THE 1950s BELONGED TO AMERICA. The country led in postwar economic recovery and industrial production; refrigerators, televisions, and automobiles were churned out in huge quantities for the vast numbers of new families relocating to the sprawling suburbs. Despite a swing toward social and political conservatism in the 1950s, American culture was at the forefront of modern art—in painting, sculpture, theater, and literature, as well as contemporary music in the form of jazz and rock ’n’ roll. In the field of design, American architects, furniture designers, and textile artists were internationally influential. And now even American fashion designers were being recognized as