Director of Jackson State University,Shon McCarthy Procures 250+ pieces of Patrick Kelly Collection

NEW YORK - Aug. 8, 2017 - PRLog -- Summer 2017, Shon McCarthy(Jackson State University's Gallery Director) procured 250 plus pieces from the Patrick Kelly collection, now housed at Jackson State University's H.T. Sampson Archives. Thanks to collaboration that McCarthy formed in 2016 with Philadelphia Museum of Art and Bill and Bjorn Amelan(owners of the Kelly estate). The estate initially gifted Jackson State University's Gallery1 with 25 pieces from the Kelly collection in the summer of 2016.  McCarthy has been insuring that the Kelly collection is being utilized for educational purposes for the students, where students from many disciplines have been inspired and enriched by the collection, from College of Business students, Department of Art students, College of Education students, Mass Communication students, and even Biology students.

In August 2016, McCarthy organized and assisted in instructing educational conservation/preservation textile and sewing workshops. In addition, students were informed about their world-renowned alumni, Patrick Kelly who was a fashion designer.  Kelly produced collections for five years, beginning in 1985 and continuing until his death in 1990. After receiving financial backing from the U.S. based fashion conglomerate Warnaco in July, 1987, Kelly was able to hire a staff and eventually achieve wholesale sales of US $7.2 million per year.  Kelly's designs were sold in upscale retailers including Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman, and Bloomingdales's and were worn by notables such as Princes Diana, Naomi Campbell, Madonna, Isabella Rossellini, Bette Davis, Iman, Cicely Tyson, and Grace Jones .

After attending Jackson State University, he attended Parsons School of Design. While living in Atlanta, Kelly sold reworked, recycled clothes and served as an unpaid window-dresser at Yves Saint Laurent. YSL chairman, Pierre Berge'  personally sponsored Kelly in 1988 to form the Paris-based womenswear fashion house Patrick Kelly Paris. Kelly achieved his greatest commercial success in the late 1980s and in 1988 Kelly became both the first American and the first person of color to be admitted as a member of the Chambre syndicale du prêt-à-porter des couturiers et des créateurs de mode.  Kelly died at age 35 on New Year's Day, 1990.

In 2004, The Brooklyn Museum presented Patrick Kelly: A Retrospective, a show featuring more than sixty Kelly designs.  In 2014, the Philadelphia Museum of Art presented the exhibition Patrick Kelly: Runway of Love.

In 2016, Jackson State University's Gallery1, under the Direction of Shon McCarthy, presented Patrick Kelly: From Mississippi to New York to Paris and Back.  This was the first exhibiton to celebrate the JSU alumni Patrick Kelly on the university's campus, which also included a student led fashion show of Patrick Kelly inspired clothing. There were over 500 people who came out attend the event. In addition, Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. who was Kelly's classmate in Vicksburg and Jackson State University, attended and spoke at the exhibition opening. Some of Kelly's classmates that grew-up with him in Vicksburg also attended the celebration.

The campus is planning to present another Patrick Kelly exhibition with the new collection they received summer 2017.  Again, they plan to make it another engaging student centered presentation to celebrate JSU's very own, Patrick Kelly.

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