Arnold Scaasi, designer to first ladies and movie royalty, dead at 85

NEW YORK - Arnold Scaasi, 85, whose creations adorned first ladies from Mamie Eisenhower to Laura Bush and stars from Elizabeth Taylor to Barbra Streisand, died Tuesday at New York-Presbyterian Hospital of cardiac arrest.

Until he closed his dress business in 2010, Mr. Scaasi - his surname, Isaacs, spelled backward - specialized in made-to-order clothes, favoring ornate, brilliantly hued fabrics.

"Fashion, it's really about feeling good," he told the Associated Press in 2002. "It should be fun to get dressed."

While "less is more" was usually not his credo, perhaps his best-known outfit was a translucent pantsuit worn by Streisand in 1969 to accept the best-actress Oscar for Funny Girl.

The effect of the thin fabric in bright light created the impression of nudity from some angles. Mr. Scaasi denied the intent was to shock, saying only that he told Streisand: "We have to do something very modern - really of today."

Mr. Scaasi's most important legacy will be that of "his profound individuality," Parker Ladd, the designer's husband since 2011 and his partner of 54 years, said Tuesday.

Mr. Scaasi was born in 1930 in Montreal. His father was a furrier, and he became interested in art and fashion at an early age.

He was a young man when he had his first White House client: Mamie Eisenhower. The first lady favored strapless evening gowns, he wrote: "I was very pleased that Mrs. Eisenhower wanted to look so stylish."

For Barbara Bush, he designed a number of outfits including her two-toned, deep blue "Barbara blue" 1989 inaugural gown.

He said loyalty to the Bushes prevented him from actively seeking made-to-order business from Hillary Rodham Clinton. But to his surprise, he said, he met her in 1994 and learned that she had purchased a dress of his that she called "one of the prettiest gowns I own."