Mainbocher

In 1948, the Girl Scouts commissioned Mainbocher to design its uniforms.

Vanderbilt also donated two Mainbocher evening gowns with high waists and three quarter-length sleeves.

The president of Wellesley became its first commander, and the French-American couturier Mainbocher was brought in to design its dashingly fitted uniform, which, some felt, was “the most flattering piece of clothing they ever owned.”

Mainbocher produced some of the most expensive clothes in the world—more costly than Christian Dior CDI 0.32 % ’s.

He is the subject of the exhibition “Making Mainbocher: The First American Couturier,” opening this weekend, at the Chicago History Museum and running through Aug. 20, 2017.