Isabel Toledo
Subtitle: fashion from the inside out, June 17 through September 26, 2009, The Museum at FIT
Contributors: Mears, Patricia; Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, N.Y.). Museum
Publisher: The Museum at FIT
Published: 2009
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Subjects: Exhibitions; Women fashion designers; Biography
Description: "A mid-career retrospective will display approximately 70 iconic looks from the mid- 1980s to the present, including the ensemble worn by First Lady Michelle Obama on Inauguration Day. This will be the first time that the sheath dress and matching coat are on public view. The exhibition also will include pieces from Toledo's highly praised 2007-2008 collections as creative director of Anne Klein and mannequins and drawings by her husband, artist Ruben Toledo, with whom she closely collaborates..."I think of it as fashion from the inside out," she explains.  "I can describe an idea or even a feeling to Ruben, and he'll sketch it."  "I really love the technique of sewing more than anything else...The seamstress is the one who knows fashion from the inside! That's the art form really, not fashion design, but the technique of how it's done."  Isabel has said that she doesn't  "want to be radical," and she insists that "weird is not smart."  But her clothes are undeniably different.  None of them have traditional construction.  Her patterns, silhouettes, use of materials, and methods of draping are all highly experimental"-- FIT exhibition website.
Notes: Text by Valerie Steele and Patricia Mears.

Brochure accompanied the exhibition held at the The Museum at FIT, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, N.Y.

"This exhibition has been organized by Dr. Valerie Steele, Director of The Museum at FIT; Patricia Mears, Deputy Director of The Museum at FIT; and Ruben and Isabel Toledo"-- FIT press release.

Text in English and Spanish.