Culture
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NEW HOME
DESIGN
IN
FOR
LSU’S TEXTILE
&
COSTUME
MUSEUM
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MUSEUMS, MULES & MACS
NEW ORLEANS’
NOBLEST STEED
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D A I LY L I F E W
COLLECTIONS
Tailor Made
LSU’S TEXTILE AND COSTUME MUSEUM CONTINUES TO INSPIRE FROM ITS NEW OFFICIAL HOME Story by Elizabeth Chubbuck Weinstein
M
useums, like garments, are fashioned for a purpose. Museums have a seamless public appearance, with everything from the exhibition cases to the seating neatly pinned and tucked in place. This is by design. Yet, when turned inside-out, a fuller narrative is revealed. There may be traces where a seam came undone, a sleeve adjusted, or a hemline let down. Patterns differ; the process of becoming is the same. Usually a dedicated person and a few like-minded individuals share a vision and then patiently sew the pieces together. This is how Baton Rouge’s LSU Textile & Costume Museum came
Illustration by Steven Stipleman of a 1966 James Galanos cocktail dress, pictured on the bottom right of the next page. The dress, donated by Baton Rouge fashion icon May Baynard to the Textile and Costume Museum, is a signature feature of the Museum’s collection. The Museum has used Stipleman’s rendering as its logo since 1995. Pictured at the top left of the next page are some of the collection’s featured artifacts including: Donna Douglas’s 1970 Hollywood Special Occasion Dress, “Bucksin” Bill Black’s costume worn on WAFB TV’s The Bucksin Bill Show, and the 1936 LSU Boxing Robe presented to Larry Landry. Images courtesy of Pamela Rabelais-Vinci. 42
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be. One of the few university museums of its kind in the region, the collection is global in scope and contains more than 12,000 items demonstrating the history of textile and costume design. A few months ago, the Museum moved into a first-floor space within LSU’s Human Ecology Building at Tower and South Campus drives. With a larger, renovated gallery and street level access, the Museum and its rotating displays have been ready to welcome the public since March, when unfortunately, their grand opening was cancelled due to the COVID-19 outbreak. I was happy to be given the opportunity recently to join Pamela Rabalais-Vinci, the Museum’s director and driving force behind the Friends of LSU’s Textile & Costume Museum, on a private tour of the collection’s latest home, whose new opening date this fall is still pending. Immediately upon entering the
foyer, I was struck by the sheer grace of a sleek black cocktail dress, its long sleeves encrusted from cuff to elbow with handsewn crystals and colorful beads. Rabalais-Vinci informed me that it is a 1966 creation by James Galanos, a California fashion designer known for his elegant craftsmanship and use of luxurious materials. Galanos enjoyed an elite clientele that included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Nancy Reagan. “This [particular] dress,” Rabalais-Vinci said, “is special to the collection.” The dress is one of many designer fashions donated by the late May Baynard, a Baton Rouge patron well-known for her stylish attire. Baynard was instrumental not only in organizing the Museum’s support group but she also sponsored their first fundraising gala in 1995. The dress later was rendered by Steven Stipleman, a former illustrator for Women’s Wear Daily. RabalaisVinci stated, “The dress, along with the rendering, inspired the Museum’s branding.” An image of the drawing has been used as the Museum’s logo since 1995. In the Museum’s gallery, more treasures awaited. Entering the intimate exhibition room, I viewed selections representative of different aspects of the Museum’s diverse holdings, ranging from Byzantine-era textile fragments and a 19th-century Turkish wedding robe to an Antebellum bodice. Designer fashions by the likes of Yves St. Laurent and Valentino also were on display. RabalaisVinci pointed out a 1971 beige wool suit from Chanel’s final collection. The jacket’s gold-tone buttons were fastened, with the signature chain-link weight at the lower interior edge. Representations of our shared local, state, and regional history form another important aspect of the collection. “We have something from every gubernatorial tenure beginning with Governor Edwin Edwards in the 1970s,” said Rabalais-
