Recorded in 2021, Uruguayan-born fashion designer Gabriela Hearst takes a stroll down memory lane with Dr. Valerie Steele as they discuss how growing up on the family ranch influenced Hearst’s designs as well as how she rolled out not one but three collections during the pandemic. 

She is the winner of the 2016/2017 International Woolmark Prize for Womenswear, the 2020 CFDA American Womenswear Designer of the Year Award, and the recipient of the 2023 Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion.

(Recorded October 4, 2021)

Watch the full video with captions on YouTube.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum

Elizabeth Hawes is known for her timeless fashion designs and her written critique of the fashion system, such as in her 1940 book Fashion is Spinach. In this conversation moderated by author and podcaster April Calahan, professors and fashion historians Lourdes Font (FIT) and Francesca Granata (The New School) discuss the importance of Hawes in American fashion. She was an American designer, author, labor organizer, and social critic whose ideas many praise to be decades before her time. Over the course of her career, Hawes questioned the division between menswear and womenswear, advocated for what we call today “slow fashion", designed elegant yet practical pieces, and sought to reform working conditions in the fashion industry. 

(Recorded March 7, 2023)

Watch the full video with captions on YouTube.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum

In 2013, The Museum at FIT hosted its A Queer History of Fashion symposium in conjunction with the exhibition of the same name. The cultural commentator Fran Lebowitz was one of the more than twenty participants, and she joined Valerie Steele to discuss – in her quintessential acerbic style – Marlene Dietrich suits, San Francisco vs New York, the appeal of leather, and recurring ("horrible") fashions.

View transcript.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum

Philip Gefter’s book What Becomes a Legend Most: A Biography of Richard Avedon is a study of the legendary photographer’s life. A fashion photographer and portrait artist, Avedon’s subjects included some of the most notable figures of the twentieth century including James Baldwin, Audrey Hepburn, Truman Capote, and Marilyn Monroe, as well as iconic models such as Donyale Luna and Jean Shrimpton. The book offers a detailed and luminous portrait of the man and his era. Gefter talks with MFIT curator Melissa Marra-Alvarez about Avedon’s early years and his transformative work for Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue, among other topics.

Watch the full video with captions on YouTube.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum

Watch the full video with captions on YouTube.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum

Berlin was a fashion capital in the 1920s, with hundreds of thriving clothing manufacturers, most of them Jewish, before it was destroyed by the Nazis. Author Uwe Westphal shares this history in a discussion with FIT historian Keren Ben-Horin and journalist Jennifer Altmann, whose grandfather ran one of Berlin’s fashion houses. Organized in collaboration with the Museum at Eldridge Street.

Watch the full video with captions on YouTube.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum

Couture designer Ronald van der Kemp and The New Fashion Initiative founder Lauren B. Fay discuss van der Kemp's career and his devotion to craftsmanship, upcycling and reducing waste in fashion.

Ronald van der Kemp is a Dutch fashion designer and founder of demi-couture fashion house RVDK, his namesake label, which shows at Paris Couture week and uses exclusively upcycled fabric. Lauren Fay has spent her career committed to improving sustainability, transparency and accountability in the fashion industry. The New Fashion Initiative (TNFI) was born out of a need to create a more collaborative and interdisciplinary approach to fashion and brings together brands, nonprofits and academics to educate future industry leaders.

Watch the full video with captions on YouTube.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum

On November 5, 2022, Regan de Loggans (Mississippi Choctaw) moderated a conversation with Jeffrey Gibson and Korina Emmerich. Each discussed their experience working as Native Americans in creative industries, weaving in current issues of diversity and sustainability. Gibson is an award-winning Choctaw-Cherokee artist, whose work combines traditional Native American elements with contemporary references. Emmerich is the founder of EMME, a fashion brand, which reflects her indigenous heritage stemming from the Coast Salish territory, Puyallup tribe.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Robin Givhan, in conversation with Dr. Valerie Steele, discuss the current relationship between fashion, politics, and power. Drawing on her experience as The Washington Post's senior critic-at-large, Givhan addresses such potent sartorial symbols as the Hawaiian and golf shirts worn by the boogaloo boys and the yellow ensembles worn by mothers protesting in Portland.

Watch the full video with captions on YouTube.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum

On September 15, 2020, Fashion designer Prabal Gurung and MFIT Director Valerie Steele discussed the designer's innovative and international career. With over 80 percent of his collections made in New York, Gurung is committed to sustaining domestic employment, income, and production. His family’s Shikshya Foundation Nepal provides education to children to impact his country’s future.

Watch the full video with captions on YouTube.

The Museum at FIT (MFIT) is the only museum dedicated exclusively to the art of fashion in New York City. https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum