Fashion: Now & Then at LIM College

Fashion: Now & Then, a symposium that will focus on fashion information and the challenges and opportunities for its use and preservation, is now open for registration. Details of the event are available on the Fashion: Now & Then symposium blog: http://fashionnowandthen.blogspot.com

The keynote speech will be presented by Ron Knoth on the fascinating Lester Gaba. The two panels are: The Fashion Photograph and Preserving the Past & Present: Models for the Collection, Preservation, Use and Sharing of Information. Panel presenters and moderators include:

Andrew Beccone, Founder & Director of Reanimation Library
Carrie Bickner, Principal of the Bickner Group
Ari Seth Cohen, Creator of Advanced Style
Deirdre Donohue, Librarian at the International Center of Photography
Amanda Hallay, Clinical Assistant Professor of Fashion Merchandising at LIM College
Rachel King, Librarian at LIM College
Molly Monosky, Archivist at the Fairchild Archive
Virginia Millington, Manager, Recording & Archive at StoryCorps
Jon Patrick, Creator of The Selvedge Yard

Keynote speaker Ron Knoth is the creator of the fashion website www.thebespokenfor.net, a blog that, in his words, "focuses on the affirmative, the positive," and celebrates "fashion and what it means to be a gentleman." He has extensively researched the life of 1940s celebrity Lester Gaba.

He became fascinated by Gaba years ago while working in the retail, merchandising, and mannequin industries. "Gaba always had a strange reputation, insomuch as he supposedly fell in love with his ultimate creation, a mannequin named Cynthia, but there never was a central source for information¬-no biography or autobiography." Although little-known now, Gaba was an important figure in the New York fashion world; Ron will illuminate his life (and rescue him from decades of neglect) in his keynote speech.

Ron, a former actor, poet, arts administrator, designer, creative director, and advocate for people with AIDS, is currently a professor of Visual Merchandising at LIM College.

Bios of panelists are available here. http://fashionnowandthen.blogspot.com/p/about-presenters.html

Date: Saturday, April 9, 2011
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Detailed schedule http://fashionnowandthen.blogspot.com/p/schedule.html
Place: LIM College Townhouse at 12 East 53rd Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues
Cost: $35 (includes lunch, keynote presentation, and two panel presentations.)

Registration: www.eventville.com/limlibrary
Event Blog: http://fashionnowandthen.blogspot.com/
LIM College Website: http://www.limcollege.edu/9698.aspx

Please contact Lisa Ryan, Archivist at LIM College with any questions lisa.ryan@limcollege.edu