Globally Connected @ FIT: Creating Fashion History Content During a Pandemic

Guest: Darnell Lisby, B.S. in Art History and Museum Professions and an M.A. in Fashion and Textile Studies

As a fashion historian and independent curator, finding ways to educate audiences from a distance due to COVID-19 is a new challenge that FIT alum Darnell-Jamal Lisby seeks to tackle. With his expertise in delineating the impact of Blackness within the history of fashion, creating content that physically reaches audiences and also intertwines subject matter that relates to current social issues. In his informal presentation, Darnell will highlight the ways he’s able to disseminate research using various social media outlets and curatorial ventures, hoping that his journey may inspire solutions for emerging scholars and fashion-related professionals.

Darnell-Jamal Lisby is a fashion historian and independent curator; he holds a BS in Art History and Museum Professions and an MA in Fashion and Textile Studies, both from the Fashion Institute of Technology. Lisby approaches the history of fashion from an art historical context with a particular interest to illuminate the impact of Blackness on fashion history in the 20th and 21st centuries.

In addition to his recent work to help curate the Willi Smith: Street Couture exhibition at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, he contributed to the fashion curatorial efforts at various institutions such as The Museum at FIT and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also contributes regularly to various academic and mainstream platforms, expanding how he educates audiences on the discipline. His credits include works for Cultured Magazine, where he is a contributing editor, Teen Vogue, the Fashion and Race Database, and the FIT Fashion History Timeline.