AIR Artists to host international designer Vicky Tiel at April 6 dinner, fashion show

Published 1:00 pm Friday, February 9, 2024

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AIR Artists Inc. will host Timeless Fashions: A Tribute to International Fashion Designer Vicky Tiel on Saturday, April 6, starting at 6 p.m. The fashion show will take place at the historic Andalusia Railroad Depot on South Cotton Street.

Tiel began designing clothes in the 1960s and is perhaps the only American to have operated her own fashion design business in Paris consistently over that time, lasting longer than many of her French contemporaries. She is known for designing the miniskirt and her signature wrap dress. Her clothes have been sold exclusively in Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus for several decades and have been worn by everyone from her longtime and dear friend Elizabeth Taylor to Goldie Hawn, Halle Berry, and Kim Kardashian. Tiel also has a line of perfumes and has authored two books, It’s All About the Dress: What I Learned in Forty Years About Men, Women, Sex, and Fashion, in 2011, and The Absolute Woman: It’s All About Feminine Power, in 2018.

The evening will include a documentary tribute to Tiel, a seated dinner, and a runway show of Tiel’s dresses from the 1960s through the 1990s. The band 55 South will provide music.

There will also be a silent auction that includes a three-night stay in Tiel’s Paris apartment and other fantastic trips. Proceeds from ticket sales and the silent auction will help support AIR Andalusia, which celebrates the city’s textile history through the textile arts by offering classes, lectures, and shows.

Sue Wiggins, Andalusia native and founder of AIR Artists Inc./AIR Andalusia and the Cotton Street Gallery, has been friends with Tiel for nearly three decades. She said that Tiel “adopted Andalusia as her hometown because she fell in love with the ‘community and small-town charm of Andalusia.’ We are tickled to have Vicky as one of our own.” Tiel bought a farm outside Andalusia more than 20 years ago.

Tickets, which can be purchased at Cotton Street Gallery, are $100 per individual and $150 per couple and include wine and beer, dinner, and the show.

The Cotton Street Gallery, which celebrates Southern textile art and artists, opened in 2022 and offers textile-related classes and demonstrations for adults and children throughout the year. Proceeds from the gallery benefit AIR Andalusia.

To learn more about Vicky Tiel, visit https://vickytiel.com/. To learn more AIR Artists Inc./AIR Andalusia, visit https://airartists.org/. To learn more about Cotton Street Gallery, visit https://cottonstreetgallery.com/.