FashionSpeak Fridays: Westernwear

Sonya Abrego, author of Westernwear: Postwar American Fashion and Culture, will explore westernwear’s place in midcentury America. In the years that followed World War II, the United States experienced a booming economy and confidence in technologies for the future. So why, at this forward-thinking time, were so many Americans wearing fashions that evoked the Old West?

Abrego is a New York City-based design historian specializing in 20th-century American fashion. She takes an interdisciplinary approach to understanding the interconnections between fashion, popular culture, and design and has published in scholarly and popular venues, including Fashion Theory. She teaches at Parsons School of Design and the Fashion Institute of Technology, and is a curatorial fellow at the Center for Craft which will be hosting her exhibition, Crafting Denim. Books will be available for purchase. Westernwear fashion is highly encouraged.

• This event occurs in person at the National Arts Club.
• RSVP does not guarantee entry.
• Doors open to the public 15 minutes before the event start time.
• Our coat check is limited. Please do not bring any large bags or backpacks.