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Remembering Arnold Scaasi, who designed Barbra Streisand’s see-through pajamas for 1969 Oscars

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Arnold Scaasi, gala-dress designer to first ladies, socialites and celebrities for five decades, has died at age 85 in New York.

Scaasi is perhaps best known for creating one of the most controversial Oscars looks of all time--the sheer sequined bell-bottom pajamas Barbra Streisand wore to pick up her lead actress award for “Funny Girl” in 1969.

The look is a worst-dressed list hall-of-famer. But today, in the age of red carpet pay-for-play, when awards show gowns are calculatingly designed to appeal and not offend, many people look back to that Scaasi moment as a beacon of individuality in what has become a sea of sameness. And Scaasi was certainly ahead of his time: See-through looks are the diva norm on the red carpet now, having been worn by Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Kim Kardashian and more.

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In the 1980s, the era of glorious excess, Scaasi specialized in ball gowns with fitted bodices and full skirts, including the royal blue draped velvet and satin style worn by First Lady Barbara Bush to the 1989 Inaugural Ball. “That was the high point of my career,” the designer told the Los Angeles Times in 1992.

Known for his wit, and his ease in charming the society sets on the East Coast, West Coast and in the White House, he was fond of saying he dressed women who liked to be feminine, not “characters in S&M movies.”

Scaasi hailed from Montreal and started his career designing for Charles James in the 1950s. He opened his own ready-to-wear business with $2,000 in savings and sold his clothes to more than 200 retailers. By 1963, however, he became an early victim of the fashion churn, growing tired of designing more than 12 collections a year. So he closed his ready-to-wear and opened a couture house in New York in 1964 to cater to his private clients. Over the years, his client list grew to include such mistresses of maximalism as Elizabeth Taylor, Ivana Trump, Danielle Steel, Joan Rivers, Mitzi Gaynor and Streisand.

In the 1990s, Scaasi returned to ready-to-wear on a limited scale with his Scaasi Boutique collection of cocktail and evening wear. An advertising campaign featured society types, dressed to the hilt, standing next to the couturier saying, “Me and my Scaasi!” He also sold costume jewelry on HSN before retiring from fashion for good in 2010.

He was Barbara Bush’s favorite designer and good friend. He also dressed First Ladies Mamie Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton. But First Lady Michelle Obama, Scaasi thought, could use some help in the style department.

In 2009, he told WWD, “She’s great looking, she has a great personality and she’s obviously very bright… But… something is amiss.” The statements, along with similar sentiments from Oscar de la Renta, caused a controversy.

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Scaasi’s 2004 autobiography, “Women I Have Dressed (And Undressed!)” was a bestseller.

booth.moore@latimes.com

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