Isabel Toledo Opens @ FIT

To attempt to explain the uniqueness – innovativeness – intricacy of an Isabel Toledo piece is a true challenge of diction – to explain her body of work over her career span is a feat unjust & impossible for words.   Additionally, she is arguably at the midway point of her career, so I pity the reviewers who must attempt to write her retrospective verbiage 25 or 30 years from now.

The Cuban born designer, who has been an industry favorite for years (or “a designer’s designer” as she is most often called) and became renowned for the now iconic inaugural lemongrass dress & jacket set for the first lady Michelle Obama, played hostess alongside her partner, confidant & illustrator star husband Ruben as the launch of her bevy of work at the Museum at FIT entitled simply-- Isabel Toledo: Fashion from the Inside Out. 
In attendance was a mass of Toledo fans & friends that read more like the A-list from an event thrown by one of fashion’s elite rather than a simple gallery opening.  This moment represented a public display of what many knew for years – Isabel Toledo is one of fashion’s elite.  It simply took a very public endorsement by the most public of individuals to make the world straighten up & take notice.  From Barney’s Julie Gilhart to Vogue’s Editor at Large, André Leon Talley (who gushed,  with a panache that only A.L.T. can pull off, over the humble designer who simply refers to herself as a “seamstress who loves the technique of sewing more than anything else”), from Simon Doonan, also from Barney’s to downtown drag personality turned sultry Billy Holliday channeling chanteuse, Joey Arias… they were all there… downtown fashion’s elite both old & new. 

The exhibit which is on display through September 26, 2009 is a must see to anyone interested in fashion  (and yes the infamous Michelle Obama inaugural dress is on display – which alone will draw crowds) .   The collection of works is organized by a number of themes that Toledo is known for: origami, suspension, liquid architecture, shadow, manipulated surfaces & organic geometry.  Her ability to create a garment is more than just your everyday design, rather an imaginative ability to see clothing in a sculptural & architectural perspective that can only be defined by pure genius.  To add to the “Toledo feel” was the presence of the now classic illustrations by husband Ruben, hanging from the high ceilings bringing brilliance to every open space in the room. 

To say I am a fan is an understatement…

-Meredith Garcia