Speaker Bios
Martina Cox is an artist based in New York City. Her work examines the intersection of textile history, craft, and fine art—recent drawings depict carefully rendered fabrics interrupted with actual physical needle and thread. Cox also co-hosts a monthly mending club called Darn it! with artist Hekima Hapa and historian Kate Sekules. For Cox, the mending club is an extension of her drawing practice: it redefines craft and offers an opportunity to heal our relationships with objects often deemed disposable. A recent solo exhibition included Waist Management, in 2024, at the Alyssa Davis Gallery in New York City.
Dr. Émilie Hammen is the director of Palais Galliera, the museum of fashion of the city of Paris. She is also a junior professor of art history and fashion history at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Hammen's research considers the history of French fashion from the 19th century and its relationship with art, specifically the avant-garde. She served as guest editor of a special issue of the journal Perspective, published by France's Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art, and has contributed to a collective research project on craft studies in fashion for Institut Français de la Mode in Paris.
Adam Hayes is a visual and material culture historian with an MA in visual culture from New York University and a BFA in fine arts and museum studies from the University of Cincinnati. Over the past decade, he has held roles with leading institutions, including The Met's Costume Institute, working with fashion, jewelry, and archival materials. His expertise centers on 20th-century material culture, especially 1925–1975. Hayes' independent scholarship explores identity through objects, and his five-year study of Millicent Rogers has taken him into major institutional, corporate, and private collections across the U.S. and Europe.
Dr. Marcella Martin completed her PhD in Italian studies at New York University with a dissertation titled "Curating Italian Modernity: Art, Fashion, and the View from America." Before beginning her doctoral studies, Martin was curator of the Textile and Costume Collection at Thomas Jefferson University. She is currently working on an illustrated book exploring the Made in Italy brand from the perspective of artisanship.
Dr. Christopher L. Richards is an associate professor of African art history at Brooklyn College. He specializes in African fashion, dress, and personal adornment. Richards has published extensively on dress and fashion in Ghana and South Africa, including his most recently published book, Cosmopolitanism and Women's Fashion in Ghana (2022).
Christian Francis Roth is an American fash- ion designer known for witty, inventive women's wear and impeccable craftsmanship. In 1990, at age 21, he became the youngest recipient of the CFDA Perry Ellis Award for New Fashion Talent. Trained under Koos Van Den Akker, Roth launched his own label in 1988, gaining attention for Pop Art-inspired pieces like his Crayon styles and trompe-l'œil jackets. His work appeared widely in major fashion publications and entered The Met's Costume Institute and The Museum at FIT's collections. After closing his label in 1997, he designed for several brands and later revived his playful aesthetic with new fashion lines. He continues to work as a designer and consultant.
Dr. Alexandra Schwartz is curator of modern and contemporary art, craft, and design at the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) in New York City. Her recent exhibitions and catalogs include: Saya Woolfalk: Empathic Universe and Garmenting: Costume as Contemporary Art at MAD; 52 Artists: A Feminist Milestone at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum; and As in Nature: Helen Frankenthaler Paintings at the Clark Art Institute. She is the author of Ed Ruscha's Los Angeles and the co-editor of Modern Women: Women Artists at The Museum of Modern Art, and has taught at Columbia University, FIT, and the University of Michigan.
Dr. Valerie Steele is director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT, where she has personally organized over two dozen exhibitions since 1997, including Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis and A Queer History of Fashion. She is also founding editor of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture the first peer-reviewed scholarly journal in fashion studies.
Josh Tafoya is a designer and weaver born and raised in the American Southwest, who explores conversations of Indigenous identity within the Hispanic/Latino community. His work draws on his own Genizaro, Spanish, and Chicano heritage. Tafoya has infused his knowledge of traditional Rio Grande weaving with his design experience in New York. Now, he has come full circle, thanks to a ranching grandfather and a weaving grandmother. His designs tell stories that aren't broached in American history, redefining the "Southwestern" look and "American Fashion" from the brown perspective. He is intent on showcasing his rich culture while celebrating a dirty, grungy spirit.
Dr. Elizabeth Way is curator of costume and accessories at The Museum at FIT. Her current exhibition is Art X Fashion, on view from February 18 to April 19, 2026. Other recent exhibitions include Africa's Fashion Diaspora (2024), Food and Fashion (2023), and Fresh, Fly, and Fabulous: Fifty Years of Hip Hop Style (2023). Way guest-curated Ann Lowe: American Couturier at Winterthur Museum, Garden & Library (2023). She holds an MA in costume studies from New York University and a doctorate from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.