Autumn 2009 Catalogue 4 pdfing:1 - Yale University Press

20 FashionExhibitionThe Museum at the Fashion Instituteof Technology 6/09 – 10/09September288 pp. 305x235mm.20 b/w + 300 colour illus.ISBN 978-0-300-14583-0 £30.00*Isabel ToledoFashion from the Inside OutValerie Steele and Patricia MearsOne of the most exciting fashion designers in the United States, CubanbornIsabel Toledo has been honored with a National Design Award fromthe Cooper-Hewitt Museum and a Couture Council Award for Artistryof Fashion, given by The Museum at FIT. Yet her name and work havebeen, until recently, recognised only by fashion insiders. This ravishingbook brings Toledo’s creations to a wider audience, places them withinthe context of contemporary fashion and examines her creative process.Interviewing Toledo, her husband (fashion illustrator Ruben Toledo),and other colleagues, clients and critics, Valerie Steele gives an accountof Toledo’s career and explains that while she has been heralded byfashion magazines, featured in stores in New York and Europe and isnow favoured by new First Lady Michelle Obama, she has not had thelong-term financial backing to break out of the niche market. PatriciaMears investigates the artistic and cultural influences on Toledo’s workand analyses her unusual methods of construction, noting that shedesigns in three dimensions in her mind and then begins workingdirectly with fabric. Displaying garments Toledo has created since herfirst show in 1985, this book is a revelatory exploration of a fashioninnovator in a mass-market industry.Valerie Steele is Director and Patricia Mears is Deputy Director ofThe Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.Published in association with The Museum at the Fashion Institute of TechnologyRalph Rucci, black silk jersey fluted top,duchess satin skirt with bleached brushstrokes,fall/winter 2003. Photo: William PalmerExhibitionThe Museum at the Fashion Instituteof Technology 11/09 – 1/10January192 pp. 300x235mm. 120 colour illus.ISBN 978-0-300-15535-8 £29.99*American BeautyAesthetics and Innovation in FashionPatricia MearsThis beautifully illustrated book is the first to examine the relationshipbetween innovation and aesthetics as expressed by American couturiersand fashion designers from late 1910 to the present day. It reveals thatgreat design and great style were consistent elements in the work ofAmerican’s best fashion designers.Patricia Mears introduces many great forgotten figures, as well as manyfamiliar names: work by lesser-known figures such as Jessie FranklinTurner, Ronaldus Shamask and Charles Kleibecker is discussed alongsidepieces by more celebrated creators, such as Halston and Charles James;work by designers of the past is juxtaposed with that of present-daydesigners such as Rick Owens, Yeolee Teng and Maria Comejo. James’sgrand and structurally imposing gowns from the 1950s appear alongsidecontemporary Infantas by Ralph Rucci; the section on drapingjuxtaposes 1930s gowns by Elizabeth Hawes and Valentina with morecontemporary garments by Jean Yu and Isabel Toledo; clothing cut intopure geometric shapes like circles, triangles and rectangles is illustratedby World War I-era teagowns by Jessie Franklin Turner, ClaireMcCardell’s mid-century rompers garments and modern sportswear byYeohlee and Shamask. Mears demonstrates that artistry, innovation andflawless construction are the true marks of American fashion.Patricia Mears is Deputy Director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute ofTechnology. She is the author of Madame Grès: Sphinx of Fashion andcoauthor of Ralph Rucci: The Art of Weightlessness, both published by Yale.Published in association with The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology