Exhibitions Curated by Kleibacker

1986                                                                          Memorable Dress/Ohio Women

An exhibit on The Ohio State University campus in the art gallery of Sullivant Hall that addressed the role of notable women born in Ohio. Among the garments exhibited were those of Suzanne Farrell, Lillian Gish, Mrs. John Glenn, Mrs. O.O.McIntyre, Mrs. Harvey S. Firestone, Jr. Emma Gene Hall, Vicomtesse Harriet de Rosiere, Phyllis Diller, Erma Bombeck, wives of Presidents Garfield and Harding.

This was the inaugural exhibition that led the way to acquiring a current 8,000-piece collection that services students, scholars and the Columbus community through The Ohio State University’s College of Human Ecology. In addition to garments from The Ohio State University collection, clothes were on loan from Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland; The Cincinnati Art Museum; The Museum of the City of New York; The New York City Ballet, a number of private collections. Designers included Vionnet, Louiseboulanger, Fortuny, Chanel, Balenciaga, Callot Soeurs. The college’s Geraldine Schottenstein Wing now includes permanent galleries for exhibition.

1987                                                                                    Cars and Couture

An exhibit in the downtown automobile showroom of Immke Motors, Columbus, Ohio. The exhibit featured vintage cars and historic clothing of the same periods. Clothing designers included Adrian, Jacques Fath, Maggy Rouff, Lange, Bergdorf-Goodman, Angés-Drècoll. The Leonard Immke vintage cars included a 1931 Cadillac, a 1940s Buick used in the film Casablanca, a 1956 Mercedes once owned by Clark Gable, a Thunderbird, a 1938 LaSalle.

 

1989                                                                                  Linear Grace

An exhibit at the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. The work of sculptor Paul Manship occupied most of the Ross Wing at the Museum. To complement the Manship sculptures, fine examples of evening couture from the 1920s and 30s were shown. Designers included Worth, Chanel, Patou, Vionnet, Poiret, Bergdorf-Goodman, Lanvin, Fortuny, Gallenga, Babani. This was the first exhibition of clothing at the Columbus Museum of Art and the response was tremendous, leading to successive and larger clothing exhibitions. Garments from Linear Grace were on loan from the Historic Costume and Textiles Collection, The Ohio State University, and the Kleibacker Group on loan to the university.

1992

In Black and White: Dress from the 1920s to Today (co-curated with Claudia Gould, with design installation by Paris’ Andrée Putman)

An exhibit at the Wexner Center for the Contemporary Arts, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. In Black and White was notable for the combination of the exciting Wexner Center galleries, the brilliant work of Putman, and extraordinary clothes on loan from Paris couture and ready-to-wear houses, from Tokyo, from New York, Los Angeles, London, Rome, Milan; The Ohio State University; Costume Institute of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art; The Goldstein Galleries at The University of Minnesota; The University of North Texas at Denton, Texas; Kent State University Museum, Kent, Ohio, the Kleibacker Group at The Ohio State University. Designers included Dior, Balenciaga, Patou, Lacroix, Schiaparelli, Capucci, Jacques Fath, Fortuny, Patricia Lester, Miyake, Alaïa, Paquin, Lanvin, Armani, Trigère, Galanos, Traina-Norell, Norman Norell, Chanel, Bob Mackie, Grès, Griffe, Poiret, Halston, Pierre Cardin, Courrèges, Rochas, Carolina Herrera, Nina Ricci, Travis Banton, Hervé Leger, Gigli, Maggy Rouff, Shannon Rodgers, Yves Saint Laurent, Bonnie Cashin, Vivienne Westwood, Montana, Thierry Mugler, Bruyère, Charles James, Irene, Nettie Rosenstein, Lanvin and Kleibacker.

In Black and White also made a statement to the requirements of producing meaningful clothes by showing an atelier, the designer’s studio and a cutting room.

In Black and White was a perfect example of coordinating a block-buster fundraiser with the opening of a clothing exhibition. The exhibition brought in an international audience and, at the time, broke attendance records at the Wexner Center.

1993                                                                                     Reel to Real: The Hollywood Designer After Film (co-curated with Cordelia Robinson)

An exhibit at The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio. Reel to Real focused on the work of a number of the great Hollywood film designers, in couture and ready-to-wear (a few of their designs for film were also included, such as Travis Banton's for Claudette Colbert in the 1934 Cleopatra and an Adrian for a Joan Crawford film.) Designers included Adrian, Travis Banton, Howard Greer, Irene, Lange, Shannon Rodgers, Charles Le Maire, Helen Rose, Bonnie Cashin, Jean Louis, Bob Mackie, Edith Head, and Omar Kiam.

1996                                                                                Stipelman: His Illustrations and the Fashions they Reflect

An exhibition at the Kent State University Museum, Kent, Ohio in conjunction with the Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman School of Fashion Design and Merchandising. Stipelman was an overview of the distinctive work of New York fashion illustrator, Steven Stipelman, that spanned the years 1962-1996. These unique sketches and paintings were poised next to the actual garments illustrated. The oldest garment exhibited was a 1926 Chanel from the Kent State University Museum collection and the most recent was 1991 Galanos, on loan from the designer. Other designers included Adrian, Irene, Philip Hulitar, Norman Norell, Balenciaga, Chanel, Lanvin, Bonnie Cashin, Vionnet, Charles James, Dior, Trigère, Bruyère, Gallenga, Traina-Norell, Jacques Griffe, Grès, Patou, Shannon Rodgers, Stavropoulos, Kleibacker.

In addition to garments from the Kent State University Museum, clothes were on loan from Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, The Ohio State University, Columbus, and the Kleibacker Historic Collection.

 

   

 

1997                                                                                DRESSed-Up Photography

An exhibition at the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, inspired by the photography of such prestige names as Horst, Neal Barr, Frederick Eberstadt, Skrebneski, Maywald, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, among others. The clothes shown in the photography were exhibited alongside the photography. Designers included Patou, Balenciaga, Lanvin, , Dior, Paco Rabanne, Trigère, Galanos, Nina Ricci, Versace, Adrian, Victor Alfaro, Pierre Cardin, Grès, Charles James, Venet, Travilla, Bergdorf-Goodman, Kleibacker.

1998                                                          
Couture/Ready-to-Wear

An exhibition at The Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio that addressed the issue of clothes custom made for a private client, which is what couture is all about, in relation to luxury ready-to-wear, shipped to stores and specialty shops in sizes. It is the function of the alteration department in such stores to make the adjustments to the ready-to-wear garments whereas couture is engineered to an individual anatomy, often with discrepancies. Couture designers included Worth, Grès, Chanel, Balenciaga, Schiaparelli, Patou, Bergdorf-Goodman, Mainbocher, Charles James, Valentina, Valentino, Givenchy, Irene, I.Magnin, Lanvin, Hanae Mori, Vionnet, Dior. Luxury ready-to-wear designers included Trigère, Galanos, Jean Muir, Thierry Mugler, Montana, Jil Sander, Karl Lagerfeld, Fortuny, Norman Norell, Courrèges, Bernard Newman, Patrick Kelly, Halston and Kleibacker. Many couture designers also do ready-to-wear. What Couture/Ready-to-Wear emphasized: the ready-to-wear designer is as creative as the couture designer; a primary difference is a method of fitting. The creative process in couture often does lend itself to greater extravagance in design.