The Museum at FIT’s exhibition ¡Moda Hoy! Latin American and Latinx Fashion Design Today examines the work of 21st-century Latin American and Latinx fashion designers.
The exhibition features over 60 objects from the museum’s permanent collection, including many new acquisitions, bilingual texts presented in English and Spanish, and supplementary fashion media. It spotlights designers from Latin American countries, as well as designers of Latin American heritage living and working in the United States who are often referred to as Hispanic, Latino/Latina, or the gender-neutral term Latinx.
For decades, fashion designers of Latin American descent, such as Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Edmundo Castillo, Victor Alfaro, and Haider Ackermann, have been central figures of the fashion industry. Their successes have paved the way for new generations of talented designers, including Gabriela Hearst, Jonathan Cohen,Romina Cardillo of Nous Etudions, Willy Chavarria, Raul Lopez of LUAR, and Kika Vargas. These represent but a few of the emerging designers who are making their mark on the global scene by helming fashion houses, winning prestigious awards, and dressing celebrity clients.
The exhibition is thematically organized into sections that address art, craftsmanship, elegance, gender, Indigenous heritage, politics, popular culture, and sustainability. It seeks to challenge stereotypes about fashion by designers of Latin American heritage, moving away from a notion of a singular Latin American style and drawing attention to the diversity of talent.
The Museum at FIT will host several programming events related to the exhibition as part of its Fall 2023 Fashion Culture series. The exhibition will be on display until November 12, 2023.
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