SEAMLESS: FASHION, ART + SOCIETY (SPRING 2025)

In this six-week lecture series, Professor, Adjunct Gillion Carrara will explore the connections between fashion and the world at large. Drawing on her vast career as a fashion historian, Carrara will delve into such topics as the commonalities between designers and architects, the fascinating lives of couture designers, and the impact fragrance has had on the fashion world. We invite you to join Gillion to learn and enrich your understanding of fashion history through lectures, question and answer sessions, and carefully curated academic resources to continuously expand your knowledge both in and out of the class. Your enrollment in the class will allow access to the live lectures and Q+A portions, unlimited access to recordings of each session, and the resource lists created by Gillion to enhance your understanding of each lecture topic. We hope that your attendance will spark creativity and curiosity in your own lives, artistic, and academic practices.

Thursdays, 1:00pm – 2:30pm
April 10, 2025 – Dior – Volume Control
April 17, 2025 – Man Ray - the Dadaists + Fashion Photography
April 24, 2025 – Madeline Vionnet – Elegant Discourse
May 01, 2025 – Physical Graffiti - Words in Fashion
May 08, 2025 – Exhibiting Fashion
May 15, 2025 – Male Muses, Men of Style with Sandra Adams, Assistant Professor, Adjunct

GILLION CARRARA is a Professor, Adjunct at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, teaching in the area of fashion, dress + art. She is the founding director of the SAIC Fashion Resource Center, established in 1987. Gillion was a board member of the Costume Colloquium; a series of bi-annual global lecturers in presentations on the theme of dress, beginning in 2008 through 2018. She has presented lectures and hosted SAIC students attending the Colloquium in Florence, Italy. She is a member of ICOM, the annual International Council of Museums, where she has presented lectures. Gillion is co-author of the recently published book Fashion Icons: A Celebration of Fashion's Legendary Designers, illustrated by David Lee Csicsko.