Kleren maken de vrouw presents an easy story of a young woman who has abandoned her studies in art in Amsterdam, and starts studying fashion design in The Hague. It tells the story how she applied to be accepted at the fashion academy. There is one chapter that is entirely made up of letters.The rest of the story shows how she gets along with her best friend, who studies fashion drawing at the same school.

The novel presents a very easy story, that could easily be dismissed as pulp fiction. Kleren maken de vrouw is the first published novel of Hella S. Haasse. Particularly the topic and the style of Kleren maken de vrouw seem to make it very much a "woman's" (if there is ever such a thing). However, Haasse was commisioned to write the novel for the book series Carrière in 1946, shortly after the war. Ideas about women going to school and studying to learn a profession aimed at working and developing a career for themselves were likely still novel, and showed a great sense of practical emancipation. The simplicity of language in the book and the chatty style would likely be adopted to please an intended readership of young women who came out of the 5-year war period and were considering perspectives on life and work. Both in the topic and in the way the novel was written, the novel should be regarded as modern for the time it was written, namely in the mid- to late 1940s.

Advertisements in newspapers in 1947 promoted the series as a series of novels each based on a profession, written for young readers. The aim of the series and the novels was to offer readers an overview and introduction to that profession and the world of people working in that branch. An advertisement in De Tijd: Dagblad voor Nederland of 22 November 1947, advertised 7 volumes in the series, for careers in branches such as Hospitality, Sports, Journalism, and Beauty. The authors of the other novels have long been forgotten. Only Hella Haasse developed into a novelist of great stature.

Other novels in the series included:

Gastheer in het groot by Gerhard Werkman (Hospitality)
Koopvrouw in illusies by Gerda Siemer (Beauty)
Van onze speciale verslaggever by T. Ramaker (Journalism)
Spanning op spoor 11 by J. I. Dorgelo (Railway)
Tussen ringen en rekken by K.Rot and J. Kammeyer (Sport)

Kleren maken de vrouw by Hella Haasse was commisioned for the series to introduce young readers to the world of fashion.

Unlike the other writers, Hella S. Haasse went on to become one of the greatest Dutch writers of the 20th century. In fact, her most famous prize-winning novella Oeroeg was written and published the following year, in 1948, followed by het great historical novel on the life of Charles, Duke of Orléans, as Het woud der verwachting in 1949. (In a Dark Wood Wandering). ( )

2 vriendinnen staan aan het begin van hun volwassen leven. Reina krijgtbde kans een opleiding voor modetekeneares te volgen als protegee van een rijke dame. ( )