Care in Creative Industries: Fashion and Design Respond to AIDS
6:30–7:30pm
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During the 1980s and ’90s, cultural organizations’ robust response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic shaped how it was represented to the wider public, bringing grassroots activism to the mainstream. With a range of social and cultural events—advertised via provocative posters—the fashion, design, and arts industries leveraged celebrity and glamour to inform a broader audience about AIDS and to raise funds for research and critical care.
Join Poster House for an evening of discussion and reflection on these fundraising and community-building efforts. Curator Ian Bradley-Perrin and Natalie Nudell, author of In American Fashion, will be in conversation with Stan Herman, fashion designer and former board member of the East End Gay Organization (EEGO), and Steven Kolb, CEO and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and a former director of Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA).
Posters featured in Love and Fury: New York’s Fight Against AIDS will guide this conversation about how posters represented the community-driven culture of the era.
Doors open at 6:10pm. A cash bar will be available.
Stan Herman is a three-time Coty Award-winning designer. He was the president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) for 16 years and founded the 7th on Sixth fashion show in New York City. He is a leading uniform designer and has been selling his line of loungewear on QVC for more than 31 years. His past community work in response to the AIDS crisis has included organizing “7th on Sale” with the fashion community, “A Gala Night for Singing,” and Take Off, an event held at the East Hampton Airport for four years. He has been honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the CFDA and continues to be active on its board.
Steven Kolb is the CEO and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and oversees all operations and activities for the American fashion industry’s renowned group of more than 450 American women’s wear, menswear, jewelry, and accessory designers. He has played a leadership role in cultivating emerging American fashion talent through such programs as the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and the CFDA Fashion Incubator. Before taking the helm at the CFDA, Kolb was focused on AIDS research: he began his fundraising career at Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS (DIFFA), and was involved in Susanne Bartsch’s Love Balls and DIFFA’s “Safer Sex” campaigns.
Accessibility Note: Masks and clear masks are available free of charge at the museum. Assistive listening devices and stools are available. ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or a CART (Communication Access Realtime Translation) is also available upon request. Please contact access@posterhouse.org or (914) 295-2387 to request interpretation services and to address any other accessibility needs. For other event-related questions, please contact events@posterhouse.org.