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Announcing Representation of Todd Oldham
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Photo courtesy Todd Oldham Studio
Artists Rights Society is proud to welcome Todd Oldham to the ARS roster. ARS will partner closely with the Todd Oldham Studio, leveraging a global network of sister societies to connect with new collaborators worldwide. Oldham joins over 122,000 artists and estates represented by ARS, including Alexander Calder, Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, Faith Ringgold, Cindy Sherman, and Mickalene Thomas.
Todd Oldham’s 1990s runway shows drew some of the biggest names in modeling, including Tyra Banks, Helena Christensen, and Cindy Crawford. Among the first designers to use digital textile printing, his collections were known for their bold pattern, intricate handwork, and maximalist energy.
About Todd Oldham
Born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1961, Oldham launched his career by selling a handmade collection to Neiman Marcus and went on to become one of the defining designers of the 1990s. Over a decade in New York fashion, he built a body of work celebrated for its maximalist energy, technical ambition, and joyful irreverence. His garments incorporated everything from Swarovski crystals and hand-worked Indian embroidery to pipe cleaners and safety pins. By 1991 he had received the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent. A year later, the New York Times declared him fashion’s new “It guy.”
Textiles were central to Oldham’s practice in a way that set him apart from his contemporaries. He pioneered digitally-printed fabrics at a time when the technology was barely in use in fashion, and developed a non-repeating Pantone print that remains a signature of the era. His source material ranged widely – Persian carpets, Byzantine mosaics, 18th-century French painting, Gustav Klimt, landscape photography, argyle – often realized in collaboration with artisans and mills chosen for their specialized techniques. The result is a body of textile work that functions as its own design archive, distinct from the garments themselves.
A selection of Todd Oldham’s signature textiles and surface designs, ranging from kaleidoscopic patterns and nature motifs to photographic collage and trompe l’oeil foil print satin.
A 2016 retrospective at the RISD Museum, All of Everything: Todd Oldham Fashion, brought renewed attention to this pivotal chapter of his career. The significance of this work is further reflected in its presence within the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, which holds the second-largest designer archive in its history from Oldham. The archive encompasses videotapes, photographs, lookbooks, fabric samples, scrapbooks, and publicity materials spanning his career, alongside garments in the permanent collection.
Since closing his fashion house in 1999, Oldham has continued to expand into new arenas. He has designed hotel interiors, including the Hotel of South Beach, developed furniture collections for La-Z-Boy, and collaborated with Target on a wide range of products – from bedding and dorm accessories to home décor – well before designer-mass market partnerships became commonplace. His children’s craft lines, Kid Made Modern and Hand Made Modern, have been featured in the museum shops of the Guggenheim and MoMA, while his Smarts & Crafts line has brought accessible design tools to Walmart stores nationwide.
Oldham’s collaborations have spanned furniture, home goods, and hospitality, including an accent chair for La-Z-Boy, a bedding set and foot stool from his Dorm Collection for Target, holiday cards for MoCA, the Felissimo Tribute 21 Plate Project, and the Supernature carpet from the TODD series by Durkan Hospitality.
Over more than three decades, Oldham has built a career defined less by category than by curiosity. The point of view behind it, though, has always been consistent – inventive, joyful, and welcoming by design. It translates across applications, from product to print, while retaining a strong sense of identity.
Oldham’s work is available for licensing through ARS. Ready to bring that maximalist energy to your next project? Email info@arsny.com to start the conversation.
About Artists Rights Society
Artists Rights Society (ARS) is the premier licensing agency for visual artists in the United States, representing over 122,000 artists. ARS functions as a nexus between the vast and active network of artists, museums, scholars, galleries, journalists, and commercial collaborators. Our unique role in the cultural community, harnessed by nearly 40 years of experience in intellectual property matters, enables us to serve as a platform for all artists to empower themselves with knowledge of their legal rights. In support of our mission, we guide artists and collaborators through the often obscure realm of copyright and intellectual property matters with licensing expertise, legal support, advocacy, educational outreach, relationship building, and product development.
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