Dressing up the MFA with the look of the stars

In a move that significantly increases its collection of 20th century fashion, the Museum of Fine Arts will acquire more than 100 dresses by legendary designer Arnold Scaasi, known for his glamorous creations and elite clientele. While Scaasi donated the fashions, the MFA purchased for an undisclosed sum the designer’s extensive archives, sketches and scrapbooks dating back to the 1950s, films, and other ephemera Scaasi has collected in his more than 50 years in the industry.

It is only the second time in the MFA’s 139-year history that a fashion designer has donated a career-spanning collection of clothing - the first was Geoffrey Beene - and it boosts the museum’s efforts to expand its contemporary fashion collection. The pieces, which arrive in Boston over the next few weeks, are tentatively scheduled to be exhibited next year when the museum stages a retrospective of the 74-year-old Scaasi’s career.

“I was approached by several museums, but I liked the MFA, and I liked the idea that my collection would be something special there,’’ the pristinely tailored and notoriously sharp-witted Scaasi said recently in his Manhattan salon.

The collection could have gone to the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, he said, “but they have tens of thousands of pieces, and the thing is, at the Met they won’t show one designer on his own until he’s dead. Well, thank God, I’m not dead yet.’’

Scaasi arrived in New York in 1952 as Arnold Isaacs, the son of a Jewish furrier in Montreal. (He inverted the spelling of his last name to make it sound Italian.)

Scaasi rose to fame in the 1950s and became the go-to designer for celebrities and socialites through the 1960s. When glamorous fashion had a renaissance in the 1980s, Scaasi began dressing another batch of stars, such as Elizabeth Taylor. He was well-known in the world of high-end couture and produced ready-to-wear lines, but he never dabbled in sportswear or licensed his name, as many designers do.

“I am a perfectionist,’’ Scaasi said as he flipped through his scrapbooks. “I always say that the dresses have to be really special, or I don’t do them.’’

Scaasi’s signature pieces feature custom-designed fabrics and intricate beading, and he has created them for a staggering list of important women. Starting with Mamie Eisenhower, nearly every presidential spouse has donned Scaasi. (Michelle Obama has yet to indulge.) He has designed for, and befriended, socialites and entertainers ranging from Rose Kennedy and Brooke Astor to Aretha Franklin and Mary Tyler Moore. Many of these famous dresses, which ranged in price from $20,000 to $40,000, will remain permanently at the Museum of Fine Arts.

“Arnold’s clothing really connects to the broader social picture of what was going on at that time, especially in high society,’’ said Pamela Parmal, textiles curator at the MFA. “He has a specific niche within American fashion that’s important, and his early work is wonderful.

“I think you can see the collaboration, which is what’s interesting about Scaasi,’’ she said. “His clients had an influence on the design, so it reflects both Arnold and the client, the Streisand material especially.’’

Scaasi famously dressed Streisand for the 1969 Oscars in a sequined, peek-a-boo pantsuit that gave the illusion that the actress was nude underneath. (It was lined with flesh-colored fabric.) He went on to become one of Hollywood’s highest paid costume designers when Streisand insisted Scaasi outfit her for the 1970 film “On a Clear Day You Can See Forever.’’

“This is not clothing that’s worn by a woman who is a shrinking violet,’’ said Vogue European editor Hamish Bowles, who has several Scaasi dresses in his personal collection. “These are dresses worn by confident women who want to be noticed. He made statement dresses and made them beautifully.’’

The story behind the acquisition began in summer 2007 when word circulated in the museum community that Scaasi was looking for a home for his collection and archives. MFA trustee Fred Sharf contacted Scaasi, and the two met in Palm Beach, where they both have winter homes, to discuss the possibility of the MFA obtaining the collection. The MFA’s director, Malcolm Rogers, joined them.

“I think we all decided that we would move forward,’’ Sharf said. “Then it became a question of how it was all going to work. Was he going to give us these things, or would we buy them?’’

Scaasi wrote in his 2004 book, “Women I Have Dressed (and Undressed),’’ that he has never given away his dresses, not even to Jackie Kennedy when she first arrived at the White House. Indeed, he has spent the past several years buying back some of his most important pieces. Sharf explained that Scaasi wanted some kind of compensation for the pieces he had bought back, so they struck a deal that Scaasi would donate the gowns and the MFA would buy his archives.

The museum, which only began building its collection of 20th century fashion in the past 15 years, is hopeful that the Scaasi acquisition will signal to others that it is serious about adding to its fashion holdings.

“I’m hoping this will create a kind of momentum where other people will come to see us as a possible home for their materials,’’ Rogers said.

When he is not responding to questions with the standard answer - “It’s in my book’’ - Scaasi is telling stories about his dealings with everyone from late, legendary Vogue editor Diana Vreeland to his good friend Barbara Bush. His patrons are a devoted group who are not only deeply attached to Scaasi the designer, but Scaasi the man.

“Arnie is a real gent,’’ said “South Pacific’’ actress and longtime friend Mitzi Gaynor. “I would go to him whenever I was in New York and say, ‘I need some new clothes, baby; send me some clothes.’ If I was going to do Johnny Carson, I’d call him, and he’d send me just the perfect thing to wear.’’

Comedian Joan Rivers, who regularly wore Scaasi’s designs in the 1980s when she filled in as host of “The Tonight Show,’’ calls Scaasi “one of the great American designers.’’

“He’s a true artist,’’ Rivers said. “Just look at the body of his work. It’s staggering. He’s a diva, he’s an artist, and he’s a perfectionist. But he’s a perfectionist because he knows what works.’’

Christopher Muther can be reached at muther@globe.com.