Synergies between fashion designers and artists have previously existed. Dior was Dior only when delineated in the dark romanticism of Christian Bérad or the linear simplifications of René Gruau. Schiaparelli was indoctrinated into cryptic Surrealism by Jean Cocteau's deft and defining diagrams. But fashion history affords no real counterpart to the yin and yang creativity of Isabel and Ruben Toledo.

Isabel and Ruben Toledo share a common approach: imaginative creation from observation. Always they ground invention in the reality of needs and practices. Isabel pursues perfection, developing cut and nuance with the eye of Norell or Balenciaga, but always her work is tethered to earth and to its medium by her pragmatic disposion. Ruben's fancy and ingenuity are tempered by his own critical scrutiny.

The same zeal for improbality that makes Ruben Toledo a great illustrator makes Isabel Toledo a great fashion designer -resourceful in conveying the properties of material and cut. As Amy Spindler once reported, "only great designers can dispense with themes and theatrics and let the work speak instead. Ms. Toledo does just that, letting fashion itself be the theme." Isabel Toledo tolerates and even prizes the life of fabrics, the flow and twists of draping and the nutty jigsaw puzzles of shape. Her pleasure in discovering creative form that moves with originality and suppleness on the body places her firmly in the traditions of sportswear. Likewise, her reliance on an image of the modern woman -one almost as energic as she is- makes her a sportswear advocate. History haunts the clothing, never becoming vintage in its remembrance of Vionnet, McCardell or Chanel, but becoming resonant in proving that design is a problem-solving discipline.

Isabel Toledo is less a designer for the runway than for the near-looking and wearing satisfactions as well as the details that ultimately justify fashion. She is the illustrator's muse precisely because she creates fashion with subtlety and with conviction.

Richard Martin, Curator
Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art

   

 

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