Fashion, Culture, Futures: African American Ingenuity, Activism, and Storytelling is a two-part symposium co-organized by Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. Presented virtually Thursday, June 17, and Thursday, Oct. 21, both programs bring together academics, designers, critics, models, artists, activists and others to share new...
On November 21, 1939, Women’s Wear Daily reported on the upcoming launch of a new line of fabrics from the Bol-Inca Group. Under the art direction of Will Chappel, this group of eight fabrics took direct inspiration from a collection of original pre-Columbian fabrics purchased in Bolivia by fashion and accessories designer Alma Norton Duffill...
In 2015, Eileen Fisher announced an ambitious corporate goal: to be fully sustainable by 2020. Vision 2020, as the initiative is called, includes moving toward 100% organic fibers and non-polluting dyes, on-shoring more production, rigorous supply-chain and social responsibility monitoring, and a take-back policy for used Eileen Fisher clothing. So far, nearly half a million...
Interaction design is not just about the way an individual interacts with his or her surroundings, it is about bringing people together and starting conversations. On February 4th at Cooper-Hewitt’s uptown Design Center, this was the theme for our group of Design Scholars’ most recent workshop. We held our first meeting with a few user...
The 2011 Fashion Design Award goes to J. Mendel. Under the creative direction of Gilles Mendel since 1981, the fifth-generation luxury brand was established on the principles of high quality, timeless style, and craftsmanship. Using only the finest materials, Mendel is a true innovator who is renowned for manipulating fabrics in unexpected ways. The Fashion...
Shortly after the Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay exhibition opened, I received a call from the Museo Salvatore Ferragamo in Florence. The exhibition features a show-stopping coat designed by Delaunay for the actress Gloria Swanson. The Ferragamo Museum suggested that they had the design for a matching shoe. Ferragamo moved to Hollywood...
Teens had a behind-the-scenes opportunity this week with a visit to SENA. Sena Yang is the creative force behind her namesake, SENA. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, Sena began her career working alongside Alexander McQueen, Catherine Malandrino, LaROK and Sue Stemp. She shared her experience as an up-and-coming designer with students...
Art et Decoration, November 1926 Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay, which opened March 18, brings over 300 examples of the artist’s fashion and textile designs to our galleries. Here are a few fun things that were not included, but can all be found in Smithsonian’s National Design Library, housed here at Cooper-Hewitt....
A small group of Cooper-Hewitt Members had the special privilege of going on an installation tour of Color Moves: Art and Fashion by Sonia Delaunay. In the galleries, geometric prints popped with color and movement. Members previewed gorgeous gouache on paper and finished fashion pieces—embroidered swimsuits and a coat made for silent film star Gloria...
It’s been just over a year since the stunning Rodarte exhibition here at Cooper-Hewitt. Known for finding inspiration in unexpected things, the prolific Rodarte duo have just released a fashion film to accompany their Spring 2011 collection. It’s inspired by 1970s northern California, redwood forests, the gold rush and various asian traditions. Titled after a...
A custom T-shirt design transmitted to the machine via Twitter Pa++ern is a project that uses Twitter to source unique t-shirt designs. Created by Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi, the system translates short bits of custom code received over Twitter into an embroidered shirt pattern. According to the designers, their project is an “esoteric language...
Textile design #253 from Sonia Delaunay, 1928-30. Gouache, ink, and pencil on paper. Private collection © L & M SERVICES B.V. The Hague 20100623 Photo: © private collection As New York Fashion Week Fall 2011 draws to a close, I wanted to compare some beautiful textile patterns that fashion designers this past year have shown...
The 2010 Fashion Design Award goes to Rodarte. Rodarte was founded in Pasadena, California, in 2005 by Kate and Laura Mulleavy. Inspired by things as diverse as California Condors, Japanese horror films, and our national parks they do amazing and magical things to fabrics and materials. They are creating a new lens for the world...
As a guest of Jean and Frederic Sharf, I spent this past weekend celebrating the Arnold Scaasi exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the Museum’s recent acquisition of his archive and more than 100 of his designs. Festivities commenced at the Sharfs’ home in Brookline, with a delectable dinner for nearly 70...
This past weekend was a terrific Cynthia Rowley/Johnson & Johnson extravaganza at Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. Cynthia’s show at Lincoln Center was downright gorgeous, with stunning skirts perforated with geometric shapes and cabochon-covered fabrics with transparent cardigans and gauzy stockings. I sat behind Rebecca Romjin and Alan Cumming, which was fun, despite being...
