TCM Exhibition Profiles

Louisiana Public Broadcasting/PBS

Exhibitions

Now on view:

Dressing Louisiana: Histoires de la mode de la Louisiane - now through March 6, 2026

Upcoming Exhibitions:

May 3, 2026 - theme TBD - to be curated by LSU graduate students
Louisiana Couture: The Legacy of San Carlin - opening in early August 2026 at the Louisiana Art & Science Museum
Quilted One Stitch at a Time: An Exploration of Quilts & Fashion - opening October 4, 2026

Past Exhibitions:

COLOR ME FASHION March 23, 2025 - August 15, 2025
Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene May 5, 2024 - January 24, 2025
Woven Louisiana History: Acadian Textiles September 23 - December 13, 2024 - LSU Hill Memorial Library
Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene -Southern Reflections April 26 - July 2, 2024 - LSU Museum of Art
Women Fashioning Women October 1, 2023 - March 28, 2024

Dressing Louisiana:

Histoires de la mode de la Louisiane

On Exhibit Now until March 6, 2026

Louisianians are resilient, diverse, and…fashionable. This exhibition celebrates the myriad ways in which the people of Louisiana created and utilized fashion as a tool in the formation of identity and in the celebration of life's joy and beauty. Included are the works of Louisiana artists and designers such as Ray Cole, Geoffrey Beene, Caroline Durieux, and Chapeaux LLC, Mardi Gras ensembles, the jerseys of LSU athletes, First Lady of Louisiana Fashion, celebrities such as Donna Douglas, and so much more, celebrating the joie de vivre of Louisiana!

COLOR ME FASHION
March 23 - August 15, 2025

Color evokes emotion, conveys energy, communicates meaning, inspires creativity, and fascinates humans from prehistoric times to the present day. COLOR ME FASHION explores fashion history using color relationships to organize various artifacts spanning c. 1890-1990. This exhibition delights both budding and established fashion enthusiasts with a showcase of works by renowned designers, including Oscar de la Renta, Chanel, Norman Norell, Dior, and many more, featuring approximately forty-five looks on display alongside coordinating accessories. Fashion and color go hand in hand, and this is a celebration of that fabulous relationship across time.

Woven Louisiana History:

Acadian Textiles September 23- December 13, 2024

LSU Libraries’ fall exhibition, “Woven Louisiana History: Acadian Textiles,” displayed in Hill Memorial Library from September 23, through December 13, 2024, tells the story of this unique cloth through blankets, quilts, hand towels, and garments from the collection of the LSU Textile and Costume Museum, along with poems, plays, historical accounts, newspapers, photographs, oral histories, and cultural preservation records in the holdings of LSU Libraries Special Collections.

Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene March 5, 2024 - January 24, 2025

Geoffrey Beene was among the twentieth century's most successful American fashion designers. Through the exhibition Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene, TCM celebrates the many accomplishments of this master of classic style and impeccable craftsmanship who, for decades, reigned supreme as the gold standard of American fashion design. Beene, originally from Haynesville, Louisiana, was committed to celebrating beauty in all its forms. His excellence in design garnered him eight Coty Awards and two Council of American Fashion Designers awards. This exhibition presented over 60 ensembles with related ephemera and accessories.

Coming Home: Geoffrey Beene

Southern Reflections

Sylvia R. Karasu, MD, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine of New York City, donated over three hundred pieces of Geoffrey Beene fashion from her collection and related ephemera, documenting Beene's career and Dr. Karasu's passion for his designs. This gift, the most significant and valuable in the history of TCM, establishes one of the world's most extensive archives of Geoffrey Beene's work. Mr. Beene approached fashion from a perspective of flawless craftsmanship and design, adapting his training in French couture for the American market. TCM is delighted to celebrate Mr. Beene in 2024, which would have been the year of his 100th birthday. This outpost exhibition of two dozen ensembles with sketches and ephemera at the LSU Museum of Art explored Mr. Beene's southern visual vernacular of magnolia, camellias, linen, cotton, and seersucker.

April 26 - August 30, 2024

Women Fashioning Women
October 1, 2023 - March 28, 2024

Ironically, in an industry fueled and supported by women, the accomplishments of women fashion designers are lesser known. Presented here is an attempt to further expand the body of knowledge with an examination of the work of American and European women designers such as Gabrielle Chanel, Ceil Chapman, Anne Fogarty, Jeanne Lanvin, Claire McCardell, Vera Maxwell, Mary McFadden, Jeanne Paquin, Pauline Trigère, and many more. With a wide range of artifacts pulled from the holdings of the LSU Textile & Costume Museum and others borrowed from partner institutions, we respond to the assessment of feminist and theorist Bell Hooks, who said, "to be in the margin is to be part of the whole but outside the main body.”