Raphael Gomes – the man behind SCAD-FASH Museum in Atlanta, Georgia

Born of a Brazilian mother and a German father, Gomes was raised in Europe. Being a military man, his father offered him shells of grenades to play with as a child, which he immediately covered in mirrored sequins and created his very own disco ball!  Raphael found his inspiration in the pages of fashion magazines and was able to study Graphic Fashion Design at Munich’s Deutsche Meisterschule fur Mode.  

After graduation, he participated in “Project Catwalk” where at the finale he was offered an opportunity to interview for internships with John Galliano, Alexander McQueen, and Vivien Westwood.  He chose to work with Westwood because she offered him a job after the internship was completed.  He worked on embellishment for her couture pieces in the beginning of his career, and eventually became curator to her archives.  After working in the manic-paced world of high fashion for ten years, Gomes was offered a position at SCAD when he came to the U.S. to deliver and set up the Vivien Westwood exhibition as a one-man team.  SCAD saw what he could accomplish and made him an offer to work his magic for other designers in their space. SCAD has two locations that Gomes oversees : Atlanta, Georgia and Savannah, Georgia. There are also locations for study in Hong Kong and in France (Lacoste).  

When we visited him at the SCAD-FASH facilities, Gomes took us through several locked doors into the archive and preservation room, a sterile, cool environment with original prints by Richard Avendon and Robert Mapplethorp adorning the walls for inspiration. But who can look at the walls when there are couture pieces by Chanel, Lanvin, and YSL hanging on a rolling rack, waiting to be photographed ? Boxes of archived pieces, one of which contains a Chanel pink floral applique jacket and wool crepe dress, donated by Anna Wintour to the museum for preservation and study by the fortunate SCAD students.  

Gomes has worked with so many designers and celebrities in the fashion industry, and he has stories about all of them, most “off the record”.  A fashion enthusiast will just have to wait and see what he will produce for his next big show, and hope that someday he will write his memoirs in a book, so that we can all take a peek into his fascinating life story.