The ‘Scaasi: Exuberant Fashion’ Exhibition that opened last night, at the Museum at FIT, was also a cocktail party to benefit Breast Cancer…I practically needed sunglasses to shield my eyes against the vibrant, often clashing color, overscaled florals, dots, dots, and more dots, and feathers and fur galore. Arnold takes great pride in his disdain for minimalism, which is evident in the over the top selection. Mixed in with the mannequins on display, were blown up pictures, some in black and white, some in color…showing celebrities actually stepping out on the town, and wearing the clothes….there was Barbara Streisand, Joan Rivers, Liz Taylor, Natalie Wood, and Joan Crawford, to name a few.
The scene was exactly what one would expect (considering that Mr. Scaasi is not exactly a designer ‘of the moment’)…hardly the young, hip, downtown, edgy crowd. Nor was it a real ‘fashion’ crowd (well, Stan Herman was there). Well heeled attendees included Cartier’s Ralph Destino, Eileen Ford, Shirley Lord, John Pomerantz, and Saul and Gayfryd Steinberg (Gayfryd, of course, is a longtime customer, whose blown up image was also one that was displayed on the wall).
Hardly surprising, the best of the featured items were quite frankly, his more subdued, low-keyed items…several black dresses, a few pieces in graphic black and white, a zebra printed gown and jacket…and several short sequined numbers in chrome yellow and red that looked almost Stephen Sprouse-like.
I will say this, in view of the exuberance on recent runways, these clothes didn’t really look as ‘off the mark’ as they might have in the past. .
The exhibit runs through January 4th
