Atlanta is getting a first look at a wardrobe that defined American elegance. ‘C.Z. Guest: Portrait of an American Style Icon,’ on view at the SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film through February 21, 2027, is the first exhibition dedicated to the life and legacy of C.Z. Guest, one of Truman Capote’s famous ‘Swans’ and a muse to Salvador Dali and Diego Rivera.
The exhibition presents more than 40 ensembles and accessories from Guest’s personal wardrobe, shown publicly for the first time. Most pieces are a gift from her daughter, Cornelia Guest, to the SCAD Museum of Art Permanent Collection, alongside loans from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Together they trace twentieth-century American luxury through designs by Mainbocher, Adolfo, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, Courreges, Chanel, Huntsman of Savile Row, and Carolina Herrera.
Photographs by Slim Aarons, Cecil Beaton, Irving Penn, Lord Snowdon, and Bruce Weber place the clothes in the world that made them famous – Palm Beach gardens, Manhattan evenings, and a life that moved between high society, horses, and horticulture.
Curated by Stefano Tonchi with SCAD FASH curator Ariel Stark and sponsored by Max Mara, the show is at SCAD FASH, 1600 Peachtree Street NW in Midtown Atlanta.
Photo: SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film
