When Alexandra Cunningham Cameron, the curator of contemporary design at the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, set about organizing a show on the late fashion designer Willi Smith, she found no shortage of material. There was footage of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane’s 1984 dance piece Secret Pastures, for which Smith designed the striking costumes. There were renderings of the urban decay–themed showroom that the architecture and environmental arts studio SITE designed for Smith—it featured scavenged chain-link fences, pilfered NYFD fire hydrants, and all manner of half-demolished construction debris. There was Expedition, the film that Smith shot in Dakar, Senegal, with the photographer Max Vadukul, featuring locals, dancers, and Smith himself decked out in hot pink dashikis, pastel suits, and serious statement jewelry. And there were…
