Description

Arnold Scaasi started his career in the mid-1950s with Paquin and Charles James. He designed for Mamie Eisenhower, Barbara Streisand, artist Louise Nevelson and Barbara Bush. One of his best-known pieces may be the blue velvet and satin dress Barbara Bush wore to President Georges Bush's inauguration. 

Scaasi had been saving examples of his garments for years. In 1997 he decided to disperse his collection of over 4,000 garments for study. Collections went to 63 institutions including the Victorian and Albert Museum, Louvre, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Historical, and Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The grouping found in the collections of the Grand Rapids Public Museum was donated by Arnold Scaasi himself for education and research.