LSU MOA - Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene–Southern Reflections
This exhibition at the LSU Museum of Art will be on view April 26–August 30, 2024.
Geoffrey Beene was among the twentieth-century's most successful American fashion designers. Through the exhibition Coming Home, we celebrate the many accomplishments of this master of classic style and impeccable craftsmanship who, for decades, reigned supreme as the gold standard of American fashion design. Beene, originally from Haynesville, Louisiana, was a Southern gentleman to his core, committed to celebrating beauty in all its forms. His excellence in design garnered him eight Coty Awards and two Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) awards. His work is held in the collections of leading institutions, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and The Museum at FIT (the Fashon Institute of Technology), both in New York, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts. This exhibition is an outpost of a simultaneous Beene retrospective mounted at the LSU Textile & Costume Museum, located on LSU’s Baton Rouge campus. Sylvia R. Karasu, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine of New York City, donated over two hundred pieces of Geoffrey Beene fashion from her collection and related ephemera, documenting Beene's career and Dr. Karasu's passion for his designs. This outpost features a selection of garments from Dr. Karasu’s gift, along with sketches from Mr. Beene’s studio. Beene approached fashion from a perspective of flawless craftsmanship and design, adapting his training in French couture for the American market. Join us to celebrate Mr. Beene in 2024, what would have been the year of his 100th birthday. The exhibition at the LSUMOA is curated by graduate students from LSU’s Department of Textiles, Apparel Design, and Merchandising, under the direction of Associate Professor Dr. Michael Mamp. The LSU Textile & Costume Museum (TCM) is located at 330 Tower Dr. on LSU’s main campus and will display the main exhibition of Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene, featuring dozens of garments.