Spotlighting a Barrier-Busting Designer

 

Left: Designer Jay Jaxon, photographed at the Maison of Jean-Louis Scherrer’s design salon, to advertise the release of his 1970 Spring/Summer collections, 1969/1970. Right: Editorial Image, 1969/1970, Keystone Press Agency, Ltd., Jay Jaxon’s Portfolio, Bequest of Lloyd Hardy, Rachel Fenderson Collection, 2017.

Last August, historian and curator Rachel Fenderson put on a retrospective exhibition about American couturier Jay Jaxon ’66 at the Queens Public Library. From Feb. 8 to Dec. 29, a new exhibition by Fenderson, Jay Jaxon: 40 Years Of Fashion Design Brilliance | Past, Present, Future, will be on view at the Queens Historical Society.

The show brings the designer to life through artifacts and objects from his archive, as well as other primary sources from Fenderson’s research. Not only is the exhibition opening during New York Fashion Week and Black History Month, but 2020 also marks Jaxon’s 50th anniversary becoming the first American and African American to helm a French couture house, Fenderson says. Learn more about Jaxon’s legacy here.

Tours for groups of FIT students and faculty are available. Contact Fenderson for more information.

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