Volume 22: Women's wear and society fashion, 1959 - 1960

Volume 22 includes coverage of Mainbocher's biannual collections, as well as miscellaneous articles and photographs of his designs for socialites, and coverage of him being the first person in the fashion field to receive a Navy Meritorious Public Service award in July 1960.

For Fall/Winter 1959 he showed a slightly lowered waistline and a longer suit jacket. In Spring/Summer of 1960 his clothes looked both forward and back; he revived some of his own bias cuts from the 1930s, but introduced longer suit jackets with low cut, collarless necklines worn with high neck blouses. For Fall/Winter 1960 the big news was the he endorsed the culotte, or divided skirt; this was surprising since nearly all Seventh Avenue designers were also making them. He also introduced his "rain suit," which consisted of a three-quarter length flared coat over an equally flared skirt in beige water-repellent canvas. In this and other volumes there are random newspaper photographs of brides (i.e. Kate Roosevelt, grandaughter of FDR) without a caption, but since they were clipped by Mainbocher's service we are to assume that Mainbocher designed the wedding gowns. In the timespan covered in this volume he designed gowns for several of his clients for high-profile events. They include Mrs. Winston Guest and Glora Vanderbilt Lumet for the Embassy Ball in November 1959; for Guest, Diana Vreeland, Mrs. Edsel Ford and Ms. Benson Ford to wear to Charlotte Ford's coming out party in December 1959; and for Mrs. Charles Engelhard and daughter Anne Engelhard for Anne's engagement party and wedding in March 1960.

Loose items in folders include a typed contents page; a program from the WAVES National Reunion in Dallas, Texas from July 1960; and two large photographs of two of Mainbocher's models wearing clothing from his Fall 1960 collection.