A stunning gown made with lurex, an innovative fabric at the time the gown was created, with metallic thread and sable cuffs. Photos by Kevin Duffy

Geoffrey Beene’s story starts with polka dots, but it unfolds into a tapestry of innovation, craftsmanship and an indelible mark on fashion history.

In the small town of Haynesville, Louisiana, Beene found his creative spark in an unlikely place — a fabric lining his aunt's hope chest. His aunt removed the fabric and gave it to Beene. At just 10 years old, he transformed that polka-dot fabric into his first garment using a Simplicity pattern, setting the stage for a remarkable journey from a quaint Southern upbringing to the heights of American fashion design.

His fascination with fabrics and patterns, nurtured by his florist mother, laid the foundation for a career that would captivate the fashion world and one woman in particular who became the foremost collector of Geoffrey Beene garments, fabrics, sketches and ephemera.

The legacy of Geoffrey Beene is celebrated in the exhibition, “Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene,” at the LSU Textile and Costume Museum. It features garments collected and donated by Sylvia R. Karasu, M.D, clinical professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City.

Since 1991, Karasu has worn and amassed thousands of Beene's creations, donating 254 pieces to the museum, 92 of which are on display at either the LSU Textiles and Costume Museum or were on display at a smaller exhibit at the LSU Museum of Art.

“She doesn't have normal run around clothes like you and I,” said Michael Mamp, director and curator of the LSU Textiles and Costume Museum. “She only wears Geoffrey, every day since 1991.”

The donation is the largest gift the museum has received and is appraised at $241,000.

Mamp said the collection was a coup for the museum, with curators from across the country eager to see and obtain the garments.

“For whatever reason, she and I connected. I think we understood each other culturally,” Mamp said. “She was very eager for me to take things that first time I met her.”

One of the first garments he took on that initial visit was an exquisite jacket with a tiger that was part of Beene’s circus collection, and apropos for the start of a donation to an LSU museum.

“It is fabulous,” Mamp said, describing the jacket which is on display with two other jackets from the circus collection. “It has the hand-beaded and embroidered tiger. The buttons are handblown Venetian glass. The trim around the edge are strips of magenta and copper bias tape that have been stitched together to make the trim. These are just beautifully made.”

An extreme attention to detail, unparalleled craftsmanship, and “little surprises just for the wearer,” as Mamp called them, are the calling cards of a Geoffrey Beene garment.

Visitors to the museum can marvel at the fabrics, the trims, the beading and the luxury that spans from the late 1960s to the early 2000s. When they enter the lobby of the museum, they will be greeted by eight garments that display Beene’s love of polka dots and represent his start in fashion.

Inside the museum’s main exhibit space, visitors can view the garments in groupings. Mamp and his students took their time deciding which pieces to display, how to display them and how to group them.

On some pieces, mannequins’ hands hold the hem of a dress to show the lace and petticoat underneath. Some of the garments are displayed on original Geoffrey Beene dress forms.

“Towards the end of his life he got tired of doing fashion shows,” Mamp said of Beene. “He was kind of ahead of his time in that regard. They're very expensive, and it's over in 20 minutes. So, he would set up his showroom with forms covered in fabrics that matched his collection.”

Mamp bought 19 of those forms at auction for the exhibit. He also bought new mannequins and risers for the show. He received a Research and Creative Activity Support grant from the LSU Provost’s Fund for Innovation in Research and secured donations from community members —John G. Turner, Jerry G. Fisher, Mindy and Greg LaCour, Pat Alford, Lubna Culbert, and Joshua Holder of Time Warp Boutique — to stage the show.

The museum held an opening reception on May 5. Karasu attended along with Russell Nardozza, former vice president of Geoffrey Beene LLC, and Stephen Wellman, one of Beene’s nephews.

The show will run until Jan. 24. A new exhibit, “Color Me Fashion,” will take its place, opening March 16, 2025, and will explore over 100 years of fashion history arranged by color.

Mamp said this collection brings the museum and its holdings into a new stratosphere.

“We have a fabulous museum. We house thousands of pieces dating across a wide period of history. But these garments (Beene collection) at the time were the most expensive, most exclusive in the marketplace. So, this really elevates the designer component of our collection and puts us on par with other leading institutions.”

Geoffrey Beene cocktail dresses from the 1990s.

Sylvia Karasu, M.D. and Michael Mamp, museum director, at the opening reception of the “Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene” exhibit at the LSU Textile and Costume Museum on May 5. Photo by Emma Reynolds

A plaid taffeta skirt on a gown is lifted slightly to reveal the petticoat underneath, which helps give the gown structure and volume. Beene was known for these details. Photo by Kevin Duffy

A grouping of garments titled the Language of Lace is displayed at the museum. Photo by Kevin Duffy

Images of Sylvia R. Karasu, M.D., outfitted in Geoffrey Beene designs, are displayed on a wall at the exhibit. Photo by Emma Reynolds

A jacket from Geoffrey Beene’s circus collection includes Venetian glass buttons, magenta and copper trim, and a hand-beaded tiger. It was one of the first items Sylvia R. Karasu donated to the museum. Photo by Kevin Duffy

Polka-dot garments greet visitors at the entrance to the LSU Textile and Costume Museum and are a nod to Geoffrey Beene’s first garment he created when he was 10 years old. Photo by Kevin Duffy