A Louisiana fashion icon skyrocketed to international fame. Now he’s being celebrated at LSU.

Somewhere near the line separating Louisiana and Arkansas, just beyond Shreveport, is the birthplace of a genius who altered the world of women’s fashion.

That includes the couture capitals of New York, London, Milan and Paris. There was a time when women throughout the world sought out Geoffrey Beene’s designs.

“And he was from Haynesville, Louisiana,” said Michael Mamp, director of the LSU Textile & Costume Museum.

Haynesville is a place known for its natural gas resources and its moniker of “Butterfly Capital of the World,” but not so much the birthplace of the man who created the fashion collection exhibited in the retrospective, “Geoffrey Beene: Coming Home,” through Jan. 24, 2025, at the LSU Textile & Costume Museum.

Maybe it’s because he was born Samuel Albert Bozeman Jr. in 1924 to a family of doctors who expected him to follow in their footsteps. But after dropping out after three years of pre-med studies at Tulane University, Bozeman headed west to pursue his love of fashion at the University of California.

He also studied at the Traphagen School of Fashion in New York and the Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and the couture house of Molyneux, both in Paris, before changing his name and founding Geoffrey Beene, Inc., in New York in 1963.

The LSU Textile & Costume Museum tells Beene’s story — through the evolution of his designs whose details became lighter and airier as time passed.

Mamp points out the petticoats beneath quilted dresses and hand-beaded designs on suit coats. Beene meant for some details to be known and appreciated only by the wearer.

Appreciation for detail

The wearer in this case was Sylvia R. Karasu, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan.

Karasu began dressing in Beene’s designs in 1991.

“She was shopping at, I believe, Bergdorf’s in New York City,” Mamp said. “And she saw a dress that, at her first glance, seemed like a somewhat simple summer dress, but it was very expensive, maybe $2,000. And she asked the salesperson, ‘Why is this so much?’ And the salesperson started opening up the garment and showing her how Mr. Beene went about crafting clothing with exceptional detail in craftsmanship.”

Karasu was enamored and became a regular buyer of Beene’s designs.

“In the process, because she was buying so much, she came to the attention of Mr. Beene, and he started inviting her to fashion shows,” Mamp said. “They developed a friendship and corresponded for decades.”

Beene even reserved a chair for Karasu at his fashion shows, eventually which were exclusively staged in his studio.

Karasu, though, wasn’t only buying Beene clothes to wear.

“She has two components of her collection — the garments that she has personally worn and the garments that she’s just collected as part of her mission to preserve and document the complete spectrum of Mr. Beene’s career,” Mamp said. “So, she’s never really worn the pieces in this exhibit.”

She wears Geoffrey Beene every day

These earmarked pieces, along with their accompanying fashion sketches, span the 1960s through the early 2000s and are now part of the Textile & Costume Museum’s permanent collection.

“Dr. Sylvia Karasu wears Geoffrey Beene every day,” Mamp said. “She has thousands of pieces in her collection and was looking to begin finding a home for some of her collection. She was particularly interested in finding an institution in Louisiana, because Mr. Beene was originally from Haynesville, and because his identity as a Louisianan and Southerner was something that was very dear to his heart.”

The museum now houses 250 of Karasu’s donated Geoffrey Beene pieces appraised at a collected value of more than $241,000.

“This makes us one of the world’s largest repositories of Geoffrey Beene fashion,” Mamp said.

Now, not all 250 pieces are on display, but the sampling is enough to fill not only the main gallery but also the museum lobby. All were curated for the show by graduate students in the LSU Department of Textiles, Apparel Design & Merchandising through Mamp’s supervision.

Fashion pieces are complemented by fashion sketches and drawings that coordinate with the actual pieces. Some were drawn by Beene, others by illustrators within his fashion house.

In addition, the museum is hosting a smaller, coinciding show also titled, “Geoffrey Beene: Coming Home” at the LSU Museum of Art in the Shaw Center for the Arts.

“We’d like it to capture visitors’ attention and steer them from the art museum to our museum,” Mamp said. “It’s another way of drawing attention to Mr. Beene’s work. He won eight Coty Awards and two Council of American Fashion Designers awards in his 48-year career,” Mamp said.

Flowers and light

Beene’s mother was a florist, so flowers, particularly flowers of the South, show up in his work over and over again, according to Mamp.

Beene’s work included such combinations as a tissue-thin silk chiffon blouse textured by silk lace and gold copper metallic thread constructed for everyday wear.

“He used exquisite fabrics, and he was creating artistic pieces,” Mamp said. “And it wasn’t just with the finishes and fabrics, but, for example, Mr. Beene didn’t use darts.”

Darts, for those unfamiliar with sewing, are folds sewn into a garment to define the bust and waist in women’s clothing. They’re also sometimes incorporated into men’s trousers.

“He fit the garment to the body by using triangular shapes and curving lines,” Mamp said, pointing to a dress in the exhibit. “So, this dress, for example, has a series of triangular pattern pieces as a way to achieve fit. But it also has other detail. Just look at the gold stitching, even the edges of the pocket are lined in silk satin. That was Mr. Beene’s eye for detail.”

Beene’s obsession with lightness came as a result of a reviewer’s harsh critique of Beene’s choice of fabric. In earlier designs, Beene often incorporated quilted layers.

They may have looked heavy, but, as Mamp demonstrates with a slight touch, the quilting was lithe.

“This is an early piece from 1968, so it an earlier example of his work,” Mamp said. “And early on, he received a review that stuck with him. Somebody criticized, saying that his designs were heavy, and that really pushed him for the rest of his career to figure out how to make things lighter and lighter and lighter.”

Beene’s choice of fabrics became so light most other designers would have had difficulty working with them. Some dresses in the show stand as examples of Beene’s craftsmanship in this area.

“Anytime you work with something that’s very sheer or light, it’s very difficult,” Mamp said. “It slips. So, the level of craftsmanship in these pieces is just phenomenal.”

Beene explored fashion for all occasions, from the everyday to gala events. And though some pieces appeared fragile, all were durable as illustrated in the photos and magazine spreads included in the show.

Beene passed away at age 80 after a battle with cancer in 2004.

“But this is a celebration for us — we’re celebrating Mr. Beene’s 100th birthday with this exhibition,” Mamp said.

When Beene was craving gumbo from New Orleans’ Arnaud’s Restaurant, Karasu would have it shipped. He often visited the Crescent City and made special trips to visit his mother in that little town somewhere near the Louisiana-Arkansas state line.

“Geoffrey Beene: Coming Home” shows through Jan. 25, 2025, in the LSU Textile & Costume Museum, Human Ecology Building, 140 Tower Drive on campus. Hours are 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. the first Sunday of each month. Admission is free. For more information, call (225) 578-1087 or visit lsu.edu/textilemuseum.

Also, at 6 p.m. June 13, Museum Director Michael Mamp will give the gallery talk, “Geoffrey Beene: A Closer Look” at the LSU Museum of Art in the Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St. For more information, visit lsumoa.org. And at 6 p.m. Aug. 30, the Textile & Costume Museum will celebrate Beene’s 100th birthday with a party of cake and Champagne.