MOVE: The Modern Cut of Geoffrey Beene

The newest major fashion-design exhibition at Phoenix Art Museum, MOVE: The Modern Cut of Geoffrey Beene offers a rare and intimate view into the work and career of one of the most awarded fashion designers in U.S. history. At his core, Beene was a fashion rebel who ignored trends, instead preferring to design garments that began as geometric shapes and evolved into silhouettes that moved naturally with the human form. His intuitive understanding of the body informed fashions that were unparalleled in their combination of luxury, thoughtful design, and comfort. Beene’s colorful, imaginative creations have been recognized with many accolades, including eight Coty American Fashion Critics Awards and three Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards. His work has also been celebrated through various exhibitions at institutions across the nation.​

Spanning three galleries, MOVE begins with materials and ephemera from Beene’s personal archive, on loan from Authentic Brands Group and on view publicly for the first time. Featured archival objects include candid photographs, contact sheets, press kits, correspondence, and more, all of which provide an unprecedented view into Beene’s design process, editorial style, and modern vision for women’s clothing.

A second gallery presents a large selection of works drawn from the Geoffrey Beene Archive at Phoenix Art Museum and gifted to the Museum in 2019 by Patsy Tarr, longtime Beene patron, president of the 2wice Arts Foundation, and founder and publisher of 2wice magazines and books. These garments, many of which the designer created specifically for Tarr, illuminate Beene’s vision for a fully interchangeable wardrobe of jumpsuits, boleros, jackets, and evening gowns, including dozens of the designer’s most cleverly devised silhouettes from the late 1980s through the early 2000s.

The exhibition’s final gallery explores how Beene merged design with ballet as he re-imagined fashion-show presentations. In the mid-1990s, the designer chose to break from the traditional format of fashion shows and instead presented his clothing on ballet dancers, focusing attention to the essence of his work—movement. Featured throughout the galleries, video interviews with the models, dancers, muses, and collaborators who knew the designer best bring to life the brilliance and wit of the American fashion icon.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website

Image:  Geoffrey Beene, Dress, 1990s. Collection of Phoenix Art Museum. Gift of Patsy Tarr. Photo: Dan Vermillion.