Tuesday, December 1, 2009

What's on My Fashion Calendar for December



I never thought I'd want to go to Ohio but December is the last chance to see Confessions and the Sense of Self: Works by Noel Palmomo-Lovinski at Kent State University Museum. In this provocative exhibition, Noel Palomo-Lovinski has used dress as a medium for expressing the tension that many women feel in their roles as wives, mothers, sisters, friends. Taking quotes from several confessional websites and applying them to clothing in a variety of decorative embellishments, texture and pattern, the artist has translated women's internal conflicts in striking visual forms. I'll be posting works from this exhibition and an artist profile of Noel Palmomo-Lovinski later this week.


Opening December 3, 2009 is the exhibition Night and Day at FIT in New York. Curated by Molly Sorkin, associate curator of Costume, this show examines how the rules that dictate appropriate dress for women have changed over the past 250 years. Featuring over 100 day and evening garments displayed in chronological order to illustrate how conventions for appropriate dress have changed, the exhibition includes the work of Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and other designers.


December 4th and 5th will be full days at the Fashion Institute of Technology where I'll be participating in the American Style symposium. Featuring speakers such as Dr. Valerie Steele, Nina Garcia, Patrician Mears (curator of the American Beauty exhibition at FIT), Dr. Alexandra Palmer (curator of Fashion and Textiles at the Royal Ontario Museum) and other fashion scholars, this two-day symposium should be a promising source of material for future posts.


I was too busy to attend the November 19th opening of the new show at the Bata Shoe Museum From Renaissance: Chopines to Baroque Heels. This exhibition features rare and extreme forms of footwear including a pair of Venetian chopines from the 16th century that have pedestals over 50 cm (about 25 inches) in height. These towering chopines from the Fondazione Musei Civici de Venezia will never again be displayed after the September 2010 closing of the show.

Sunday, December 6th is the last day to see my work at the Stepping Stones show at the Launch Projects Gallery in Toronto. 

December is always a hectic month for me - with my birthday and preparations for the holidays all crammed into a few short weeks. But I won't complain, because I love being busy!