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This page, clockwise from left: The cover of the Spring 2007 issue of Q magazine featured
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a pink satin dress by Arnold Scaasi; the designer with two models at his studio in Paris, April 28, 1972; Liz Smith,
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Scaasi, Bette Midler, and Parker
REMEMBERING ARNOLD SCAASI DESIGNER ARNOLD SCAASI—which was his given surname, Isaacs, spelled backward—once conceded, “I am definitely not a minimalist.” The flamboyant designer was known for dressing first ladies from Mamie Eisenhower to Laura Bush, and film stars from Elizabeth Taylor to Barbra Streisand. Scaasi specialized in made-to-order clothes, favoring lavish, brilliantly colored fabrics, and embellishments such as feathers, sequins, and fine embroidery. “Fashion, it’s really about feeling good,” he told the Associated Press in 2002, when an exhibit of his work was on display at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. “It should be fun to get dressed. I like exciting and pretty clothes that help women feel exciting and pretty.” Scaasi, a native of Montreal, studied at the Cotnoir-Capponi School of Design and completed his education at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture in Paris. After school, he took an apprenticeship at the House of Paquin before moving to New York City to work with designer Charles James. In the early ’50s, Scaasi’s designs began appearing in a variety of print ads, including one photographed by Edgar de Evia for General Motors. During the shoot, Scaasi met interior designer Robert 160 QUEST
Dening, who suggested he reverse his last name to provide Italian flair. Under his new name, Scaasi achieved the December 1955 cover of Vogue, which helped launch a ready-to-wear line the following year. He won the prestigious Coty American Fashion Critics Award in 1958, and the Council of Fashion Designers of America Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996. A bantam and charismatic figure, “Arnold” was well loved by his “Scaasi girls.” In 2007, he published a memoir, Women I Have Dressed (and Undressed). In it, Scaasi recalls that he once offered Jackie Kennedy 20 couture dresses at wholesale prices, only to have her refuse on the grounds that she had never paid for an article of clothing. In 2009, Scaasi donated his archives, including more than 100 garments, to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston. He would have received an estimated six-digit sum for selling the archives, but instead he chose to donate them. “I was afraid it would wind up in a vault somewhere, and it would never be seen,” he said at the time, according to WWD. The donation included the sheer black tulle overblouse and pant ensemble sported by Barbra Streisand at the 1969 Academy Awards, Joan Crawford’s black sequined spiral gown, and a gray flannel dress Scaasi had designed for Brooke Astor. Arnold Scaasi died of cardiac arrest at New York– Presbyterian Hospital on August 4. He was 85 years old. Scaasi is survived by his beloved husband, Parker Ladd. The two were together for over 50 years. —Elizabeth Meigher
A P P H OTO / A L I S O N LE R R I C K ; PAT R I C K M C M U LL A N
Ladd, May 7, 2007.