What is it about?
This article traces the careers of Charles Kleibacker: fashion designer and entrepreneur with a focus on bias-cut construction in New York City (1960 to 1984), educator working primarily with Midwestern universities (1968 to 2010), and Columbus-based museum curator (1985 to 2010). An individualist creator and gifted communicator, he made his passion for exquisitely crafted garments the center of his life.
Featured Image
Why is it important?
The life and work of Charles Kleibacker touches on a variety of fields including design, manufacturing, education, and museum studies. It features important changes in the creation and production of clothing in the New York garment industry of the 1960s to the 1980s. Charles’ careers are examples of the way this individualistic American creator was able to latch on to a standard of perfection that was hard to sustain in a changing environment. Despite obstacles, he found ways to communicate the principles he held dear: the love and respect of his craft and his medium — cloth — and the possibilities of garments to transform the wearer’s, the maker’s, and the viewer’s lives.
Perspectives
While the world of fashion follows a hurried pace of production and reinvention, there are individual creators who cannot be swayed from a path where trends are irrelevant. In the course of his long and productive life, Charles Kleibacker reinvented himself many times but remained steadfast to his uncompromising ideals of beauty and craftsmanship.
Dr Anne E. Bissonnette
University of Alberta
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Savoring the Process, Dress, October 2012, Taylor & Francis,
DOI: 10.1179/0361211212z.0000000001.
You can read the full text:
Contributors
The following have contributed to this page
