Fashion Inspiration & Research

The exhibition was organized by Melissa Marra-Alvarez and explored the interplay between minimalist and maximalist aesthetics as they have been and continue to be expressed through fashion. Beginning in the eighteenth century, the exhibition examined how these aesthetic viewpoints were expressed over time and moved fashion forward.

The exhibition was the first New York retrospective in forty years to focus on the legendary couturier. Drawn primarily from Pierre Cardin’s archive, the exhibition traversed the designer’s decades-long career at the forefront of fashion invention. Known today for his bold, futuristic looks of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, Cardin extended his design concepts from fashion to furniture, industrial design, and beyond. The exhibition presented over 170 objects drawn from his atelier and archive, including

The exhibition, curated by Colleen Hill, considered this compelling period in fashion—the 1990s—a time that was filled with hope for the future and yet fraught with anxiety. It documented a decade that not only heralded the end of a century but also the end of a millennium. The exhibition engaged with eight important trends that helped to define the decade, focusing on themes that stimulated excitement and change.