An American designer who made waves

You probably did not know that the designer behind strapless dresses, beaded sweaters and other fashion staples was once a plainclothes spy for the United States government. Neither did the curator Petra Slinkard before her research for Making Mainbocher: the First American Couturier, the first comprehensive exhibition on the career of Main Rousseau Bocher, which opens at the Chicago History Museum in Chicago, Illinois on 22 October. The greatest discovery [while organising the show] is how com