by Fall may seem like a mile away as it’s just past midsummer, but the change in seasons will be a welcome change for two Savannah College of Art & Design museums.
Fashion show director Rafael Brauer Gomes and other SCAD representatives previewed three fall shows Wednesday morning in New York at Mostrador in the Walker Hotel. First up will be “Isabel Toledo, A Love Letter,” which will debut Aug. 13 and run through Dec. 16 at the SCAD Museum of Art in Savannah. The independent Cuban-American designer is best known for dressing former first lady Michelle Obama for her husband Barack’s inauguration in 2009.
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Rubin’s artist and illustrator husband, Toledo, who has supported her work since her death five years ago, was doing just that at Wednesday’s event. “The upcoming show shows what Isabel thought about design” and Savannah museumgoers will feel like they’re looking at one of her sketchbooks, he said. The walls will be covered with sketches that inspired her and quotes that did too. They will also find designs she personally wore and designs she considered important, her husband said.
An early version of the designer’s “packing dress” from the 1970s, which consisted of two circles of fabric sewn together, is his favorite of the show. It started out as a handbag and changed into a sleeve before becoming a dress. The name refers to the ease with which the garment can be packed for travel without having to worry about ironing it when it arrives. “She has given it so many evolutions and accomplished it so many times. That tells me how she thought about the design,” he said.
The Toledo show will feature Pucci mannequins that the designer helped make, as well as artwork from her husband and a 10-minute short film about the creative duo.
In September, model-turned-designer Imane Ayissi will have her first museum exhibition at SCAD FASH Museum + Film in Atlanta. Debuting on September 18, “Imane Ayissi, From Africa to the World,” will be on view until February 23. Born in Cameroon, the designer is a guest of the Fédération de la Haute Couture et de la Mode. Zendaya and Angela Bassett are among the celebrities Ayissi has dressed for the red carpet. Its unusual combinations include Lyon silk and hand-woven raffia sourced from Madagascar. “It’s a very interesting approach. I especially love it, when it mixes African fabrics from many different countries in one look,” said Gomes.
The many SCAD students who typically check out her shows, Gomes said, should be especially interested in Ayissi’s unusual use of fabrics.
A third show this fall will spotlight three-time Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell at SCAD FASH. Featuring more than 27 films worked on by British talent including “Shakespeare in Love,” “The Aviator,” and “The Young Victoria,” the exhibit will bow on October 11 and run until the 16 March. Angels Costumes is lending a number of loans. of the pieces that will appear in “Sandy Powell.” Highlighting how film companies and leading actors now know the value of costumes and are more inclined to keep them than reuse them or use them for other productions, such as which some of them used to have, Gomes said the team is trying to borrow a few costumes from Robert. De Niro, “who keeps all the costumes from his movies.” He added, “Renée Zellweger has an archive that is insane. It’s super organized and has barcodes. They all know the importance of costumes now.”
Recalling a visit to Angels with Powell and her assistant, Gomes compared its expanse to an airplane hangar, he said. “There are almost three sets of huge racks. There are 1,800 blouses – white, purple…” Such breadth can make it difficult to put together a base cost. “Then we started the hunt. Going through all the shoes, we thought, ‘This is hopeless.'” he said, “‘Velvet Gold Mine’ [items] it was easy to find designs, because it was so unique [aesthetically.]”
Powell also has a few suits on loan, as do select collectors such as Los Angeles-based Larry McQueen. “He lends a lot [of costumes] to museums. They are pristine and [are shipped] in acid-free boxes,” said Gomes.
While busy with US screening preparations, Powell has also been busy making costumes for a live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1937 animated film “Snow White,” due out next year. That involved fine-tuning fast-growing prepubescent actress Emilia Faucher, who portrays the younger version of the fictional character, Gomes said.
The Powell-centric show will also have a lot of illustrations, and the Atlanta location is excellent, according to Gomes. “It should be a very strong showing. There’s so much happening with the film industry in Atlanta with Tyler Perry’s studio and other studios as well,” said Gomes, who noted how the state of Georgia is using tax incentives to try to get more filmmakers from The attraction of Los Angeles.
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