Opulent Luxury in Scaasi's Townhouse

I am continually intrigued by the spaces fashion designers create—whether for their homes, atelier, or stores—and how these are reflected in the clothes they design. Below is a look at the very early years of Arnold Scaasi’s career and how he went from a cold-water flat to a (supposedly) Stanford White mansion.

Previously, I’ve discussed the homes of Thea Porter and Richard Assatly, and revisited the private lives of couturiers, part one and part two.

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When Arnold Isaacs arrived in New York in 1953 after completing his studies at the École de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and apprenticing at Paquin, he called up Charles James, supposedly on the advice of Christian Dior. After working with him for two years, Isaacs left to start designing his own custom creations. When his designs were chosen to be an ad for “Body by Fisher,” General Motors’ body manufacturing division, Arnold visited the set and met photographer Edgar de Evia’s young partner, Robert Denning. Of a similar age and sharing a love for color and opulence, they became friendly with Denning proposing that Arnold reverse his surname for the more Italian-sounding Scaasi. As Scaasi, his gowns soon appeared in advertising campaigns for Lucky Strike cigarettes and Maidenform bras—each appearance leading yet more high society women and starlets up the stairs to his cold-water railroad apartment at 144 East Fifty-Eighth; the living room the “salon,” the tiny bedroom for “fittings,” and the dining room used as a “workroom.”

Maidenform ad with Scaasi gowns on mannequins, 1955.

In March of 1955, Scaasi joined Dressmaker Casuals as designer; there he oversaw “ensembles, dinner and daytime suits and dressy and street-wear coats,” while still maintaining his custom business—that December one of his satin opera coats appeared on the cover of Vogue. He left in the spring of 1956 to found his own ready-to-wear business. In 1958 he won the Coty Award for womenswear (the coveted Winnie award) and moved his company into a temporary space at 45 West Fifty-Seventh Street.