Fashion Culture programs are organized by The Museum at FIT to provide new perspectives
on the culture of fashion.
Programs are free unless otherwise indicated. Reservations are required for all events,
as space is limited.
Join the conversation online using #FashionCulture
If you require accommodations due to a disability please contact [email protected] to discuss your needs.
The request should be provided with enough time to reasonably setup the accommodation.
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Thursday, February 13 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
With his now-legendary store on 125th Street in Harlem, Dapper Dan pioneered high-end streetwear in the 1980s, remixing classic luxury-brand logos into his own innovative, glamorous designs. In this book, Dapper Dan tells his full story for the first time. Book signing to follow the presentation.
Carol Spencer
Tuesday, February 25 | 7 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
In this book presentation, Carol Spencer will share the history of the Barbie doll, and how it evolved to become an American icon. Spencer held a design position at Mattel during a time when technology and marketing changed rapidly. She will discuss her designs for Barbie spanning four decades. Book signing to follow the presentation.
Aesha Ash, Debra Austin, Virginia Johnson, and Lydia Abarca Mitchell
Thursday, February 27 | 7 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
Join four pioneering African American ballerinas as they discuss their groundbreaking careers and their paths to national and international stardom. The panel includes: Virginia Johnson, prima ballerina and current director of the Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH); Lydia Abarca, first prima ballerina of DTH; Debra Austin, first ever African American ballerina with New York City Ballet (NYCB) and principal ballerina with the Pennsylvania Ballet; and Aesha Ash, former ballerina with NYCB.
Amy Fine Collins
Wednesday, March 4 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
Join journalist and author Amy Fine Collins as she presents her latest book, The International Best-Dressed List: The Official Story. Fine Collins will discuss how the “Best-Dressed List” is reflective of current society. Organized in collaboration with FIT’s School of Graduate Studies, this is a tie-in to the exhibition Eleanor Lambert: Empress of Seventh Avenue. Book signing to follow the presentation.
Chloe Chapin and Emma McClendon
Tuesday, March 10 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
Join Power Mode curator Emma McClendon for a discussion with Harvard scholar Chloe Chapin about the suit, gender, and “power dressing.” Drawing on the recent resurgence of the suit in fashion, they will consider the history and endurance of this enigmatic ensemble. A book signing will follow the event.
Tuesday, March 17 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
In a conversation moderated by Regan de Loggans (Mississippi Choctaw), Jeffrey Gibson and Korina Emmerich will discuss Native American fashion design. Gibson is an award-winning Choctaw-Cherokee artist, whose work combines traditional Native American elements with contemporary references. Emmerich is the founder of EMME, a fashion brand, which reflects her indigenous heritage stemming from the Coast Salish territory, Puyallup tribe.
Wednesday, March 18 | 1 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
Fashion designer Prabal Gurung and MFIT Director Valerie Steele will discuss his innovative and international career. With over 80 percent of his collections made in New York, Gurung is committed to sustaining domestic employment, income, and production. His family’s Shikshya Foundation Nepal provides education to children to impact his country’s future.
Theresa Ruth Howard
Thursday, March 19 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
Join Theresa Ruth Howard for an enlightening lecture documenting the history of Blacks in ballet. A former ballerina, Howard is now a writer, lecturer, and consultant. She is also the founder and curator of Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet (MoBBallet.org), a website filled with the biographies of nearly 500 dancers of color.
Wednesday, March 25 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
Lauded as the greatest ballet movie ever made, The Red Shoes (1948) is a compelling story of a young ballerina who must choose between her career and love. The film is enriched with extraordinary dance sequences and opulent cinematography.
Robin Givhan
Thursday, April 2 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Robin Givhan will discuss the current relationship between fashion, politics, and power. Drawing on her experience as fashion critic for The Washington Post, Givhan will address such potent sartorial symbols as the MAGA hat, the Pussyhat, and the white suit.
Patricia Gherovici and Jamieson Webster
Thursday, April 16 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
If looks can kill, who is the victim in fashion? Scholars Patricia Gherovici and Jamieson Webster will engage in psychoanalytic readings of fashion. They will analyze fashion impulses from the phallic charm of Gucci to the suicide of Alexander McQueen, from the invention of new fads to fashion as art or creation as understood in the Lacanian notion of sinthome.
Tuesday, Apri 21 | 6 pm
Morris W. and Fannie B. Haft Theater
Marvin Feldman Center, Second Floor
Join Stefano Tonchi, former editor-in-chief of W Magazine, and formerly deputy director of Vogue Italia Grazia d’Annunzio as they discuss the power of military uniforms and their influence on high fashion. Tonchi is co-author of the book Uniform: Order and Disorder.
Erika Massaquoi
Thursday, April 23 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
Join designer and curator Erika Dalya Massaquoi, PhD, for a discussion of how she built a fashion brand,The OULA Company, that reflects the ethical motivations that are important to contemporary consumers. Massaquoi will discuss economic development, sustainability, and black fashion activism.
Dawnn Karen
Tuesday, May 5 | 6 pm
Katie Murphy Amphitheatre
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
The author is an adjunct faculty member at the Fashion Institute of Technology who has been dubbed “the dress doctor” by The New York Times. In the book, Karen breaks down the psychology behind fashion for readers ready to harness its potential. A book signing will follow the event.
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Friday, March 6, 10 am - 5 pm
Morris W. and Fannie B. Haft Theater
Marvin Feldman Center, Second Floor
Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse will be The Museum at FIT’s 23rd academic symposium.The one-day event will explore the ways in which twentieth-century ballerinas and their glamorous, romantic costumes profoundly inspired modern fashion.
Speakers will include Lynn Garafola, professor emeritus of Columbia University; Laura
Jacobs, dance and fashion critic; Jane Pritchard, curator of dance at the Victoria
and Albert Museum; and Patricia Mears, deputy director of MFIT and curator of Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse.
Admission to the symposium is free.
Wednesday, February 19, 11 am - SOLD OUT
Wednesday, April 8, 11 am - SOLD OUT
Monday, April 27, 6 pm - SOLD OUT
Power Mode: The Force of Fashion will explore the role fashion plays in establishing, reinforcing, and challenging power dynamics within society. It will concentrate on five categories: military, suits, status, rebellion, and sex.
Talk and Tours begin in the museum lobby. Reservations are required.
Wednesday, March 11, 11 am - SOLD OUT
Monday, March 23, 6 pm - SOLD OUT
Wednesday, April 15, 11 am - SOLD OUT
Ballerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse will illustrate the influence of classical ballet and ballerinas on high fashion from the early 1930s to the late 1970s.The exhibition will feature fashion ranging from Parisian couture to American ready-to-wear.
Talk and Tours begin in the museum lobby. Reservations are required.
Monday, March 16, 6 pm - SOLD OUT
Wednesday, March 25, 11 am - SOLD OUT
Eleanor Lambert: Empress of Seventh Avenue explores the transformative achievements of the “original fashion publicist.” Lambert’s tireless advocacy for American designers brought global recognition to New York as an international fashion capital.
Talk and Tours begin in the museum lobby. Reservations are required.
Friday, May 1 | 3:30 pm
Join The Museum at FIT for an exploration of the world of identity, behavior, and physicality through fashion. Families are invited to a tour of Power Mode: The Force of Fashion, followed by a hands-on fashion activity. Suggested ages are 5 to 12 years old.
The group will meet in the lobby of MFIT.