Snoopy Gets All Dolled Up for Birthday Bash
In print, Snoopy’s wardrobe is fairly limited: red flannel pajamas, a snazzy Flying Ace costume, a simple yellow rain slicker for the occasional downpour.
But next week, as Snoopy celebrates his 40th birthday, he and his sister Belle are going haute couture .
They will be outfitted by top designers from all over the world when 300 plush Snoopy and Belle dolls show up in custom-made clothes from such high-fashion creators as Giorgio Armani, Karl Lagerfeld and Christian Lacroix.
It’s all a part of a Snoopy retrospective exhibition opening at the Louvre in Paris on Jan. 23. On that date, a party will be thrown for the Peanuts gang. And Charles Schulz, their creator, is expected to receive a medal for arts and letters, presented by the French Ministry of Culture. Los Angeles designers on the long list of Snoopy couturiers include Bob Mackie, who’s known for glitzy, sequined creations for such clients as Cher and Carol Burnett, and Rachel London, the Melrose Avenue posy maven whose flower-power styles show up on such stars as Madonna, Jody Watley and Lisa Bonet.
One hundred forty-six designers in all have contributed to the show. It was created by Connie Boucher, chairman of San Francisco-based Determined Productions Inc., which has produced Snoopy paraphernalia for more than 30 years.
The Louvre show will include samples of Schulz’ original art and items from his personal collection of Peanuts paraphernalia.
The show will move to Japan’s Mitsukoshi department store in May and in October to the Los Angeles County Museum of Natural History. There are plans for the exhibit, whose production costs are being underwritten by Determined Productions, United Features Syndicate and Charles Schulz Creative Associates, to travel to New York, London, Milan and Madrid in 1991.
According to Boucher, the designers’ outfits were donated.
“This is something the designers did for fun,” she says of the contributors, who include just about every big name in the fashion world today: Chanel, Beene, Blass, Montana, Cacharel, Missoni, Fendi, Guess, Hermes, Porthault, Rykiel, McFadden, Miyake, Ungaro, to name just a few.
Not many fashion all-stars declined to participate. Asked to name those who refused, Boucher declined to get specific. But two famous American names are conspicuously missing from the list: Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren.
Says Boucher: “There’s no specific reason with either of those. I don’t know why they didn’t do it.”
Oh well, as Snoopy might surmise, maybe they’re allergic to morning.
