Calendar of Events
Fashion Culture | Symposium | Talk & Tour | Lunchtime Workshops | Past Events
Fashion Culture
Fashion Culture programs are organized by
The Museum at FIT to provide new perspectives on the culture of fashion.
Admission
All programs are free unless otherwise indicated. However, reservations are strongly encouraged, as space is limited. The Museum at FIT and the college reserve the right to cancel a program at any time.
Program Venues
The Katie Murphy Amphitheatre is in the Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center on
the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and 27th Street.
Other venues can be found on FIT's Campus Map.
Fashion Culture
Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh
Tuesday, August 26, 5:30 pm
Robin Givhan, the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, presents her new book, Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh. Appointed as head of menswear for Louis Vuitton in 2018, Abloh was the first Black designer to serve as artistic director in the brand's 164-year history. Givhan's book recounts a young man's rise amid a cultural moment that would upend a century's worth of ideas about luxury and taste. Robin Givhan is the Washington Post's senior critic-at-large, writing about politics, race, and the arts. A book signing follows the event.
Image: Cover of Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh. Courtesy of Penguin Random House LLC.
Dress, Fashion, and National Identity in Puerto Rico
José Blanco F., Raúl J. Vázquez-López, and Tanya Meléndez-Escalante
Tuesday, October 7, 5:30 pm
Join FIT Associate Professor José Blanco F. and independent researcher Raúl J. Vázquez-López who will present their new book, Dress, Fashion, and National Identity in Puerto Rico, in conversation with MFIT's Senior Curator of Education Tanya Meléndez-Escalante. The book explores national identity and nation formation as well as past and current practices in Puerto Rican visual culture. A book signing follows the event.
Image: Cover of Dress, Fashion, and National Identity in Puerto Rico. Courtesy of Bloomsbury.
The Art of Parisian Chic
Justine De Young and Hilary Davidson
Thursday, October 23, 5:30 pm
The new book by Justine De Young, The Art of Parisian Chic: Modern Women and Modern Artists in Impressionist Paris, shows how modern women used fashion and stereotypes such as the Parisienne (chic Parisian woman) or the demoiselle de magasin (shopgirl) to construct and reinvent their identities. Author and FIT Associate Professor Justine De Young will be in conversation with Hilary Davidson, chair of FIT's MA program for Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice, about how women were seen, how they aspired to be seen, and how they navigated public life in Second Empire and Belle Époque Paris. A book signing follows the event.
Image: Cover of The Art of Parisian Chic: Modern Women and Modern Artists in Impressionist Paris. Courtesy of Bloomsbury.
Fashion under Fascism
Eugenia Paulicelli and Valerie Steele
Thursday, November 6, 5:30 pm
CUNY professor Eugenia Paulicelli presents her book Fashion under Fascism: Beyond the Black Shirt, where she explores the subtle yet sinister changes to the seemingly innocuous practices of everyday dress and shows why they were a concern for the Italian state in the 1930s. Importantly, she also demonstrates how these developments made an impact on the global dominance of Italian fashion today. A book signing follows the event.
Image: Cover of Fashion under Fascism: Beyond the Black Shirt. Courtesy of Bloomsbury.
The Unanswered Questions: Dreams, Symphonies, and Neuroses
Jasmine Edwards, moderator; Njioma Chinyere Grevious, violinist; and Ayde Rayas, art
therapist
Tuesday, November 18, 5:30 pm
Music therapist Jasmine Edwards moderates an exploration of how psychoanalysis has impacted contemporary music composition and performance, as well as generations of listeners and fashionable concertgoers. The talk will feature art therapist Ayde Rayas and a performance by award-winning violinist Njioma Chinyere Grevious, who will also discuss her musical selections inspired by MFIT's exhibition Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis. This event is organized in collaboration with the New York Philharmonic.
Image: Maison Roger, two-piece dress, c. 1877, France, museum purchase, 2020.28.1.
Symposium
Fashion and Psychoanalysis Symposium
Friday, November 14, 10 am–5:30 pm
Fashion and Psychoanalysis is The Museum at FIT's 34th symposium, planned in conjunction with the exhibition Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis. As the historian Peter Gay wrote, "We all speak Freud whether we know it or not." Certainly fashion designers speak the language of psychoanalysis, and like analysts, designers often focus on sexuality and the unconscious. Speakers include Laverne Cox, fashion designer Bella Freud, psychoanalysts Patricia Gherovici, Anouchka Grose, Christine Anzieu-Premmereur, Chanda Griffin, fashion scholar Simona Segre, and MFIT Director Valerie Steele.
Symposium schedule and speaker bios
Image: The artist Alisa Gorshenina wearing artificial eyes and a jeweled mouth. Photo by Elizaveta Porodina (@elizavetaporodina).
Talk & Tours
Check-in for Talk and Tours in the lobby of The Museum at FIT
Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis Talk and Tour
Wednesday, October 15, 11 am*
Monday, November 17, 5:30 pm
Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis is the first exhibition to explore the complex relationship between fashion and psychoanalysis. It will feature approximately 100 looks by designers such as Alexander McQueen, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jean Paul Gaultier, Gianni and Donatella Versace, John Galliano for Christian Dior Couture, Rick Owens, Thierry Mugler, Vivienne Westwood, and many more.
*Organized in collaboration with the New York Philharmonic, featuring a performance by flutist Anna Urrey.
Image: Jean Paul Gaultier, evening dress, fall 1984.
Lunchtime Workshops
Block-Printing Workshop
Sunaina Bhalla SOLD OUT
Tuesday, September 30, 12:30–2:30 pm
Visual artist Sunaina Bhalla returns with her popular hands-on block-printing workshop. Learn how to lay out and print using a stamping process. Participants will get an overview of various contemporary applications of block printing and will create prints using their own ideas about placement, color, and design.
Image courtesy of Sunaina Bhalla
Sheila Gray Collection 3D Textural Chocolate Candy Bars
Sheila Gray
Thursday, October 30, 12:30–2:30 pm
Join fashion creative Sheila Gray for a fun and therapeutic workshop where participants will learn to make keepsake ornaments, bookmarks, or framed artwork using candy bars. Gray will demonstrate how to construct fashion candy artwork, an activity that awakens creativity while providing mental wellness.
Image courtesy of Sheila Gray
The public is always welcome at The Museum at FIT and our programming is always free.
If you are able, please consider supporting the Museum's collection and programming by making a donation in any amount.
Your support helps the Museum continue to educate and inspire diverse audiences with world-class exhibitions and public programs that focus on diverse and inclusive themes and are free to the public.
Fashion Culture Fall 2025 is made possible with the support of the Couture Council of The Museum at FIT. The Museum at FIT's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
