Make room for fashion

Walking through the fashion exhibits featured in the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building is like going to a formal ball and then heading off to the after-party.

The gowns featured in "A Passion for Perfection," housed in the Joan Spain Gallery on the museum's first floor, are svelte, detailed and precisely constructed. The jewel-toned formal wear from Philadelphia-born designers James Galanos, Gustave Tassell and Ralph Rucci are mounted on platforms as sparkling works of arts. We know we shouldn't get too close.

In contrast, the second grouping, "Costume and Textiles: Recent Acquisitions From A to Z" on the second-floor costume and textile study gallery, is eccentric and diverse. At first, it's hard to see how the grouping, which includes mid-19th-century corseted couture dresses, a Mouseketeer hat, and a pair of red-and-white-gingham Vivienne Westwood platform pumps, fits together. But it does, and it's fun and inviting.

"We are trying to show the breadth of what we have," says H. Kristina Haugland, associate curator of costumes and textiles at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

"These two exhibitions have vastly different feels. But in both instances, we want to give people what they expect us to have and show them things they wouldn't link to us."

That's a luxury the Art Museum's fashion and textile curators never had before the 173,000-square-foot Perelman building opened in September.

With the exception of special exhibits like "Shocking! The Fashion and Style of Elsa Schiaparelli," the museum's textile exhibitions were relegated to a closet-sized room, tucked behind European paintings and decorative arts in the main building.

That was hardly space to amply display a costume and textile collection that boasted more than 30,000 pieces of clothing, accessories and fabrics.

The two inaugural exhibits in the Perelman building are proof that established institutions consider pop culture, fashion and style important draws for both current and prospective visitors.

Designers James Galanos, Gustave Tassell and Ralph Rucci are not household names. They are students of one another's work, and each despises gross commercialization as none of them opted to license his name. Yet all of their works are worshipped by the fashion community. Their contributions are hailed as brilliant.

Galanos is best known as one of former first lady Nancy Reagan's favorite designers. Tassell is remembered for taking over the New York-based fashion house of Norman Norell.

Of the three designers, Rucci is the only one who continues to work professionally. Considered the most haute of contemporary designers, his New York-based collection includes a ready-to-wear line, Chado Ralph Rucci, and his haute couture collection is Ralph Rucci Chado.

Rucci describes his work as art, with every inset, trim and dart full of significance. He has his fabric dyed, often from unusual sources. At the moment, he is refusing to show at New York's Fashion Week because of what he terms the American public's lack of respect for his work.

The tricky part of the exhibition is to show why we should care about these relatively unknown designers, yet still give us the elements needed to make museum collections of high fashion work. It's important that we want to wear the clothing. Luckily, this collection of 50 pieces (44 of which belong to the museum), all set luxuriously against a navy blue backdrop, gives us that feeling.

Curator Dilys Blum manages to give us a good representation of each designer's body of work. Rucci's pieces range from a peach double-faced cashmere suit created with his classic suspension construction to a navy-blue swan dress, one in a lengthy series of elaborate gowns.

We learn that Tassell artfully used ribbons as bows on full skirts, paired with shrunken jackets (no wonder Jacqueline Kennedy was a favorite client). He played with vibrant solids, evidenced by a late-afternoon dress consisting of a red top and a very full off-white skirt that starts at the hipline. While his aesthetic remained classic, however, Tassell's later work for Norell showed the lean silhouette more representative of the 1970s.

And we see how Galanos specialized in making the glittery evening gown - for tiny aristocratic ladies - a fashion staple from the 1950s into the 1990s. The best example is his deep-green tartan evening gown, completely fashioned from beads and sequins.

The second exhibit draws its whimsy from the variety of textiles and clothing that the museum has collected over the last 10 years. More than 50 pieces, including a pair of $75 Wolford pantyhose designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, will be on display through March.

What makes this collection fun is that it is both contemporary and historical, without becoming academic. A two-piece silk-warped corseted dress with ostrich feathers is interesting not only for the John Redfern & Sons design, but because it was worn by the Yuengling family.

A grouping of several dynamic pieces, including a 1970s rainbow dress by African American designer Stephen Burrows for Henri Bendel and a 20th-century wall hanging from Indonesia, draw a tremendous amount of attention to the center of the room.

Only one piece didn't seem to fit: a mixed-media floral print dress by Rei Kawakubo made for Comme des Garcons in 2000. While the deconstructed raw edges and armholes were trendy then, the straight silhouette wasn't fashionable at that time.

All of the other pieces, however, were right on point, clothing that you'd expect to see on a fashion-forward person within that time period. If this exhibit indicates what else is stored within the Perelman, local fashionistas are in for a treat.

"A Passion for Perfection" and "Costume and Textiles: Recent Acquisitions from A to Z" continue into March at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Perelman building, Fairmount and Pennsylvania Avenues.

Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Christmas).

Admission: Free for Perelman building through Dec. 30.

Information: 215-763-8100 or www.philamuseum.org.

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