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New York, NY | Curator-Led Tour of “Goddesses in the Machine: Fashion in American Silent Film” with Emma Cormack
October 13 | 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm
When films were silent, fashion spoke volumes. Goddesses in the Machine reveals the untold story of costume and style in early Hollywood, from actors wearing their own clothes to the birth of the movie costume designer. The first major exhibition to explore fashion in American silent film, Goddesses in the Machine shows how silent films transformed fashion from personal expression into powerful storytelling, creating the blueprint for modern movie glamour. Bringing together a selection of rare surviving objects from the advent of cinema, the exhibition highlights the behind-the-scenes work of famous designers such as Travis Banton, Henri Bendel, Clare West, and Lucile, Lady Duff-Gordon, as well as lesser-known names including Madame Frances, I. Miller, Natacha Rambova, and Lilian St. Cyr. A vibrant display of ensembles and accessories at the Bard Graduate Center Gallery will be enriched by accompanying film clips and works on paper including photographs, posters, film stills, and costume design sketches.
Emma Cormack (BGC MA 2018) is associate curator for exhibitions and Study Collection curator at Bard Graduate Center. With a background in decorative arts, design history, and material culture, her research specialties include the history of fashion and textiles with a particular interest in department stores, consumer culture, and print advertising in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century France and the United States. At BGC, she was the cocurator of Threads of Power: Lace from the Textilmuseum St. Gallen (2022–23) and coeditor of the accompanying publication; assistant curator of French Fashion, Women, and the First World War (2019–20); and curatorial and editorial assistant for Eileen Gray (2020). With Michelle Finamore, she is cocurator and coeditor of Goddesses in the Machine: Fashion in American Silent Film (2026).
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