The Fashion Arts Society was founded in 2010 as well, with great response. The organization hosted their first fundraiser for the department, an after-party for the IMA fashion show Project IMA: Fashion Unbound titled Behind the Seams. The event went off without a hitch, and enjoyed by all who attended. FAS membership is growing steadily and the FAS calendar for 2011 will not disappoint.

In November the exhibition, Read My Pins, the Madeleine Albright Collection opened at the IMA with great success. The installation is beautiful and the catalogue accompanying the exhibition is a delight.
Dr. Albright visited the museum in early November, for a book signing and lecture, which was one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had to date. Dr. Albright is as witty as she is smart and I think I am not alone in saying that everyone left the Toby that evening smiling.

This year the department also acquired about 45 new acquisitions, two of which is a dress (1972) by Halston (now on view on the IMA’s 3rd floor just outside the entrance for the Fashion Arts Gallery) and a complete Rudi Gernreich Japanese schoolboy ensemble (1967).

ensemble; ‘Japanese schoolboy’, 1967 by Rudi Gernreich (2010.205a-f) Caroline Marmon Fesler Fund

All of the museum’s recent acquisitions are featured on the IMA’s dashboard. However, here are just a few.

dress, 1966 by Rudi Gernreich (2010.71) Mr. and Mrs. William B. Ansted, Jr. Art Fund

The dress is a companion piece for this coat acquired by the IMA in 2008. coat, 1966, by Rudi Gernreich (2008.199) Lucille Stewart Endowed Art Fund

In 1966, Gernreich created a line featuring animal patterns of which this tiger print dress and coat are examples.  It was a Coty Award winning line.

dress, 1986 by Zandra Lindsey Rhodes (2010.74A-B) Gift of Alfred Shands

The print for this dress, style number 86/6, named ‘Peacock godets’ was inspired by a trip Rhodes took to India.

quilt; ‘Morning Glory’, 1912 by Marie D. Webster (2010.79) Webster Collection, Gift of Katherine Webster Dwight

The IMA has several of Marie D. Webster‘s quilts and patterns in the collection already. Morning Glory was published in a 1912 issue of Ladies Home Journal and the pattern for this quilt is also housed in the IMA’s permanent collection (S7289.91a-e).

purse; ‘milk carton’, 1990s by Franco Moschino (2010.213) Textile Arts Fund

The image of the cow not only indicates the symbolic contents of the bag, “milk” but it was also one of the memorable faces used to launch Moschino‘s publicity campaigns. The purse includes an “ingredients list” promoting love, peace, fun and friendship, the “recipe” and an illustration instructing the wearer to not throw the bag away.

As 2010 draws to a close, we are preparing for the spring 2011 opening of Material World, an exhibition that will feature extravagant ornamentation of textiles and personal adornment from cultures around the world.

Here’s to another productive year!

The Paul textile and fashion arts galleries opened with a bang in 2006 with a spectacular exhibition, I Do, The Marriage of Fashion and Art curated by Niloo Paydar. (Here’s a little secret: this is one of the first exhibitions I worked on when interning at the IMA in 2003)

Installation view, I Do, The Marriage of Fashion and Art, fashion arts gallery, 2006

Installation view, I Do, The Marriage of Fashion and Art, textile arts gallery, 2006

The exhibition utilized both the Paul textile arts and fashion arts galleries with the door open to adjoin the spaces. The placement of the doorway is specific, acting as a bridge for the two galleries to accommodate larger comprehensive exhibitions, such as the case with, I Do. When the door is closed, however, either the exhibitions are varied or the galleries are dark, allowing the museum to utilize the space as an area for the IMA to prepare for upcoming exhibits.

Installation view, All Dressed Up; Recent Additions, textile arts gallery, 2007

Always keeping our environmental footprint in mind, we reused the risers built specifically for the inaugural exhibition, (I Do) for the next five, yep that’s right, five exhibitions. Over the course of four years, our exhibition designers toyed with the placement of supplemental risers, wall colors and graphics in order to update each space according to the unique exhibitions housed.

In the case of Dior; The King of Couture, the gallery structure remained the same, but the dramatic use of color and wall graphics helped transform the space.

Installation view, Dior; The King of Couture, fashion arts gallery, 2007

In the case of Simply Halston, we created an alternate environment by exhibiting pieces flat on the wall as well as placing close to 30 pieces in the gallery. We lightheartedly refer to this format as the cocktail party scheme vs. the debutante ball, al la Dior.

Installation views, Simply Halston, fashion arts gallery, 2008

In 2008, the textile arts gallery changed dramatically not just because of the type of art exhibited, but by the use of color and the addition of tables. Shared Beauty, Eastern Rugs and Western Beaded Purses was an exhibition that compared and analyzed shared motifs used in rug making and in beaded purse design. The result was quite stunning.

Installation view Shared Beauty, Eastern Rugs & Western Beaded Purses, textile arts gallery, 2008

The last exhibition using the stationary curvilinear risers was Fashion In Bloom. FIB as we affectionally called it, traced the sartorial shifts in silhouette for women’s fashion over the course of 200 years. Notice how the supplementary riser (on top of the big curve) flipped around to create a new footprint as well as how the door was used for the title graphic.

Installation view, Fashion in Bloom, fashion arts gallery, 2009 (Note the green riser)

After four years, of using what we got- to the best of our ability, we decided that it was time to remove the stationary risers. It is important to note, however, that our waste not, want not, mentality did not go out with the risers.

In fact, for the installation of our latest exhibition, Body Unbound, Contemporary Couture from the IMA’s Collection, our chief exhibition designer pulled out of storage our trusty, modular risers created and used for the traveling exhibition, Breaking the Mode; Contemporary Fashion from the Permanent Collection, LACMA as well as in European Design Since 1985.

Here is a sneak peak of our re-vamp in process. You will have to stay tuned for the final transformation… coming soon.

painting, textile arts gallery

painting, fashion arts gallery

modular risers, under construction

risers freshly painted

But Halston, well he had a bit more going on. Bear in mind that like many of us he was a product of the Midwest – born in Iowa and raised in Evansville, Indiana. That’s in southern Indiana for those of you who think the state ends in Bloomington or Brown County. If you remember from my bio I was born and raised in southern Indiana so I have a certain extra amount of pride when one of our own does well in the big world. When you walk in the first thing that you notice is probably color. Lots of red, bright blues and greens, sequins and beads (Mmmmm, pretty, sparkly). Then you probably notice the long graceful forms the ensembles create (They seem to always be ensembles – especially evening ensembles – he did love the night life).

Click Here to see a Virtual Tour of Simply Halston.

Two visitors while I was there commented on how feminine and graceful they all were. Amazing folding and pleating and outfits cut from a single piece of fabric. Niloo explained it to me when I was lucky enough to have her come in during my second look at the show. I can’t fully retell her words so I won’t try. She understands the fabrics and construction at a level I cannot and I don’t want to misquote her. She did say the outfits look deceptively simple but the construction is quite complicated. Halston was not big on pattern so many pieces are a solid color. Also rarely are buttons or pockets present. One outfit does have buttons. It reminds me of 50’s or 60’s clothes, simple sweater over a simple dress. Very different from the majority of the show. Likewise the ultra-suede day dress and the wool late-day dress. What the hell is a late-day dress? You start the day in your day dress, at some point change into your late-day dress, then for evening you have an ensemble in a subway locker at the nearest stop to Studio 54? It’s beyond me.

My favorite? I really like the one embroidered all over with tiny mirrors. I mean really, you could be a walking disco ball. How could you go wrong? The gold lame disco dress was very nice. It would just be wrong not to mention gold lame. The really simple cashmere numbers, elegant, sexy, and I would think comfortable. Considering so many were designed for night I have to say they also possess a languid quality. They look like a woman could feel very relaxed in them. Not being a woman I could be way off the mark on that one. Also it isn’t in the show, but the iconic pillbox hat of one of my all-time favorite people, Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, was his creation.

On a personal note I’m glad the back wall has this huge photo of Halston, Liza, and Bianca. It brought a flood of memories. I hadn’t been in New York long at that time. 19 and I looked 15. I made a fortune in prostitution but when you are young who thinks of their 401K? Liza and I in a corner at Studio 54, me assuring her she would always be “Liza with a Z”. Bianca trying desperately to explain why Mick was so irresistible. I wonder where I put that little gold spoon that someone gave me? Oh well, I never could figure out whether it was for those little jars of jelly you got in gift baskets or what. And everybody, and I do mean EVERYBODY, talking about doing lines. Lines of what? They weren’t all actors. And what was up with those little mirrors in the bathrooms with white powdered soap on them? I just miss the music.