Lagerfeld pieces at Phoenix museum
The indelible modern designs of Karl Lagerfeld, the longtime creative director for Chanel who died on Feb. 19, will live on in the permanent collection of the Phoenix Art Museum, which has one of the top fashion-design programs in the museum world.
The museum acquired four full Lagerfeld looks between 2001 and 2012. Fashion curator Dennita Sewell, who has been with the museum for 19 years, explains that it is important to collect couture when it’s fresh off the runways.
“Even when you see fashion styled in editorials, you often see them mixing designers together, so it’s not necessarily how it was shown on the runway,” she says. “And here at the museum, we’re looking to collect designers’ most original and complete expression as a designer, which includes accessories and et cetera.
“It becomes a collecting strategy to make sure you’re acquiring things that are the best examples of an era for the future.”
The first acquisition re-creates an ensemble, complete with a distinctive black corsage, from a Town & Country magazine shoot representing his latest collection at the time.
None of the pieces is currently on exhibit, but all four looks have been featured in past exhibitions, including ones focused on trench coats and motorcycle fashions.
The most recent acquisition, a classic-looking ivory lace dress, was featured in a 2012 show titled “The Sea,” which explored designs inspired by “the romance of the sea.”