BY AUGUSTA STATZ
After two years of work, Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley has finally opened “Little Black Dress” to all of Savannah. The exhibit, curated by Talley himself, highlights and tracks the evolution of the iconic fashion staple.
“This is by no means the first ‘Little Black Dress’ exhibit…”said Talley. “But, I hope that this exhibit represents uniqueness because there are so many black dresses in it that are from 2012. I want it to be a modern mix as well as historical.”
Talley points out that the idea of a little black dress isn’t what it once was, and it will only continue to evolve as fashion does.
“There’s always a new evolving language about fashion, and the black dress is not what it was in 1950,” he said.
The exhibit highlights the fact that modern designers are shaping the new ideas of little black dresses.
“The point of view is to show that there are young designers who are doing black dresses in a new way,” Talley said. “And I wanted to show also that the world-class designers like Balenciaga, Oscar de la Renta, all are doing the new words, the new language about black dresses.”
Because of the changing ideas of what constitutes as a little black dress, there are little black dresses worn now that couldn’t have been worn before.
“If a girl wants to wear a little bikini under a little black dress, like the Proenza dress in the show that’s lace, to work, that’s acceptable now,” he said. “If you want to rock it in a latex dress with cutouts by Norma Kamali, you rock it. You make your own rules about the little black dress.”
From this exhibit, he’s hoping students will gain “aspiration for design” and “aspiration for celebrating individuality.” He wants them to learn, “There’s no rules, and even wrong is right.”
Talley feels that it’s important for the students, the future designers of little black dresses, to see and understand where the little black dress started and where it is going.
“I’m very honored [to help educate SCAD students]. I give a lot of time to SCAD. It’s a lot of time, but it’s such a great environment that President Wallace has created, and I’m very honored to be apart of the SCAD family.”
Impressed by the dresses in the exhibit, he’s interested in helping SCAD students and even featured two dresses from SCAD students’ senior 2012 collections.
Talley had this advice to offer SCAD students:
“Never give up your dreams… Never be insulted when someone asks you to do a Starbucks run or to Xerox 100 copies of something… You should be thrilled that someone has asked you to do something that you’re responsible for because it will prove that you have focus and that you are cooperative, you are willing to be apart of a team.”
“Little Black Dress” will be on display at the SCAD Museum of Art until Jan. 27, 2013.
