Keren Ben-Horin’s recent post on one of our favorite blogs, ON PINS AND NEEDLES, has inspired us to speak about a little more about the American couturière Muriel King and her work in Hollywood. King established a successful couture house in New York City during the early […]
The Muppet Show Style Book
One of the staff favorites in the department isn’t necessarily due to its precious nature, but rather its nostalgia… The Muppet Show Style Book was created in 1979, three years after the launch of popular television show, by Jim Henson & Associates, Inc.: “This book of […]
Fashion Designers A-Z: The Collection of The Museum at FIT
The much anticipated publication featuring highlights from The Museum at FIT’s costume collection is finally here! Published by Taschen, with a forward by Suzy Menkes, and text by The Museum at FIT’s Director Valerie Steele, the initial copies of the title are gorgeous limited-editions housed […]
The Extraordinary Life of Gerda Wegener
The fact that Danish artist Gerda Wegener was one of the few female artists to find commercial success in Paris during the teens and twenties, is perhaps one of the least intriguing aspects of her extraordinary life. Born in Denmark in 1885, Wegener studied art […]
The Frances Neady Collection of fashion illustration
A series of three fashion illustrations by famed fashion illustrator, and FIT alumni, Antonio Lopez. This year, 2013, marks the 30th anniversary of The Frances Neady collection of fashion illustration, a unique collection of the works by prominent fashion illustrators […]
Devastating Deco
One of the hidden gems of the Department of Special Collections and FIT Archives (SPARC) is the large collection of what we like to call ‘books of design and ornament.’ These types of books, which feature patterns and designs suitable for reproduction, date back at […]
Lady Duff-Gordon mail order catalogs, 1916-1917
It seems only fitting that the first post of our newly christened blog discuss Lucile, aka Lady Duff-Gordon, the English-born couturière who rose to fame in the early twentieth century. Not only do the lovely muses who grace the top of each page of this blog model […]
Welcome to Material Mode…
…the blog of the Department of Special Collections and FIT Archives at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Where we enthusiastically investigate design history mysteries…