Steele, Valerie (1955-)
Dates
- Existence: 1955-
Biography
Valerie Steele is director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she has personally organized more than 20 exhibitions since 1997, including The Corset: Fashioning the Body, London Fashion, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Shoe Obsession, Daphne Guinness, A Queer History of Fashion, and Dance and Fashion. She is also founder and editor in chief of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, the first peer-reviewed, scholarly journal in Fashion Studies.
Steele combines serious scholarship (and a Yale Ph.D.) with a rare ability to communicate with general audiences. She is author or co-author of more than 20 books, including Fashion and Eroticism, Paris Fashion, Women of Fashion, Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power, The Corset: A Cultural History, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Japan Fashion Now, The Impossible Collection Fashion, The Berg Companion to Fashion, and Fashion Designers A-Z: The Collection of The Museum at FIT, as well as contributing essays to publications, such as Fashion and Art and Impressionism, Fashion & Modernity. Her books have been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Russian.
As author, curator, editor, and public intellectual, Valerie Steele has been instrumental in creating the modern field of fashion studies and in raising awareness of the cultural significance of fashion. She has appeared on many television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and Undressed: The Story of Fashion. Described in The Washington Post as one of fashions brainiest women and by Suzy Menkes as The Freud of Fashion, she was listed among Fashions 50 Most Powerful by the Daily News and as one of The People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry in the Business of Fashion 500 (2014).
Found in 5 Collections and/or Records:
Bergdorf Goodman oral history, 1977 and 1994, bulk 1994, 1977 and 1994, bulk 1994
This series consists of oral history interviews that discuss the history of Bergdorf Goodman, as well as the store's status and future plans as they stood at the time. Interviews were conducted first in December 1977 by Robert Riley, and subsequently in July 1994 by Valerie Steele and Estelle Ellis with Stephen Elkin, Chairman, Berdorf Goodman, Dawn Mello, President, Bergdorf Goodman, Nena Goodman, widow of Andrew Goodman, Edwin Goodman, son of Andrew Goodman.
Dawn Mello interview, 1994 July, 1994 July
Interview with Dawn Mello about her relationship and history with the Bergdorf Goodman store.
Edwin Goodman interview, 1994 July, 1994 July
Interview with Edwin Goodman about his relationship and history with the Bergdorf Goodman store.
Nena Goodman interview, 1994 July, 1994 July
Interview with Nena Goodman about her relationship and history with the Bergdorf Goodman store.
Steven Elkin interview, 1994 July 13, 1994 July 13
Interview with Steven Elkin about his relationship and history with the Bergdorf Goodman store.