Elizabeth Way, Assistant Curator, and Melissa Marra-Alvarez, Co-Curator, The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology

Over the past two centuries, women’s fashion accessories have communicated vital information about their lives and their roles in society.  The lecture will discuss the exhibition, Head to Toe at the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology, taking you through more two hundred years of women’s fashions, from 1800 through the early twenty-first century, focusing on the role that accessories play within the total ensembles of Western women’s fashion and the messages they communicate about social and cultural values.

Roger Vivier for Christian Dior, Evening Pumps and Matching Purse, Circa 1955-1959

Lace Dress with Ivory Silk Hat and Pink Satin Parasol, Circa 1907-1910

Photos: Courtesy of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology