrative on sampling companies’ relationships to American textile manufacturing by tracking fashion dissemination through the medium of these sample swatches.