Chicago Shakespeare and Art Institute Holds Fashion History Symposium

The Art Institute of Chicago and Chicago Shakespeare Theater partnered to co-present The Fashion History Symposium, November 27–28 at their respective venues in Chicago. The two day fashion event included lectures, panel discussions and displays focusing on the 19th century fashions that were showcased in CST's fall production of the Sondheim and Lapine musical, Sunday in the Park with George, inspired by Georges Seurat's most famous work A Sunday on La Grande Jatte-1884, on display and in the Permanent Collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

More than 80 patrons attended the two day event that featured some of Chicago's most respected artists and fashion experts, including: Art Institute of Chicago David and Mary Winton Green Curator of 19th-Century European Painting and Sculpture Gloria Groom, Chicago Shakespeare Theater's Associate Artistic Director and Sunday in the Park with George Director Gary Griffin, Costume Designer Mara Blumenfeld, Columbia University Associate Professor of French Caroline Weber, and Costume Designer Virgil C. Johnson. The event precedes the Fashion, Impressionism, and Modernity exhibition which opens June 26, 2013 at the Art Institute of Chicago after being exhibited at Musée d'Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Photo (L) by Jordan Fuller.

The Fashion History Symposium was chaired by Chicago Shakespeare Theater board member Gayle Tilles, pictured here with Art Institute of Chicago Eloise W. Martin Chair and Curator, European Decorative Arts Christopher Monkhouse.