Speaker Bios
Lagueria Davis is an NAACP Image Award-winning and two-time Emmy-winning writer and director. She is best known for Black Barbie, a Netflix documentary executive-produced by Shonda Rhimes, and for telling visually compelling, culturally grounded stories that center marginalized voices across film and television.
Jasmin Larian Hekmat is the founder and CEO of Cult Gaia, the Los Angeles-based brand she launched in 2012. Known for its sculptural, art-driven design, the brand has expanded into a full lifestyle world. She also serves as creative director of Bratz, leading both brands from Los Angeles.
Dr. Colleen Hill is senior curator of costume at The Museum at FIT (MFIT). She is curator of Doll Dressing and author of its accompanying book (Rizzoli, 2026). Since joining MFIT in 2006, Hill has curated 19 exhibitions, including the critically acclaimed Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities (2025), Statement Sleeves (2024), Reinvention and Restlessness: Fashion in the Nineties (2021), and Fairy Tale Fashion (2016). She has authored or co-authored eight books on fashion and has contributed to numerous other publications.
Dr. Christophe Koné is associate professor of German and the director of the Oakley Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences at Williams College. He holds a master's degree in German studies from Université Lumière Lyon 2, France, and a PhD in German studies from Rutgers University. He is the author of Uncanny Creatures: Doll Thinking in Modern German Culture (University of Michigan Press, 2024).
Melissa Marra-Alvarez is curator of education and research at The Museum at FIT (MFIT), where she has curated/ co-curated several exhibitions: including ¡Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today (2023), Food and Fashion (2023), Minimalism/Maximalism (2019), and Force of Nature (2017). She oversees MFIT's programming for younger audiences and brings a visitor-centered approach to her exhibitions. Prior to joining MFIT, she worked as a fashion archivist. She holds an MA in Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice from the Fashion Institute of Technology.
Patricia Mears is a fashion curator with four decades of experience specializing in modern couture, American and Japanese avant garde ready-to-wear, and fashion's connection to ballet and interiors. Her forthcoming book, Inside the Fashionable House: Women Designers and Their Interiors, is slated for release in late 2026.
Masafumi Monden is an assistant professor at the University of Sydney. A scholar of modern Japanese culture, he reveals how fashion, gender, and visual culture operate as sites of cultural meaning, demonstrating that what appears on the surface is never merely superficial. Author of more than 30 works, he has consulted for the BBC, CNN, and The New York Times.
Frank New is a gender-fluid artist and PhD candidate in fashion studies, currently based at Massey University in Wellington, New Zealand. Their research explores the intersections of fashion dolls, mas- culinities, and gender norms through a queer lens. New holds a Master of Arts in costume studies from New York University.
Dr. Valerie Steele is director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT. Steele has curated 35 exhibitions since 1997 and is author or editor of more than 30 books. Her most recent book and exhibition, Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis, was reviewed in The New Yorker. She is also founding editor of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture.
Dr. Elizabeth Way is curator of costume and accessories at The Museum at FIT and the curator of Art X Fashion, Africa's Fashion Diaspora, and other exhibitions. She edited Black Designers in American Fashion (2021), Ann Lowe: American Couturier (2023), and Africa's Fashion Diaspora (2024). She holds an MA from New York University and a PhD from Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London.
Jason Wu is an internationally acclaimed fashion designer whose creative career began at age 16 designing collectible fash- ion dolls. Long before launching his luxury fashion label, Wu gained recognition for creating highly detailed dolls celebrated for their craftsmanship, couture-inspired design, and storytelling. After founding Jason Wu Collection, Wu became one of America's leading fashion designers, known for his sophisticated vision of mod- ern femininity and meticulous attention to detail. Today, he has returned to his roots with Atomic Lab Toys, a venture dedicated to creating museum-quality dolls and collectibles that unite fashion, art, and popular culture. Through both fashion and dolls, Wu continues to explore the power of craftsmanship and creativity.
Lynn Yaeger has been writing about fashion and culture for over two decades. She is a contributing editor at Vogue and has written for many publications, including The New York Times, WSJ Magazine, Architectural Digest, Travel & Leisure, and Town & Country. In 2019, Yaeger won the coveted CFDA Media Award. She lives, surrounded by antique dolls, in downtown Manhattan.