Lauren Bacall Agreed to a 'Diana Vreeland'-style Exhibit at FIT

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

The museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology is dedicating an exhibition next spring to the late Lauren Bacall, who died last Tuesday at age 89. A style fixture within the fashion industry, Bacall owed her discovery as an actress to a Harper's Bazaar cover at age 19, when the magazine was helmed by Diana Vreeland (she had been modeling since 16).

Bacall donated about 700 garments to FIT for the exhibit, which will focus mostly on her style impact in the '50s and '60s. (Bacall initially told the museum's curator, Valerie Steele, that she would be game for an exhibition, "as long as it's high-quality—Diana Vreeland style.")

In celebration of her impact on decades of style, the AP got notable fashion industry vets to weigh in on their favorite Bacall style moments. "She was the opposite of Marilyn Monroe's overt sexuality, yet she still oozed sensuality out of every pore," designer Peter Som said. "The clothes are so simple and so chic, and they still feel today so relevant. They feel like clothes you kind of want to wear."

Ralph Lauren described Bacall's sense of glamour as "beautiful, bold, and independent." Eric Wilson, Donna Karan, and Isaac Mizrahi also weighed in on the actress' ability to define sexy, casual dressing for women in the '50s and '60s.
· The Fashion World Looks Back on Lauren Bacall [AP]
· Uncover the History of Lingerie at FIT's Latest Museum Exhibit [Racked NY]
· Afternoon Shoe Porn: 7 Crazy Heels from FIT's New Exhibition [Racked]