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Patrick Kelly: A Retrospective
- Dates: April 17, 2004 through September 5, 2004
- Collections: Contemporary Art
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November 2003: The first retrospective exhibition of the works of the African American fashion designer Patrick Kelly will include more than fifty complete ensembles and more than a dozen partial ensembles drawn from the Patrick Kelly Estate and from the collections of the actress Cicely Tyson, the singer Grace Jones, and others. Archival material from the Kelly estate and numerous objects from Kelly’s personal collection of Black memorabilia will also be featured. The exhibition is presented in celebration of the opening of the Brooklyn Museum of Art’s new front entrance pavilion and public plaza. It will be on view from April 117 through September 5, 2004, in the Robert E. Blum Gallery, adjacent to the new entrance.
This exhibition is being organized for the BMA by guest curator Thelma Golden, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs at The Studio Museum in Harlem.
A native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Patrick Kelly was influenced during his early years by the creativity and fashion sense of his female relatives, who often added their own embellishments to simple store-bought garments, as well as by the fashion magazines that his grandmother brought home from the stylish white household where she worked as a domestic. As a young adult, Kelly moved to Atlanta, where he sold recycled clothes and worked without pay as a window dresser at the Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Boutique. He later lived in New York, where he attended Parsons School of Design.
It was in Paris, during the mid- to late 1980s, that Kelly found his greatest success, eventually becoming the first American member of the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter (the governing body of the prestigious French ready-to-wear industry). He began in Paris by selling dresses on the street and working as a costumer for the nightclub Le Palais. His flamboyant garments became popular, and he soon gained the backing of the clothing conglomerate Warnaco. Such well-known stores as Henri Bendel, Bloomingdale’s, and Bergdorf Goodman carried his Paris designs, and the celebrities Isabella Rosellini amid Bette Davis were among his clients.
Some of Kelly’s most memorable garments incorporated such humble materials as masses of multicolored buttons or grosgrain ribbons clustered together. Other motifs, like the use of flamboyant hats and splashy accessories, celebrated his rural southern roots. Kelly also created works using controversial Black images drawn from popular culture, bringing issues of racial stereotyping to the forefront.
Although he produced collections only from 1985 until his death from AIDS in 1990 at the age of forty, his exuberant, witty garments proved to be potent and original contributions to the field of fashion.Brooklyn Museum Archives. Records of the Department of Public Information. Press releases, 1995 - 2003. 2003, 065-66. View Original 1 . View Original 2
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... more
February 2004: The first retrospective exhibition of the works of African American fashion designer Patrick Kelly, presented in celebration of the Museum’s new front entrance pavilion and public plaza, will include more than sixty complete ensembles drawn from the Patrick Kelly estate. Archival material from the estate and numerous objects from Kelly’s personal collection of Black memorabilia will also be featured. Patrick Kelly: A Retrospective will be on view from April 17 through September 5, 2004 in the Robert E. Blum Gallery, adjacent to the new entrance.
This exhibition is being organized by guest curator Thelma Golden, Deputy Director for Exhibitions and Programs at The Studio Museum in Harlem.
A native of Vicksburg, Mississippi, Patrick Kelly was influenced during his early years by the creativity and fashion sense of his female relatives, who often added embellishments to simple store-bought garments, as well as by the fashion magazines that his grandmother brought home from the stylish white household where she worked as a domestic. As a young adult, Kelly moved to Atlanta, where he sold recycled clothes and worked without pay as a window dresser at the Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche Boutique. He later lived in New York, where he attended Parsons School of Design. It was in Paris, during the mid- to late 1980s that Kelly found his greatest success, eventually becoming the first American member of the Chambre Syndicale du Prêt-à-Porter (the governing body of the prestigious French ready-to-wear industry). He began by selling dresses on the street and working as a costumer for the nightclub Le Palais. His flamboyant garments became popular and he soon gained the attention of the clothing conglomerate Warnaco. Such well-known stores as Henri Bendel, Bloomingdale’s, and Bergdorf Goodman carried his Paris designs, and celebrities Cicely Tyson, Bette Davis, Grace Jones, and Isabella Rosellini were among his clients.
Some of Kelly’s most memorable garments incorporated such humble materials as masses of multicolored buttons or grosgrain ribbons clustered together. Other motifs, like the use of flamboyant hats and splashy accessories, celebrated his rural southern roots. Kelly also created works using controversial Black images drawn from popular culture, bringing issues of racial stereotyping to the forefront.
Although he produced collections only from 1985 until his death from AIDS in 1990 at the age of 35, his exuberant, witty garments proved to be potent and original contributions to the field of fashion.
Patrick Kelly: A Retrospective is made possible, in part, by the Leadership Gifts Committee: Eileen Harris-Norton, Peter Norton Family Foundation, Carol Sutton Lewis and Joyce K. Haupt.
Press Coverage of this Exhibition
- Delta ForceFebruary 22, 2004 By Horacio SilvaHoracio Silva tribute to designer Patrick Kelly, American in Paris who called himself 'black Lucille Ball' and charmed fashion world with Southern-fried take on Continental glamour; photos; Kelly, who died in 1990 at age 35, is subject of Brooklyn Museum exhibit this spring (special sections, Fashions of The Times) (part 2 of 2-part section) (M)
- ON THE TOWNS; GOING OUTFebruary 22, 2004 "A guide to cultural and recreational goings-on around the state this week. Items may be submitted by mail to On the Towns, Sunday New Jersey Section, The New York Times, 229 West 43d Street, New York, N.Y. 10036; by fax to (212) 556-7219, or by e-mail to njtowns@nytimes.com. Museums and Galleries GROUNDS FOR SCULPTURE ''Outstanding Achievement in..."
- CALENDARApril 15, 2004 Calendar of museum- and design-related events in New York City
- ART REVIEW; A Hemisphere Shows Its Many-Cultured GloryApril 16, 2004 By GRACE GLUECKGrace Glueck reviews phase 1 of Brooklyn Museum's newly refurbished Hall of the Americas, which displays objects from museum's collections of North, Central and South American art; photo (M)
Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum
