The title says it all: Diana Vreeland was, in fact, that Empress of Fashion, reigning over Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute for half a century. As a result, her life story stretches the conventions of biography, which so often presents mid-century women’s lives merely as a series of relationships. Amanda MacKenzi ... Show More
Jan 2025
Fernando Domínguez Rubio, "Still Life: Ecologies of the Modern Imagination at the Art Museum" (U Chicago Press, 2020)
How do you keep the cracks in Starry Night from spreading? How do you prevent artworks made of hugs or candies from disappearing? How do you render a fading photograph eternal—or should you attempt it at all? These are some of the questions that conservators, curators, registrars ... Show More
1 h
Jan 2025
Shannan Clark, "The Making of the American Creative Class: New York's Culture Workers and 20th-Century Consumer Capitalism" (Oxford UP, 2020)
During the middle decades of the twentieth century, the production of America’s consumer culture was centralized in New York to an extent unparalleled in the history of the United States. Every day tens of thousands of writers, editors, artists, performers, technicians, and secre ... Show More
1h 3m
Jan 2024
Amy Von Lintel, "Georgia O'Keeffe's Wartime Texas Letters" (Texas A&M UP, 2020)
In 1912, at age 24, Georgia O’Keeffe boarded a train in Virginia and headed west, to the prairies of the Texas Panhandle, to take a position as art teacher for the newly organized Amarillo Public Schools. Subsequently she would join the faculty at what was then West Texas State N ... Show More
42m 18s
Aug 6
Claire McCardell: The Girl Who Defied Dior, Part I
Called the "designer's designer," Claire McCardell turned the American fashion industry on its head starting in the 1930s with her fresh modern take on sportswear. This week we examine her career and legacy in a two-part episode from 2022. For additional reading, check out Elizab ... Show More
39m 50s
Jan 2024
Elizabeth Saltzman: Celebrity Stylist
<p>Elizabeth Saltzman is the woman behind the impeccable style of some of Hollywood's most talented ladies. Think Jodie Comer, Julia Garner, and Gwyneth Paltrow. However, Saltzman initially wanted to pursue architecture and became involved in the Downtown New York nightclub and a ... Show More
53m 4s
Feb 2025
Fashion Neurosis with Cate Blanchett
Cate Blanchett is an Australian actor and film producer. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including two Oscars. One of the great performers of our time, Cate has the ability to both dazzle with that specific film star radiance, and blend into a natural setting - whether i ... Show More
1h 17m
Dec 2024
Zandra Rhodes on pattern, colour, and textiles.
Zandra Rhodes is one of the most recognisable and influential figures in fashion, as well as the founder of the Fashion and Textile Museum in London. Describing herself as both ‘chaotic’ and ‘fastidious’, she possesses a unique sense of colour and pattern. Over the years, she has ... Show More
50m 27s
Apr 2025
Heidi Bivens on Styling Euphoria, Kristen Stewart, and Redefining What It Means To Tell Stories Through Clothes
<p>Heidi Bivens is one of the most influential costume designers of our time—using fashion not just to tell stories, but to shape culture and global trends. Best known for her work on <em>Euphoria</em> and Spring Breakers, Heidi began her career in editorial at publicat ... Show More
37m 23s