| | BOOK FORMAT
Clth, 8.5 x 11.5 in. / 192 pgs / illustrated throughout. PUBLISHING STATUS
Pub Date 11/30/2010
Out of stock indefinitely DISTRIBUTION
D.A.P. Exclusive
Catalog: FALL 2010 p. 173 PRODUCT DETAILS
ISBN 9780878467587 TRADE
List Price: $55.00 CDN $72.50 GBP £50.00 AVAILABILITY
Not available | TERRITORY
WORLD | EXHIBITION SCHEDULEBoston, MA
Museum of Fine Arts, 09/25/10-06/19/11 | With his signature combination of elegance, flamboyance, surprising colors, and fine craftsmanship, Scaasi is both a bold American original and a couturier in the grand European tradition |
| | | Arnold Scaasi: American CouturierText by Pamela A. Parmal.
 Barbra Streisand, Natalie Wood, Arlene Francis, Diahann Carroll, Joan Rivers, Mamie Eisenhower, Barbara Bush, Louise Nevelson... What these women have in common is that all were dressed by Scaasi. From his meteoric rise on Seventh Avenue in the late 1950s through his heyday in the boom decade of the 1980s, Arnold Scaasi has remained one of the most distinctive and successful designers in American fashion. With his signature combination of elegance, flamboyance, surprising colors and fabrics, and finely honed craftsmanship, Scaasi is both a bold American original and a couturier in the grand European tradition. Arnold Scaasi: American Couturier presents the best of Scaasi's fashions in a handsomely packaged, fluidly organized volume. Alongside sumptuous portraits of more than three dozen outfits, the book features numerous period photographs; sketches, notes and clippings from Scaasi's personal archives, most of them never before published; and interviews with Scaasi's famous clients, such as Joan Rivers, Mary Tyler Moore and Diahann Carroll, conducted specifically for this volume. A feast for fashion watchers and design aficionados alike, American Couturier contains all the glamour and thrill that for decades have been synonymous with the Scaasi label.
Arnold Scaasi (born 1931) apprenticed at the House of Paquin in Paris, before moving to New York to work with Charles James. In 1956 he began a ready-to-wear line; in 1968, he caught the eye of a worldwide audience when Barbra Streisand wore his overblouse and pants ensemble to collect her Academy Award for Funny Girl, making Scaasi a household name overnight.
"The relationship between client and designer is an intimate one, and Mrs. Eisenhower worked closely with Arnold to select gowns that would be appropriate for the coming seasons. One of the most renowned dresses was a gold damask strapless evening gown that the First Lady wore to a state dinner in honor of Nikita Khrushchev, premier of the Soviet Union, and his wife on September 15, 1959.
According to Arnold, it was he who reccomemded that gold damask be worn for the affair, as a symbol of the United States' newfound wealth and power. Mrs. Eisenhower not only took his advice but also had the dinner coordinated to the garment: food was served in the gold-draped State Dining Room and gold-colored flowers decorated the tables."
Featured text and image are excerpted from Arnold Scaasi: American Couturier. |
|  | STATUS: Out of stock indefinitely. | |
| | FROM THE BOOK"I think Arnold knew drama, which I like. And I think he knew I loved showbiz, glamour. Theatrical, that's the way to put it. He totally understood how to design for the stage. I'm like a truck driver on stage – very rough on clothes – and Arnold's things were made very, very well. They didn't come apart. The way to tell a good dress is to turn it inside out and see what's happening, and Arnold's were beautifully done. The design process itself was semi-collaborative, but Arnold always won..." When you put on a Scaasi you felt like you had made it. It felt great and you felt great. I did a Revlon ad and I wore a red velvet Scaasi. I've remembered that dress for years. It was very tight fitting with a bell-shaped skirt. I tell you, Scarlet O'Hara, move over! It was so elegant, so beautiful." Joan Rivers, excerpted from Arnold Scaasi: American Couturier. | | OF RELATED INTEREST |  | Phoenix Art MuseumISBN: 9780984408115
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