Vintage: Value, Values, and Enduring Design

The 12th Annual New York Fashion Conference
New York, NY / December 2 – 4, 2010

What do we value in fashion and design? The rare? The classic? Or, the new? Do we value that which is eco-sensitive or the beautiful-but-scarce? Do we value a maker’s history of integrity, a corporate commitment to quality, a dedication to a tradition of craft? Or do we prize an object or garment irrespective of who made it or what went into creating it?

Fashion is ephemeral and of the moment, while maintaining a dialogue with the past. Hence, the recent passion for “vintage” clothing merits close consideration.

Subversion of traditional markers of quality through the use of deliberately raveled edges and raw seams or the use of uncut stones raises new questions. How do we now define superior craftsmanship, fine materials, and creative design? Is the challenge of the 21^st century reconciling the whimsical and the aesthetic with the sustainable, the fashionable with the serviceable? What does luxury mean in the 21^st century? How do we define value today?

Evening events at Fred Leighton (December 2) and at What Goes Around Comes Around (December 3) complement the talks and panels which take place at CUNY Graduate Center, Fifth Avenue @ 34^th Street

Presenters and panelists
(as of September 30, 2010)

• Larry Pettinelli, president, Patek Philippe USA
• Hal Rubenstein, fashion director, InStyle Magazine
• Catherine Moellering, EVP, Tobe, a division of the Doneger Group and publisher of the iconic Tobe Report
• Designers Anna Sui, Koos Van Den Akker, and Fr. Andrew More O'Connor, founder, Goods of Conscience
• Hamish Bowles, European Editor at Large, Vogue and curator, “Balenciaga: Spanish Master”
• Jewelers Todd Reed, Prince Dimitri, Gregory Kwiat, CEO, Fred Leighton and Partner, Kwiat, and Adam Heyman, principal, Oscar Heyman Bros.
• Daniel Storto, avant-garde couture glove designer
• Women of style Patsy Tarr and Tziporah Salamon
• Amy Leonard, senior vice president, product development & sourcing, Levi Strauss
• Jess Lee, vice president, Polyvore, interactive fashion Web site
• David Wolfe, chief forecaster, Doneger Group
• Lincoln Schatz, photographer commissioned by Esquire to capture the 100 most influential people for its 75th anniversary
• Edward Maeder, former curator of costumes Los Angeles County Museum of Art and founding director BATA Shoe museum
• Juliana Cairone, owner, Rare Vintage
• Jan Glier Reeder, consulting curator, Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Karen Augusta, founder, Augusta Auctions, America’s top auction house specializing in couture and vintage clothing
• Phyllis Magidson, curator of Costume and Textiles, Museum of the City of New York
• Laura Crow, award-winning designer for Broadway and off-Broadway
• John Davey, collector, vintage Hollywood costumes and couture
• Authors Joan DeJean, The Essence of Style and The Age of Comfort, Sandy Black, Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox; Pamela Keogh, Are You a Jackie or a Grace?; and Mitchell Owens author of a forthcoming book on Pauline de Rothschild
• Sara Reiter, chief textile conservator, Philadelphia Museum of Art
• David Ornstein, promoter, Manhattan Vintage Clothing Show; founder, Daybreak Vintage Clothing in Albany, NY. a costume house for movies and theater
• Patti Geolat, founder and CEO Geolat, Dallas TX, a widely-known authority on the appraisal and sale of fine jewelry
• Ann Lange, vice president, jewelry department, Doyle New York
• Angelina Chen, director, CIRCA New York buying office
• Edward Lewand, jewelry appraiser and expert
• Jonathan Scheer, president, J. Scheer & Co., a firm specializing in conservation, cleaning and preservation of wedding gowns, exhibition couture, and historic textiles

For further information, please contact: Lisa Koenigsberg at lisa.koenigsberg@artinitiatives.com; telephone: (646) 485-1952 or fax: (212) 935-6911.

Captions: Koos Van Den Akker, Evening Coat, 1983, crushed black cotton velvet with mutlicolored metallic appliqués and gilt braid trim. Reproduced in Eric Boman, Rare Bird of Fashion: The Irreverent Iris Apfel (Thames & Hudson, 2007). Todd Reed, Raw Diamond Cuff 1999 22k gold, 18k gold and sterling silver with patina, hand forged, fabricated and raised. Raw diamond cubes. Patek Philippe, Reference 5170J, Chronograph. Mechanical manually wound movement. Caliber CH-29-535 PS. Central chronograph hand and 30-minute elapsed time counter. Seconds subdial. Silver opaline dial, gold applied hour markers. Alligator strap. Fold-over clasp. Sapphire-crystal case back. 39mm. Gary Harvey, Denim Dress, made from 42 pairs of Levi 501s in various shades of indigo, cut up to create a tiered ballgown with corset waist. Photo: Robert Decelis; Reproduced in Eco-Chic: The Fashion Paradox by Sandy Black (Black Dog Publishing, 2008), p. 161.

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