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Published
Aug 5, 2015
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Arnold Scassi dies at 85 in New York

By
EFE
Published
Aug 5, 2015

The Canadian designer died yesterday at the age of 85 at a New York hospital, the local press has reported.

Scassi, who was the designer of choice of five American First Ladies, died of heart failure at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, confirmed columnist Liz Smith.

The Canadian designer Arnold Scaasi died at the age of 85 - Foto: Adnkronos


The couturier’s relationship with the White House began in 1960, when he designed a gown for the then First Lady, Mamie Eisenhower, said Fashion Times.

His exclusive clientele also included Jackie Kennedy, who was dressed by Scassi for the first time before she became First Lady and then a few after.

Scaasi was also the favorite designer of Barbara Bush and her daughter-in-law, Laura Bush, and designed clothes for Hillary Clinton on occasion.

On the celebrity side, the Canadian designer's fans included Hollywood stars like Joan Crawford, Lauren Bacall and Elizabeth Taylor, and high-society ladies like Brooke Astor.

Born in Montreal in 1930 and trained at the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture Parisienne in Paris, Scassi moved later to New York to work with fashion designer Charles James.

Arnold Scassi lived in New York for over five decades, always together with his partner Parker Ladd, whom he married in 2011 after the same-sex marriage law was approved in New York.

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