Valerie Steele
How Valerie Steele Went From a Modern European History Ph.D Candidate to Director and Chief Curator of The Museum at FIT
The curator reflects on more than two decades at the helm of the museum and how a story about the Victorian corset changed her entire career path.
Miley Cyrus's Foam Finger Is Almost Sold Out, Grace Coddington Praises Azzedine Alaia, and Princesses Dig Lanvin
Topshop has hired Antipodium's Geoffrey J. Finch to be its new creative design consultant. {Vogue UK} Grab your Miley Cyrus foam finger while you can--the cheapest Halloween costume you'll maybe ever come by is apparently almost sold out. {The Cut} Valerie Steele, director and chief curator at The Museum at F.I.T., revealed this morning that the its fall 2014 exhibit will be "Dance and Fashion." We knew Rick Owens was onto something... {WWD}
Where Are the American Haute Couture Designers?
The fall couture shows ended last week, with successful collections from established designers like Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel to newer, more experimental collections from the likes of Iris van Herpen. Countries like Germany, France, Italy, and Belgium all had talent represented on the runways. But if you're looking for a great American name in haute couture, you're going to have to dig deeper.
Celebrating Queer Voices in Fashion
Yesterday, the Supreme Court deemed the Defense of Marriage Act unconstitutional. What a way to set off the weekend’s Pride celebrations! With the fanfare, comes the fashion, an open playground for redefinition, expression and outlandish style. There’s sure to be rainbow regalia, wigs, glitter, leather, heels and muscle tees galore. It prompted me to think about high fashion’s relationship to queer style. To outsiders, it seems fashion’s kings are gay male designers, the fabulous creators of straight female threads. I started to wonder about labels and designers outside of this well-known dichotomy.
Inès de la Fressange on Roger Vivier and Why the Word 'Sexy' Has Been 'Ruining Fashion for 20 Years'
Roger Vivier--the brand credited with inventing the stiletto--has a long and rich history, all documented in the new Rizzoli tome Roger Vivier. To celebrate the release of the book, head designer Bruno Frisoni and brand ambassador Inès de la Fressange sat down with FIT's fashion historian Valerie Steele Wednesday evening to chat about the history of Roger Vivier and Frisoni's own creations for the brand.
Inside FIT's New Shoe Porn Exhibit
The latest exhibition to take up residency at NYC's The Museum at FIT is Shoe Obsession, featuring over 150 pieces of contemporary footwear, which also made their way into an accompanying book due out in April. Designers featured include icons like Manolo Blahnik and Christian Louboutins and relative newcomers like Charlotte Olympia.
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Desk Side: Valerie Steele Loves Playing with Clothes
Welcome back to our column, Desk Side! Sorry, PRs, we stole your lingo and in this feature we’ll go to the desks of some of your favorite designers, editors, stylists and assorted industry insiders to see where the magic happens–and then share it with you! This time around, we visited Valerie Steele at her FIT office, where she dished on everything from that time she wore a black leather corset to her neo-punk period. Click through for an enlightening interview and a peek at the cool stuff we saw in her office.
FIT Museum's Next Exhibit Will Celebrate Gay Designers
The FIT Museum's Chief Curator Valerie Steele has an interesting exhibition in the works for next year. It's to be called "Queer Style: From the Closet to the Catwalk" and will focus on gay designers. Admittedly, our initial thought was: "Wait, so will it include every (male) designer?" The fact that gay designers outnumber straight male ones (though, there are more heterosexuals than you might think) makes us wonder how exactly they'll... narrow that down.