Fashion Columbia Study Collection Exhibition Cases
Columbia College Chicago’s Fashion Columbia Study Collection will open Fashion Victims: AIDS in the 80s, a fashion exhibit that brings awareness to the early losses to the fashion industry caused by HIV/AIDS. The exhibit is a tribute to the work of four major American designers who fell victim to the disease. These prominent figures in the fashion industry faced untimely deaths without the possibility of reaching their full creative potential. They left behind a legacy of innovative work that has influenced and enhanced the meaning of fashion and style today.
The exhibit will open on March 16 and run through August 24, 2007. An opening reception will be held on Tuesday, March 27 from 5-7 p.m. at Columbia College Chicago, Conaway Center, Fashion Columbia Study Collection Exhibition Cases, 1104 S. Wabash Avenue, 1st Floor.
Gallery hours are: Monday through Thursday: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The initial media focus on people with HIV/AIDS was on those in the public eye: actors, musicians, artists and fashion designers. On May 30, 1986, Perry Ellis was one of the first designers to die of AIDS, at the age of 46. In February 1987, African American fashion designer Willi Smith was in India working on fabrics and designs. He contracted shigella, a parasitic disease that causes dysentery. His health declined rapidly and he was hospitalized with pneumonia in April. Two days later he died. He was 39 years old. A subsequent autopsy revealed that he had AIDS. Within a short time, the list of those who lost their lives to the disease continued to grow at a rapid pace. A 1990 article in “Time”? magazine declared that “The industry’s creative energy is being dissipated and diminished by AIDS.”
Each designer’s garment in the exhibit is representative of their unique modern vision and design style. All four designers have a panel in their honor on the original NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt—the largest ongoing community arts project in the world. A photo reproduction of their panels will be included in the exhibit.
Perry Ellis (March 3, 1940 - May 30, 1986) began his fashion career designing for department stores. In 1978 he founded his company and began designing women’s sportswear and accessories. Ellis launched a men’s sportswear line in 1980 that reflected a casual, elegant sportswear designed specifically for the affluent American male. By the mid-80s his brand was synonymous with sophisticated, preppy style. He served as the first president of the fashion industry’s premiere organization, Council of Fashion Designers of America. His legacy for timeless, modern clothes and accessories continues today as a national brand bearing his name.
Halston (Roy Halston Frowick) (April 23, 1932 — March 26, 1990) moved to New York in 1958 and began designing hats and clothing for Bergdorf Goodman department store. At Bergdorf he created several distinctive styles, most notably the pillbox hat Jacqueline Kennedy wore to her husband’s inauguration. He opened his first salon in 1968 and became one of the acclaimed designers of the 1970s. His designs were classically simple, elegant and chic. He introduced ultra suede, popularized cashmere twin sets, caftan, the halter dress, shirtwaist, spiral skirt and knee-length pants. Halston’s influence went beyond style to reshape the business of fashion as he was one of the first designers to realize the potential of licensing his name with a department store, JC Penney.
Patrick Kelly (September 24, 1954ish – January 1, 1990) kept his exact birth year a secret. He stated more than once that he would never tell his age because he hoped to always be the new kid on the block. Kelly came from a working-class African American family. He taught himself to sew and began designing and sewing clothes as a teenager in Mississippi. In his 20s, he moved to Paris, started his own design company and established himself as a reputable designer. His clothes were colorful, fun, exotic and unusual and often had a Southern influence. He decorated dresses with colorful bows, gardenias and polka-dot bananas, embroidered lips and hearts and billiard balls. Kelly was known for his watermelon brooches, but his trademark was his large, bright plastic buttons. He was the first American to be allowed into the elite Parisian fashion designer’s organization called Chambre Syndicale.
Willi Smith’s (February 29, 1948 - April 17, 1987) design philosophy was to design clothing that was stylish, fun yet affordable. In 1976 Smith went into business with Laurie Mallet and they co-founded WilliWear. Mallett financed a trip to India so that they could buy materials and create their first collection. The only fabric available was cotton. They were unable to find buttons which led them to design wrap-around coats. Their initial 12-piece collection had what would become hallmarks of Willi Smith designs: natural fabrics, a relaxed comfortable fit, colorful and eye-catching material and a reasonable price tag.
Virginia Heaven, Curator, Fashion Columbia Study Collection and Fashion Retail Management Faculty. Virginia is available for interviews.
Fashion Columbia Study Collection was founded in 1989 to serve as a teaching tool for fashion design and fashion retail management students. Over the years the collection and its uses have grown to include an interdisciplinary approach to teaching history, technology and aesthetics.
Fashion Victims: AIDS in the 80s is just one example of Columbia’s Critical Encounters initiative, whereby the college commits one year to explore, educate and engage in a specific global issue.
During the first year, through both classroom initiatives and public programs, Columbia has been examining the problem of HIV & AIDS, looking at the history and current status of the disease.
MEDIA CONTACT: Priscilla L. Hunter, 312.344.7805, 312.286.6624 (cell) or phunter@colum.edu