Events for New York Fashion Week Spring 2015

By Troy Segal

Though NYC is always a byword for Style Central, our town will be especially sartorially sensitive—and full of modish events—for New York Fashion Week 2015 (February 12–19). Of course, nothing beats a front-row seat at Ralph Lauren’s runway show (don’t worry, your invitation is bound to arrive any day now), but we trust you’ll find these upcoming talks, tours and activities equally to die for.

It wasn’t called the Gilded Age for nothing. See how the local 1% lived around the turn of the 20th century at the Museum of the City of New York‘s refurbished display of clothes, jewels and household objects. The ongoing exhibit kicks off with A Gilded Age Salon, featuring the best in Belle Époque music (think Debussy, Fauré and Charles-Édouard Lefebvre), Feb. 5. You can view the exhibit and then take part in a brooch-making workshop (BOYD—Bring Your Own Diamonds) on Feb. 15, Feb. 28 and Mar. 7; or fashion your own fan (feathers provided!) on Feb. 21 and Mar. 29.

It’s no surprise that the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology is in full regalia this month. Haute couture devotees should attend to a pair of author talks and book signings. Dana Thomas’ Gods and Kings, which details how the high price of fashion fame impacted the careers of designers Alexander McQueen and John Galliano, Feb. 11; Rhonda Garelick’s Mademoiselle focuses on the woman whose career practically spanned the 20th century—Coco Chanel—on Feb. 19. Rather watch than read? Those interested in inner workings can follow the creation of an elaborate 2011 Christian Dior coat-dress in the documentary Passage #5, which chronicles each stitch, Feb. 24; the troupe Ballets with a Twist performs excerpts from a contemporary dance piece, punctuated by comments from its costume designer, Catherine Zehr, Feb. 26.

A panel of fashionistas and sartorial experts converses about The Exquisite and Enduring Style of Harlem Men, from hep jazz cats to hip-hop artists. Dress sharp—you might get to be part of a fashion shoot that’s part of the event. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Feb. 12.

Before it tiptoes out of our lives Mar. 1, take a docent-guided tour of the exhibit Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe. It’s a pain-free way to appreciate the looks and construction of elevated footwear, from 16th-century chopines to mid-20th-century stilettos to contemporary wedges. Brooklyn Museum. Feb. 12 and 25.

Over the centuries, the human body hasn’t changed—but the ideal shape certainly has. The Bard Graduate Center: Decorative Arts, Design History, Material Culture unveils a new exhibit (Apr. 3–July 26) that displays the accessories, devices and undergarments men and women have used to push, prod, elevate or flatten their silhouette to conform with fashion; a symposium, Fashioning the Body: An Intimate History of the Silhouette, on Mar. 27, precedes the show.

Tim Gunn, guru to aspiring couturiers on the TV show Project Runway, appears live and dishes some designer dirt with clothing authority Fern Mallis (best-known as the creator back in the 1990s of the current New York Fashion Week). 92nd Street Y, Mar. 31.

See how clothing mannequins are made in this recreation of a studio—with a designer sculpting onsite from live models —of mannequin-manufacturer Ralph Pucci. Museum of Arts and Design, Apr. 2.

If anyone knows how the clothing biz works, it’s Donatella Versace, who took over the flamboyant Italian label Versace after her brother’s death. She talks design, art and industry with another style-conscious femme, ex-CNN fashion correspondent Alina Cho, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Apr. 30.