C.Z. Guest: Portrait of an American Style Icon

C.Z. Guest: Portrait of an American Style Icon
Oct 15, 2026 – Feb 21, 2027

United States United States — Art Museum
601 Turner Blvd.
Savannah, GA 31401

The SCAD Museum of Art presents C.Z. Guest: Portrait of an American Style Icon, on view from 15 October 2026 through 21 February 2027, offering the first exhibition devoted to the personal wardrobe of one of the 20th century's most influential style arbiters. Drawn from Guest's wardrobe, now preserved in the museum's permanent collection, the show features ensembles and accessories that trace her impact on design culture across decades.

Born Lucy Douglas Cochrane in Boston in 1920, Guest became known by the initials C.Z., a variation of her childhood nickname "Sissy." She moved through roles that defied conventional expectations for women of her class: stage actress in the Ziegfeld Follies, equestrian athlete, gardening columnist, and businesswoman. In 1962, she appeared on the cover of TIME magazine under the headline "A Legend in Her Own Time," cementing her status as a symbol of American society and style.

The exhibition highlights designers Guest championed throughout her life, including American houses Oscar de la Renta, Carolina Herrera, Mainbocher, and Adolfo Sardiña, alongside international brands Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, Valentino, and Max Mara. Her unfussy, clean-cut aesthetic—often described as typically American—earned her induction into the International Best Dressed Hall of Fame in 1959. Photographs and illustrations by Slim Aarons, Cecil Beaton, and Andy Warhol demonstrate how her signature persona circulated through mainstream media, becoming synonymous with a particular vision of elegance.

Guest was one of Truman Capote's famous Swans, a circle of society women who served as muses to artists and writers. She was painted by Salvador Dalí and Diego Rivera, the latter reportedly depicting her nude. Unlike many of Capote's other Swans, she maintained her friendship with him after he published excerpts from his unfinished novel Answered Prayers, which betrayed confidences and fractured his social world.

Curated by Stefano Tonchi with Ariel Stark, SCAD FASH curator, the exhibition is sponsored by Max Mara. After a riding accident in 1976 ended her equestrian career, Guest turned to writing and design, launching gardening columns syndicated to hundreds of newspapers and developing her own lines of cashmere sweaters and garden products. She died in 2003 at age 83, leaving behind an influence that continues to shape American style from Ralph Lauren's waspy uniforms to Oscar de la Renta's eveningwear.

Image: Socialite Mrs. Winston Guest holding poodle poolside, 1962. Photo by Sharland/Getty Images.


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