American years (1940–1971)
The onset of Second World War forced Mainbocher to leave France. In 1940, he relocated his business to New York on 57th Street next to Tiffany's and established "Mainbocher Inc." He recreated his Paris salons exactly as they were and stayed to true to haute couture traditions.
The corset controversy proved to be a timely marketing opportunity; the house of Mainbocher teamed up with the Warner Brothers Corset Company and streamlined the design for mass production.[3] He showed his first New York collection on October 30, 1940, and soon established himself as one of the leading American fashion designers. He solved fabric rationing issues by designing short evening gowns and "cocktail aprons" that could transform any dress into a formal evening dress.
During the war, Mainbocher designed a series of uniforms for both military and civilian organizations, applying his principles of functionality and utility while retaining the style of his namesake label. These uniforms also allowed him to reclaim his American identity in a patriotic context. In 1942, he conceived the uniforms for the women-only division of the American Navy, called WAVES.[12] He then updated the uniforms of the American Red Cross,[13] and in 1948, he unified the uniforms of Girl Scouts in the same shade of green. In 1950, he designed a one of a kind evening dress uniform for Colonel Katherine Amelia Towle, who was then Director of Women Marines (USMCR).[14] This unique uniform is now on display at the armory of the Newport Artillery Company in Newport, Rhode Island.
In New York, Mainbocher continued to dress generations of women like debutante Brenda Frazier, Doris Duke, Adele Astaire, Elizabeth Parke Firestone, Gloria Vanderbilt, Lila Wallace, Bunny Mellon, Babe Paley, Princess Maria Cristina de Bourbon, Kathryn Miller, and C. Z. Guest.[3] In 1947, eight of the New York Dress Institute's Ten Best-Dressed Women in the World were Mainbocher clients.[2]
After he achieved fame for dressing some of the world's most famous women, Mainbocher was commissioned to design the costumes for Leonora Corbett in the comic play Blithe Spirit (1941); Mary Martin in the Broadway musicals One Touch of Venus (1943) and The Sound of Music (1959); Tallulah Bankhead in the Broadway production Private Lives (1948); Ethel Merman in the musical Call Me Madam (1950); Rosalind Russell in the musical Wonderful Town (1953); Lynn Fontanne in The Great Sebastians (1956); Katharine Cornell in The Prescott Papers; Irene Worth in the play Tiny Alice (1964); and Lauren Bacall in the musical Applause (1970).[3]
In 1961, the Mainbocher business moved to the K.L.M. Building on Fifth Avenue and continued until 1971 when Mainbocher, at the age of 81, closed the doors of his house. He divided his last years between Paris and Munich until his death in 1976.
