Talking head (or hands?) for CNN and more

I was lucky to experience a resurgence of interest in Nails from Summer 2021 through 2022, especially with regard to major media outlets. Perhaps the most exciting was when a CNN Style crew came to my home to interview me for the “As We Are” video series (see Press tab for the final product.) It was definitely occasion to quit my pandemic-era DIY nails and engage my friend and ace nail artist Lolly Koon for her services! Interviews for Vogue, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post followed. It’s fantastic that journalists are recognizing the great significance of nails and their stylistic evolution!

WWD article at last!

My team and I had been in touch with Bridget Foley, longtime WWD executive editor, about a profile of the PVH Archives before the pandemic. I’m so excited that we finally made it happen just hours before a snowstorm could have hindered take two! So fun to have worked with Bridget & team, photographer Masato Onoda, and a fabulous model squad. My colleagues and I truly appreciated the chance to publicize the fashion and cultural history we work to preserve; some tear sheets and BTS photos below!

Website cover girl?

I’ve contributed timelines, imagery, and several history-themed articles to the newly-relaunched PVH.com site. Apparently I’ve also contributed my likeness to the company’s Archives page. As the photo implies, I am often filled with wonderment as I dig through the archives or any historical material for that matter!

Guest speaker at Reynolda House Museum

As the archivist/historian for the ARROW brand, I’ve immersed myself in the fascinating history of the Arrow Collar Man, considered by some as the first sex symbol in all of advertising. The fictional character’s creator, the influential, early 20th-century illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, was explored at an extensive exhibition at the Reynolda House Museum in Winston-Salem, NC. I was honored to be a guest speaker during the run of “Leyendecker and the Golden Age of American Illustration.” Thanks to the Reynolda team for the hospitality and for allowing me to address this underappreciated chapter of fashion history and the same-sex partnership that came to inspire a defining moment of American pop culture and masculinity. 

Stiff, detachable collars, anyone?

Podcasts!

2019 marks the 5th anniversary of Nails...time flies! I've been grateful for a surge of interest in the topic this year, and I've contributed thoughts for articles in Vanity Fair, Nailpro, and them, Conde Nast's new LGBTQ platform (please see the Press tab.)

But the newest news is being interviewed for two amazing podcasts this summer, just a week apart. Thanks to a listener question and co-host Cassidy Zachary, Dressed Podcast asked me about the origins of the manicure and specifically, the moon manicure style. Then I was invited to Gimlet Media headquarters to record for Every Little Thing, pictured here. First hitting on the the history of those clever nail polish names we love so much, host Flora Lichtman and I chatted about nails for an hour and a half...like I say, time flies! Thanks to the Dressed and ELT teams for having me as a guest, and watch this space for the final cuts!

Update: I also really loved the C-Curve podcast I recorded with co-host Kristin House AKA Black Dahlia Nails in Fall 2022. As an industry professional, she had great insight into the personal significance and stylistic evolution of nails (see Press tab to listen.)

Nails at the MoMA

As MoMA's first fashion exhibition in 70+ years, Items: Is Fashion Modern? brilliantly examined fashion in the context of society, culture, and technology. Curators Paola Antonelli and Michelle Millar Fisher chose 111 items of clothing and accessories including the manicure, and I was honored to support Michelle's research on nails through my book, conversations, and advisement on object and image selection. Congrats to the whole stellar Items team!

At the exhibition opening

Sets by Bernadette Thompson, left, and Chieko Nakayama, right

Special archives visitor

Vogue's international and most distinguished editor-at-large Hamish Bowles joined me for an impromptu tour of the PVH Archives space. Can I come see your collection next time, Hamish?!

Visit with Iris Apfel

So thrilled to have had the opportunity to meet the inimitable Iris Apfel and add Nails to her personal library. I learned that Chinese nail guards and mehndi are among her favorite hand adornments...all aflutter getting to chat with this high priestess of style!

WGSN Soho House Salon Series

Thank you to Francis Wong and the whole creative team at WGSN who invited me to participate in their recent panel on memory and design. Initially connecting through FIT in my capacity as a fashion industry archivist, the program touched on many areas of nostalgia and creative revival. Nail fashions often soak up "retro" influences, and as I commented, these styles are sometimes quite personal, linked to our formative impressions of loved ones.

You can read the WGSN blog post here.

Fashion Project x Vanity Projects Miami engagement

Thanks again to the ladies of Fashion Project at Bal Harbour Shops and Vanity Projects Miami for inviting me to participate in the program "Vanity, Culture, Identity: The Art of the Manicure" back in November. Truly enlightening perspectives on nail culture from all panelists!