Costume Society of America Meets in Salt Lake City to Celebrate 50 Years

duda • Jul 01, 2019

Costume Society of America kicked off our year-long celebration of our 50th Anniversary at the Annual Meeting and Symposium in Salt Lake City, Utah, from May 23 through 27, 2023. Our theme, “Crossroads of Dress & Adornment: Creativity, Culture, and Collaboration,” created the umbrella for a rich program of special presentations, concurrent sessions, off-site explorations, and workshops. Abstracts of this 49th Annual Meeting and Symposium can be downloaded here.

Before the conference began, CSA’s Angels spent a day at the Heritage Museum of Layton in Layton, Utah, processing over 200 clothing artifacts and partially completing the collections care process on many others. A dozen people took a pre-symposium trip to Park City, Utah, where they participated in a walking tour of the city and viewed the Thrift Style exhibit at the Park City Museum. Professional Development Workshops included a “Meet Your CSA Editor” session led by Ingrid Mida, Dress Editor, and Susan Wadsworth-Booth, Director of Kent State University Press, and featuring a video from e-News editor Madison Brito; a tenure guidelines conversation led by Leon Wiebers, CSA President Elect; and a Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Belonging Committee listening session led by Kelly Reddy-Best and Melissa Gamble, DEAB Committee Co-Chairs.


Our 50th Anniversary celebration kicked off with an opening reception on Wednesday evening, where attendees got down and funky in their favorite 70’s garb, including the 1970s, 1770s, and 2070s! This followed a ceremony at which this year’s winners of Grants, Projects, Awards, and Honors were announced. Abby Lillethun adds her name to those who have been honored as a Costume Society of America Fellow due to her significant contributions to the field of costume, and two honorees received the Mary D. Doering Guardian Honor, which pays tribute to individuals who recognize the values of artistic, historical, and socially significant objects of dress and appearance: Susan J. Jerome and Marie T. Schlag. Also given were the Adele Filene Student Presenter Grants, CSA Travel Research Grant, Stella Blum Student Research Grant, Small Museum Collection Care Grant, and the College and University Collection Care Grant, as well as the CSA Betty Kirke Excellence in Research Award, CSA Costume Design Award, Howard Vincent Kurtz Emerging Theatre Artist Award, Millia Davenport Publication Award, and the Richard Martin Exhibition Awards. A full list of winners can be found here.


On Thursday, attendees heard a fascinating discussion led by Shelly Foote with our Scholars’ Roundtable participants, Kelly Reddy-Best, Leon Wiebers, Adam MacPhàrlain, and Petra Slinkard, and a moving keynote presentation by Fleurette Estes and Joy Farley, two Diné (Navajo) sisters, in conversation with Lost Origins Gallery owner Jason Hamacher about the living legacy of Navajo clothing. In the afternoon, attendees visited the Fort Douglas Military Museum and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.


Concurrent sessions throughout the symposium covered diverse topics such as science fiction costuming, dandy style, convict dress, Italian Renaissance portraiture, and the process of mounting uniforms. On Friday, Kevin Jones and Christina Johnson gave a fascinating presentation on their 2022 Millia Davenport Publication Award-winning publication, Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960. Design Exhibition and Poster presenters put together an incredible display, and attendees vied for silent auction purchases encouraged by competition from Howard Vincent Kurtz. On Saturday, Petra Slinkard spoke about the beautiful 2022 Richard Martin Exhibition Award-winning exhibition Made It | The Women Who Revolutionized Fashion at the Peabody Essex Museum, and the conference ended with a fascinating presentation by Marrisa Mitsuing and Kim Verrier, curators of Powwow! Ohcîwin the Origins, Red Deer Museum + Art Gallery, also a 2022 Martin award winner. Presentation recordings by Jones and Johnson, Slinkard, and Mitsuing and Verrier, as well as by 2021 CSA Stella Blum Student Research Grant Winner Lynda May Xepoleas about “Hodinöhsö:ni’ Women & Archival Erasures at the New York State Museum, 1909-1915,” will be available soon on the CSA’s members-only site. Additional 2023 symposium content will be seen on upcoming “As Seen at Symposium” webinars. Stay tuned for more information!


Throughout the symposium, Meet-and-Greets were held for Member-to-Member program participants and first-timers, students, and CSA Fellows, and President Lalon Alexander presided over a town hall meeting at which pre-submitted questions and inquiries from the floor were answered.


We extend our sincere appreciation to our sponsors: Silver Level, Bloomsbury Academic and Margaret’s Couture Cleaners; Bronze Level, DittoForm LLC Michigan; Angels Project, University Products, Talas, Gaylord Archival, and Archival Methods; Keynote, The BYU Charles Redd Center for Western Studies; and Design Exhibition, Mannequin Rental Co. Thanks also to our marketplace participants and advertisers: CSA Series at Kent State University Press, Edinburgh University Press, Fleurette Estes, and Kotah Bear Jewelry. Participants in this year’s fundraiser event were treated to a performance of The Prom and a behind-the-scenes tour of the costume shop at the Pioneer Theatre Company at the University of Utah. We are pleased to announce that this year’s Silent Auction raised over $4,000—thanks go to all those who donated and purchased items in support of this effort, and to our co-coordinators, Edie Sanford and La Beene. Attendees also showed their individual support through sponsorships. Bryce Canyon National Park Sponsors ($100) included Lalon Alexander, Theresa Alexander, June Burns Bove’, Jacqueline Field Roberts, Michaele Haynes, Elizabeth Herridge, Adam MacPhàrlain, Elise Yvonne Morin-Rousseau, Margaret Ordonez, and Susan Yanofsky. Arches National Park Sponsors ($50) included Heidi Cochran, Judi Dawainis, Susan Hannel, Gayle Strege, and Leon Wiebers. Canyonlands National Park Sponsors ($25) included Suzanne LeSar, Arlesa Shephard, and Jennifer Tracz. Capitol Reef National Park Sponsors ($10) included Margaret Geiss-Mooney, Nan Mutnick, Colleen Pokorny, and Sara Wilcox.


We would like to express our immense gratitude for the hard work of our fantastic local arrangements team, who had originally planned to hold the symposium in 2021 but worked through the postponement caused by the pandemic: Symposium Co-Chairs Vicki Berger and Heidi Cochran (who also serves as Vice President for Education & Programs and Southwestern Region Chair); Abstracts Co-Administrators Sheryl Farnan and Theresa Alexander; Abstracts Editor Michaele Haynes; Angels Project Coordinators Martha Grimm and Margaret Ordoñez; CSA Vice President for External Relations Karen DePauw; Design Exhibition Chair Susan Yanofsky; Evaluation Chair Sarah Mosher; First Time Attendees/Member-to-Member Program Chairs Anne Toewe, Sally Queen, and Vicki Berger; Fundraiser Event Co-chairs Dennis Wright and Molly Hartvigsen; Thursday Afternoon Tours Chair Molly Hartvigsen; CSA President and Marketplace Chair Lalon Alexander; Pre-Symposium Tour Co-coordinators La Beene, Heidi Cochran, and Vicki Berger; Silent Auction Co-chairs Edie Sanford and La Beene; and the at-large local arrangement team members Annette Becker, Suzanne LeSar, Melissa Clark, and Gina Love. Special thanks go to the more than 30 abstract reviewers who made our symposium possible.


We want to hear from you! Whether you attended this year’s symposium or not, please give us your thoughts by clicking here. Your feedback is valuable to us as we plan for the future.


Next Year’s Plans


CSA’s Mid-Atlantic Region will host the 50th Annual Meeting and National Symposium in Washington, D.C. from May 21 to 25, 2024. Look for more information coming soon!


Images top row left to right: Kelly Borrello enjoying the behind-the-scenes tour of the costume shop at the Pioneer Theatre Company; the Southwestern Region symposium team; Ingrid Mida takes a photograph of the Scholars’ Roundtable participants


Images bottom row left to right: Keynote presenters Jason Hamacher, Fleurette Estes, and Joy Farley; Margarette Joyner and Sally-Yu Leung; Howard Vincent Kurtz in the final moments of the silent auction; Gail Alterman, June Burns Bove’, and Newbold Richardson

2024 Costume Society of America Grants, Projects, Awards, and Honors Announced

By Kristen Zohn • 15 Apr, 2024
Costume Society of America (CSA) is pleased to announce the recipients of its 2024 grants, projects, awards, and honors . "We have an exceptional group of awards, honors, and grant recipients this year. I want to thank all of our committees for their work and dedication in reviewing the nominees,” says Arlesa Shephard, CSA Vice President for Awards and Honors. Patricia Edmonson, Vice President for Grants and Projects adds, "We truly appreciate the time our applicants spend on each submission. Our committee chairs are always here to help members through the process of applying!” All awards, grants, and projects are funded through the generosity of donors to the CSA Endowment . One Costume Society of America Fellow has been chosen this year to honor her significant contributions to the field of costume. Linda Baumgarten is a specialist in the early history of textiles and costumes. For 39 years she held the position of curator of textiles and costumes at the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation in Williamsburg, Virginia. She is the author of three books and co-author of two others. What Clothes Reveal, The Language of Clothing in Colonial and Federal America won CSA’s Millia Davenport Publications Award. In her retirement, Linda continues to lecture, research clothing and quilts, and draw quilt patterns using Computer-Assisted Design technology. In addition to this most prestigious honor, each year CSA supports its members and recognizes their achievements by conferring numerous awards. For example, this year’s Millia Davenport Publication Award goes to Ann Lowe: American Couturier by Elizabeth Way (Rizzoli Electa, an imprint of Rizzoli New York), and the Betty Kirke Excellence in Research Award is given to Anne Bissonnette and Sherry Schofield for their Creative Design titled Zero Waste Thinking: Portrait Tunic and Palazzo Pants . The two Richard Martin Exhibition Awards go to Lee Alexander McQueen and Ann Ray: Rendez-Vous from Barrett Barrera Projects and Past and Present Lives of Upcycled Fashion by curator Kat Roberts at Cornell University. The Costume Design Award is given to Daniel James Cole for his work on Ariadne auf Naxos at Arizona Opera and The Howard Vincent Kurtz Emerging Theatre Artist Award is given to Kessler Jones for her designs for Clue at Michigan State University. This year’s CSA Entrepreneur Recognition Award goes to Tricia Camacho of The Patterned Seamstress LLC and Creative Costume Academy. Along with honors and awards, CSA distributes grant money to a variety of individuals and organizations in the field. These include the CSA Stella Blum Student Research Grant, which has been given this year to Dyese L. Matthews for her research Fashioning Memories and Places: Black Women's Style in Harlem 1970-Present . The 2024 Angels Project Grant is given to The Howard County Historical Society in Maryland. Two Adele Filene Student Presenter Grants go to Constance Spotts and Paige Tomfohrde. A full list of all of CSA’s grants, honors, and awards can be found below. They will be celebrated on Wednesday, May 22, 2024, during CSA’s 50 th Annual National Meeting and Symposium in Washington, DC . Costume Society of America Fellow Honor: Linda Baumgarten, Williamsburg, Virginia CSA Entrepreneur Recognition Award: Tricia Camacho, The Patterned Seamstress LLC and Creative Costume Academy, Mocksville, North Carolina CSA Costume Design Award: Daniel James Cole, Ariadne auf Naxos , Arizona Opera CSA Richard Martin Exhibition Award, Large Organization: Lee Alexander McQueen and Ann Ray: Rendez-Vous , Barrett Barrera Projects, St. Louis, Missouri CSA Richard Martin Exhibition Award, Small Organization: Past and Present Lives of Upcycled Fashion , Kat Roberts, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York CSA Richard Martin Exhibition Award Commendation: Woven Identities: Ghanaian and Guatemalan Textiles in the Face of Globalization , Anne Bissonnette (PhD), Siming Guo (PhD) Elsie Osei (MFA), and Chiara Power (BA), University of Alberta Millia Davenport Publication Award: Ann Lowe: American Couturier by Elizabeth Way with contributions by Heather Hodge, Laura Mina, Margaret Powell, Katya Roelse, and Katherine Sahmel (Rizzoli Electa, an imprint of Rizzoli New York) CSA Howard Vincent Kurtz Emerging Theatre Artist Award: Kessler Jones, Clue , Michigan State University CSA Stella Blum Student Research Grant: Dyese L. Matthews, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, Fashioning Memories and Places: Black Women's Style in Harlem 1970-Present Betty Kirke Excellence in Research Award Anne Bissonnette, University of Alberta, and Sherry Schofield, Florida State University, Zero Waste Thinking: Portrait Tunic and Palazzo Pants Scholars’ Roundtable: 1973 to 2073: The Past, Present, and Future of Dress Studies ; Marilyn DeLong, University of Minnesota; Clarissa Esguerra, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Monica Sklar, University of Georgia; Elizabeth Way, The Museum at FIT CSA Travel Research Grant: Holly Durbin, Stitched Identities: American Menswear and the Art of Assimilation College and University Collection Care Grant: California College of the Arts, San Francisco, California CSA Small Museum Collection Care Grant: Old Trails Museum, Winslow Historical Society, Winslow, Arizona CSA Dependent Care Grant: Sarah Silvas-Bernstein Adele Filene Student Presenter Grants: Constance Spotts, Iowa State University, and Paige Tomfohrde, Cornell University CSA Angels Project: The Howard County Historical Society, Ellicott City, Maryland Pictured above from left to right: The Creative Design by Anne Bissonnette and Sherry Schofield titled Zero Waste Thinking: Portrait Tunic and Palazzo Pants , recipient of the Betty Kirke Excellence in Research Award; Mustard, Green, Peacock, White, Plum and Scarlet eavesdrop at the door of Boddy Manor’s grand dining room in Michigan State University’s production of Clu e with costumes designed by Kessler Jones, recipient of the CSA Howard Vincent Kurtz Emerging Theatre Artist Award; cover of Ann Lowe: American Couturier by Elizabeth Way with contributions by Heather Hodge, Laura Mina, Margaret Powell, Katya Roelse, and Katherine Sahmel (Rizzoli Electa, an imprint of Rizzoli New York), recipient of the Millia Davenport Publication Award.

CSA Founded on March 28, 1973

By Kristen Zohn • 25 Mar, 2024
On March 28, 1973, CSA was founded!

CSA National Leadership Election Results Announced

By Kristen Zohn • 20 Mar, 2024
 Costume Society of America is pleased to announce the results of the recent election for the Class of 2027 National Board of Directors. These five directors will be inducted at the 2024 Annual Meeting during the National Symposium in Washington DC (May 21 through 25, 2024). Don’t forget that early bird registration for the symposium ends on April 5, 2024. You can learn more and find the registration link by clicking here . The Class of 2027 National Board of Directors includes: Melissa Gamble is an Assistant Professor in the Fashion Studies Department at Columbia College Chicago. Arti Sandhu is currently an Associate Professor in the Fashion Program in the School of Design, Art Architecture, and Planning, University of Cincinnati. Joshua D. Simon is the Assistant Curator of Exhibits at the Tri-Cities Historical Museum in Grand Haven, Michigan. Juanjuan Wu is the Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the College of Design at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Lynda May Xepoleas is an Assistant Professor of Fashion Design at Kent State University. Michael Mamp , Director & Curator of the Textile & Costume Museum and Associate Professor of Textiles, Apparel Design, and Merchandising at Louisiana State University, and Michele Riley , associate dean of the School of Multidisciplinary and Professional Studies at Purdue University Global, will serve as alternates. Class of 2025 and 2026 directors are: Karen DePauw, Clarissa Esguerra, Susan Hannel, Michaele Thurgood Haynes, Adam MacPhàrlain, Jaleesa Reed, Clare Sauro, Arlesa Shephard, Ginger D. Stanciel, and Graham Wetzbarger. CSA’s student members elected Sofia Beraldo, a master of arts candidate in fashion at Toronto Metropolitan University, as Student Liaison to serve from 2024 to 2026. Paige E. Tomfohrde, PhD student, researcher and Dean’s Scholar at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, currently serves as Student Liaison through 2025. CSA also announces several new or renewed appointments to the Executive Committee, who will begin their terms at the 2024 Annual Meeting and serve until the 2026 Annual Meeting: President Leon Wiebers is Chair of Theatre Arts Program and Professor of Costume Design at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Past President Lalon Alexander teaches at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. President Elect Adam MacPhàrlain is the Curator of Clothing and Textiles at the Missouri Historical Society in St. Louis, Missouri. Treasurer Danielle Reaves is an adjunct instructor of apparel design and fashion retailing in the Department of Clothing, Textiles, and Interior Design at The University of Alabama. Secretary Theresa Alexander is an associate professor of fashion management with the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio. Vice President for Awards and Honors Colleen Pokorny is an assistant professor in apparel design at Oregon State University in Corvallis. Vice President for Internal Relations Katie Baker Jones is an associate professor and serves as the program coordinator in the Fashion, Dress and Merchandising department in the School of Design and Community Development at West Virginia University. Vice President for Education and Programs Monica Sklar is an assistant professor & director/coordinator of the Historic Clothing and Textiles Collection at the University of Georgia in Athens. They join current Executive Committee members who are serving until the 2025 Annual Meeting: Deborah Miller, Vice President for External Relations; Patty Edmonson, Vice President for Grants and Projects; Julia Petrov, Vice President for Publications; Graham Wetzbarger, Vice President for Technology; and Heidi Cochran, Vice President for Symposia. You can learn more about CSA Leadership by visiting this page . Nominations for the Class of 2028 Board of Directors and 2025-2027 Executive Committee positions will open in July of 2024 and will be open through November of 2024. Pictured from left to right, top row: Melissa Gamble, Arti Sandhu, Joshua D. Simon, Juanjuan Wu, Lynda May Xepoleas, Sofia Beraldo Pictured from left to right, middle row: Leon Wiebers, Lalon Alexander, Adam MacPhàrlain, Danielle Reaves Pictured from left to right, bottom row: Theresa Alexander, Colleen Pokorny, Katie Baker Jones, Monica Sklar
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