PROVIDENCE, R.I. – The RISD Museum will present “All of Everything: Todd Oldham Fashion,” the first major exhibition to focus on the exuberant style and playful aesthetic of designer Todd Oldham’s 1990s fashion career.
Drawn from the Todd Oldham Studio archives, and including items recently donated to the RISD Museum, “All of Everything” features more than 65 full ensembles – from Oldham’s Swarovski crystal-encrusted feats of craftsmanship to his Pantone nonrepeating print designs. The exhibition opens with a free celebration the evening of April 7. “All of Everything: Todd Oldham Fashion” will be on view April 8 through Sept. 11.
“I am most flattered the RISD Museum is celebrating my fashion design days. I had such fun making the clothes and had the great pleasure of working next to amazing artists along the way,” Oldham said. “It was joy to go through the archive to choose and recompile ensembles for the exhibition, and the fact that this exhibition is at one of my very favorite design schools in the world is a special thrill.”
In a world where success and expertise are often defined by mastering one genre, Oldham defies expectations. The multi-talented designer burst onto the New York fashion landscape in 1989 and, within a year, was called “more than a designer to watch; he’s happening” (New York Times, 1990). Oldham soon won top honors as a new fashion talent, and was widely lauded as a rising star and runway darling. He blazed a spirited trail throughout the next decade – his fashion week shows are remembered as being as exciting as dance parties and rock concerts, while his designs were praised as inventive and playful, with extravagant embellishments and raucous color combinations.
“We were always throwing curve balls,” Oldham recalled. “I felt I had something new to say in this medium that had juxtaposition and duality – not a normal approach to fashion, come to find out.”
In 1999, Oldham shuttered the doors of his fashion house and focused his eye for form, function, and fun in the direction of other creative endeavors. He has mastered nearly every other element of design in the nearly two decades since: furniture, graphic, interior, exhibition, and product – as well as film directing, photography and book publishing. The bedrock of each of these accomplishments, however, is the creative foundation that he laid in his fashion designs. From the start, Oldham meshed narrative and storytelling with a love for craft; his fixation on novelty has led to the revival of vanishing techniques and traditions, and his innovative bricolage approach earned him an honorary doctorate degree from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in May 2014.
While on campus for commencement ceremonies that spring, Oldham toured the RISD Museum and met with Curator of Costume and Textiles Kate Irvin and Associate Curator Laurie Brewer to discuss his recent rediscovery of his runway archives and a proposed gift of items from this collection … and from this conversation, “All of Everything” was born.
Irvin notes that while the garments debuted on the runway more than 20 years ago, they appear thoroughly contemporary. “These pieces weren’t made in the 1990s in response to the trends of the day. Todd pursued personal sources of inspiration that often led to experimental methods of making. He continually pushed the boundaries of traditional manufacture, kicking the machine to meet the challenge of making new and exciting works of art. I am positive that these innovations will feel as fresh in 2016 as they did in the 1990s.”
