Before It Went Off the Rack, French Fashion Had American Help

When French fashion started making clothes off the rack, it had help from garment makers in the United States. That's the whole story on file, and it's worth a moment on our archive shelf. Behind the famous French names and the idea of French elegance, American factories helped make prêt-à-porter ready for customers everywhere. For readers who care about who made a garment as much as whose name is on it, that's a very good piece of provenance.

With reporting from WWD Fashion.