Features

Professional

Netflix – Tudum

March 25, 2022 – “‘A Guide to the Regency Inspiration for 'Bridgerton' Costumes,” by Jamie Beckman

Here’s what the new season reveals about what people really wore in Regency-era England.

Vogue Business

March 21, 2022 – “Fashion schools are decolonising the curriculum. Good news for luxury brands?,” by Maliha Shoaib

As academics rework their approach to teaching fashion history, an emerging generation of industry professionals — and consumers — has a more critical perspective on fashion heritage. Western luxury brands should welcome the process.

Vogue

November 1, 2021 – “The History Behind Fashion’s Most Loved Motif: The Butterfly,” by Kristen Bateman

Fashionably speaking, the butterfly is literally everywhere right now. Even Chanel put it on the runway along with Blumarine and Alberta Ferretti, to name a few, for Spring 2022. But what’s behind the meteoric rise of one of fashion’s most flighty creatures?

BBC Worklife

July 15, 2021 – “‘Is the formal 'suited and booted' office dress code extinct?,” by Bryan Lufkin

We've been drifting away from formal office dress codes for years. The pandemic may have finished them off for good.

W Magazine

July 5, 2021 – “‘Breaking Down the Green Trend Sweeping the Fashion World,” by Kristen Bateman

It’s official: fashion has become completely obsessed with the color green. The shade has appeared in all hues at Molly Goddard, Victoria Beckman, Michael Kors, and Kim Shui for spring—and it’s showing up in the form of much-adored objects, like the Bottega Veneta shopping bags.

Buzzfeed News

May 21, 2021 – “‘Gen Z Is scrambling To Get Their Hands on Megan Fox’s Hoodie,” by Marie Lodi

The Jennifer’s Body hoodie is just one example of [the] ’00s comeback. “Every generation has an innate fascination with the era preceding their own,” fashion historian Raissa Bretaña told BuzzFeed News. But she added that Gen Z is able to feed that interest much more easily than past generations could because pop culture and media archives are so accessible now.

Los Angeles Times

May 5, 2021 – “‘No more pajamas: Back-to-school fashion gives students a sense of hope after pandemic,” by Sonja Sharp

With high school campuses reopening across L.A. County, teens are redefining back-to-school wardrobe, shedding their remote-learning loungewear and constricting before-times ensembles in favor of innovative and eye-catching new looks.

T — The New York Times Style Magazine

January 26, 2021 – “Undine Spragg’s Life in Objects,” by Samuel Rutter

This article is part of T’s Book Club, a series of essays and events dedicated to classic works of American literature. Beauty, charm and luck all factor into the social ascent of Edith Wharton's ambitious protagonist — but money, crucially, matters the most.

USA Today

August 31, 2020 – “From ‘Votes for Women’ Sashes to Pussyhats, Fashion Makes Political Statements,” by Lindsay Schnell

For decades, women have been using fashion as a form of political protest, dressing and styling themselves in certain ways to convey certain messages. From the earliest days of the suffrage movement, when women used specific symbols and colors to emphasize their message, the echoes roll on through contemporary times.

Vogue

April 25, 2020 – “A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Costumes of ‘Hollywood,’ Ryan Murphy’s New Netflix Series,” by Brooke Bobb

Hollywood costume designers Sarah Evelyn and Lou Eyrich discuss how they created a dreamscape onscreen with a wardrobe from a bygone era in Hollywood.

Teen Vogue

April 27, 2020 – “COVID-19 Might Change the Way We Dress Forever,” by Kristen Bateman

At this point, no one really knows how or when the pandemic will end, and the fashion industry, just like every business sector, is scrambling to make it through – one thing is certain though: everyone has changed their daily life and also their fashion choices.

Parade

February 2020 – “Birds of Prey Costumes Show Move Toward Gender Equality in Superhero Movies,” by Gabrielle Moss

Birds of Prey, the new DC Universe film, has a lot of attributes that make it unique among comic book adaptations. For starters, it’s the first film in the modern superhero cinema era to focus on an all-female group. But the film is just as remarkable for what it doesn’t have: Namely, traditional female superhero costumes.

AM New York

July 24, 2019 – “The Jazz Age Lawn Party is taking Governors Island back in time,” by Emily Mason

For two days this August, Governors Island will be flooded with the sounds of jazz as vintage-clad New Yorkers do the Lindy Hop and sip on spritzes at a '20s-themed lawn party.

Little Rock Soirée

March 28, 2019 – “¡Fashionably Frida!”

Her work, her life, her look — Frida Kahlo is nothing short of iconic. And although she stands in a category of her own making, the newest Arkansas Arts Center exhibit "Photographing Frida: Portraits of Frida Kahlo" provides an intimate look at Kahlo's personal life, as captured by the lenses of those around her. To learn more about the legacy and lore of Mexico's best-known artist, we caught up with fashion historian Raissa Bretaña ahead of her AAC lecture "Her Own Muse: Fashioning Frida."

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

February 10, 2019 – “Frida Kahlo's self-expression reveals much in photographs at Arkansas Arts Center's exhibition,” by Ellis Widner

Pop culture icon and famed surrealist painter Frida Kahlo is hardly a stranger to us. But why does this Mexican-born artist, who died at age 47 in 1954 after creating barely 200 works of art, command such devotion? How did she become, in the words of fashion historian Raissa Bretaña, a powerful figure of iconography?

Social

Gothamist

April 5, 2021 – “‘All The Amazing Creations At This Year’s Unofficial Easter Parade,” by Scott Lynch

While the NYPD didn't shut down Fifth Avenue this year for the traditional informal Easter Parade, dozens still showed up in front of St. Patrick's Cathedral on Sunday afternoon to swan about in their incredibly colorful outfits and outrageously elaborate homemade bonnets.

Now at The Met

May 11, 2020 – “#MetGalaChallenge: The Creative Journeys Behind Our Favorite DIY’d Met Gala Looks,” by Maria Kozanecka

This year, due to the global pandemic, the Costume Institute exhibition is postponed and the date of the Met Gala is under discussion. In lieu of this iconic event, Vogue and Billy Porter started the #MetGalaChallenge, inviting everyone at home to re-create their favorite red carpet looks of past galas.

Gothamist

December 13, 2019 – “‘Subway Swing’ Transports New Yorkers Back to the Jazz Era,” by Ben Yakas

The annual Subway Swing party hosted by the Transit Museum swung into Downtown Brooklyn last night. Dozens of Jazz Era-aficionados got to party inside the 1936 decommissioned subway station that houses the museum, with live jazz bands, period-appropriate clothing and swing dancing.

Cara Magazine – Aer Lingus

August 2019 – “And All That Jazz,” by Emily White, featuring photographs by Rose Callahan

New York’s best-dressed flock bi-annually to the Jazz Age Lawn Party, a riot of big bands, chorus girls and sartorial ingenuity.

Vogue

March 19, 2019 – “The Boston Museum of Fine Arts Celebrates the New Exhibition, ‘Gender Bending Fashion,’” by Hamish Bowles

Teen Vogue

January 23, 2018 – “2018 Women's March Protestors Took to the Streets for Many Different Reasons,” by Maegan Gindi

Through interviewing and photographing each subject, [Maegan Gindi] learned that the Women’s March is simply a platform — it’s the participants who bring the message.

WWD

June 16, 2017 – “They Are Wearing: Jazz Age Lawn Party,” by Kyle Ericksen

Gothamist

April 17, 2017 – “Photos: All the Beautiful Bonnets & Extraordinary Outfits at the 2017 Easter Parade,” by Scott Lynch

The Boston Globe Magazine

April 15, 2016 – “Style Watch: Glam looks off the runway at a local fashion show,” by Tina Sutton

Guests’ outfits looked inventively modern at Saks Fifth Avenue’s recent show.

The Boston Herald

October 30, 2014 – “Social Studies: Barneys teams up with MFA,” by Erica Corsano

In collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts Fashion Council, Barneys New York honored fashion designer Juan Carlos Obando.

The Hollywood Reporter

June 21, 2012 – “Western Costume Celebrates 100th Birthday With Film Fashion Show at LACMA,” by Elizabeth Snead

Award-winning costume designers Julie Weiss, Mary Zophres, Janie Bryant, Carol Ramsey, Ellen Mirojnick and Deborah Hopper helped fete the iconic costume house, whose credits include "Gone With the Wind," "Wizard of Oz" and "Titanic."