Joseph Planta's Commentary - thecommentary.ca

Sunday, 10 October 2004

Dish and design by Scaasi

By Joseph Planta

VANCOUVER - One of the truly surprisingly delightful reads of this fall is the Arnold Scaasi memoir, Women I Have Dressed (And Undressed!). Whether you're either into fashion (of which I'm not) or just good gossip and anecdote (which I'm partial to), then Scaasi's dish is for you.

I read Cindy Adams, Liz Smith, Page Six, Rush and Molloy, and Lloyd Grove every day, so this memoir is an insightful foray into the world of the demimonde, and the rich and famous that we mere lay folk just can't get enough of. More than merely dishing the dirt on the women the famed fashion designer has dressed, the reader is led into the personalities of those that so fascinate us. Scaasi does so at their most personal, when they're half-naked and self-conscious, trying on Scaasi's finery.

Arnold Scaasi, whose name I'd heard, much like Yves Saint Laurent or Halston or Vera Wang, but didn't know about, was born in Montreal, Arnold Isaacs. Like Oprah, taking her name and spelling it backwards for the name of her production company (Harpo), Isaacs took his name, spelled it backwards and came up with Scaasi, thus bearing the name of a couture line whose tags graced the backs of women of varying degrees of fame. The cover of the book features photographs of the 19 women who have anecdotes about them in the book. From Barbra Streisand, for whom Scaasi designed many outfits for, including that see-through pajama suit that got caught on the stair as she collected her 1968 Oscar for Funny Girl; to Barbara Bush, who wore many Scaasi outfits when in and out of the White House, Scaasi discusses his unique relationships, and liberally drops names. He doesn't betray confidences, a dictum that any good couturier would adhere to, but he recalls lively, often funny stories that are quite grabbing and interesting to read. I found myself finishing the book in a day or two, because it was that engrossing.

The other women pictured on the cover of the book, include Lauren Bacall, Elizabeth Taylor, Joan Rivers, and Claudette Colbert. Scaasi and his partner, Parker Ladd, vacationed at the Barbados home of the legendary Colbert, whom Scaasi claims was just as radiant in old age, as she was in the heyday of her career. Elizabeth Taylor donned Scaasi, both in the time after her marriage to Senator John Warner when she was a little heavy, and in the time after, when she lost a bunch of weight. Scaasi says he didn't see signs of liposuction. She did needle him into giving her a free dress, because being a Jewish girl she just liked to bargain.

Also pictured are Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Princess Diana, Natalie Wood, and Sophia Loren. His relationship with these ladies was no more than in passing, thus stories about them aren't comprehensive. There's a funny story about when he, in a cab, sees Mrs. Onassis, with young Caroline at a curb trying to hail a cab without much luck. Scaasi asks the driver to drive near them, whereupon he offers to share his cab with the former first lady. He gets off before her destination, telling her to go on, and the cabbie not recognising Mrs. Onassis, berates Scaasi for not picking up the fare for a lady. The chapter about Princess Diana was thin, considering he'd had dinner with her once or twice, and a fun night was had when he was so honoured to have the princess seated next to him at some bun toss. He didn't dress her, as it would be imprudent for the wife of a future monarch to wear anything that wasn't made by a British designer.

Hillary Clinton was a fan of Scaasi and sought him to design outfits for her, however he declined out of loyalty to his friend the Republican Barbara Bush. Scaasi designed outfits for Bush 41's first lady, as well as her daughter-in-law, First Lady Laura Bush. Other first ladies he's had run ins with include Maime Eisenhower, who was an early client; as well as Eleanor Roosevelt. Roosevelt wasn't a client; however was another of the grand people that Scaasi encountered. First, he meets Mrs. Roosevelt at their friend Mildred Morton's house, and the chapter about FDR's wife, talks about a chat he had with her at a party, as well as the guilt he felt in seeing her try in vain to hail a cab in a Washington airport. Scaasi discusses his remorse as he didn't offer the former first lady his car, which was actually a White House car provided for the Republican Mrs. Eisenhower, while the designer was in town for her fittings.

Scaasi's book is recommended as a welcome diversion to more heavy fare like Bill Clinton's weighty tome, or Seymour Hersh's latest. There are some terrific stories about people like the delightful Arlene Francis, Louise Nevelson, and Rosemary Kanzler, among others.

***

Women I Have Dressed (And Undressed!) by Arnold Scaasi, is published by Scribner and is $36.00 CDN ($25.00 USD) (ISBN: 0743246950).

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