There’s no arguing that Geoffrey Beene is one of the greatest and most influential American fashion designers of all times. In his heyday, his clients included everyone from Lady Bird Johnson and Nancy Reagan, to Faye Dunaway and Glenn Close. Kay Unger, Alber Elbaz and Doo Ri Chung all worked under him before branching out via their own successful creative director roles. Since the designer’s death in 2004, the Council of Fashion Designers of America created the annual Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement award (which most recently went to Anna Sui) and one of his devoted former clients, Patsy Tarr, published a book (along with the art director of Tarr’s dance magazine 2wice Abbott Miller), entitled “Geoffrey Beene: A Design Tribute.” Tarr is continuing to honor the designer’s legacy by putting a number of her Beene pieces on display for an exhibition at the Phoenix Art Museum.
