On November 5, BGC Assistant Curator Emma Cormack, BGC Professor Michele Majer, The Met Costume Institute Head Conservator Sarah Scaturro, and moderator and FIT Professor Lourdes Font spoke at TEFAF New York, titled Storytelling And Clothing: French Fashion And World War I. This panel discussed the question of how does clothing carry narrative? And what can those narratives tell us about the experiences of the people that wore them and the cultures that made them?

The First World War and the French Fashion industry provide an intriguing case study for this conversation. The panelists, leading figures in the field of costume studies, focused on how the fashion of this period is an expression of larger social cultural movements. This conversation was set against the backdrop of the current exhibition, French Fashion, Women, and the First World War, at the Bard Graduate Center.

Established in 1988, TEFAF is widely regarded as the world’s pre-eminent organization of fine art, antiques, and design. TEFAF runs three Fairs internationally - TEFAF Maastricht, which covers 7,000 years of art history; TEFAF New York Spring, focused on modern and contemporary art and design; and TEFAF New York Fall, covered fine and decorative art from antiquity to 1920. TEFAF champions the finest quality art from across the ages by creating a community of the world’s top art dealers and experts to inspire lovers and buyers of art everywhere. TEFAF New York Fall 2019 took place at the Park Avenue Armory from November 1-5, 2019.