Egyptian art has long served, and continues to serve, as a primary inspiration for fashion designers, solidifying the legacy of Egyptomania—the influence of the art of ancient Egypt. Join us as we welcome Darnell-Jamal Lisby, assistant curator of fashion at the Cleveland Museum and curator of Egyptomania: Fashion’s Conflicted Obsession, who will discuss the exhibition and the numerous questions raised by the intersection between Egyptomania and fashion from the past to the present. 

As the first fashion curator for the Cleveland Museum of Art, developing a new department that isn’t native to an institution offers its hurdles, but introducing fashion as an essential component of a comprehensive art museum environment offers its own set of variables to consider. Looking through the lenses of the exhibitions produced thus far within the developing department including, Egyptomania: Fashion’s Conflicted Obsession and Korean Couture: Generations of Revolution, this presentation will explore the bounds of collaboration and curatorial processes from an intimate landscape. Moreover, with fashion as one of the most accessible mediums of art for many intergenerational audiences, this presentation will also highlight the balance of academic tones within content with the more quotidian societally accessible frameworks.

Darnell-Jamal Lisby joined the Cleveland Museum of Art in 2021. A fashion historian, his charge is to develop projects rooted in fashion studies that range across the museum’s various curatorial departments. Before coming to Cleveland, Lisby was an education coordinator at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and worked at an array of institutions in New York City, including the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Brooklyn Museum of Art. He also teaches in the Fashion Institute of Technology master’s program in fashion design, fortifying emerging designers with the historical knowledge they require to pursue fruitful careers. He has published extensively on numerous academic and mainstream platforms, including the Fashion and Race Database, Cultured magazine, and Teen Vogue.

Egyptomania: Fashion’s Conflicted Obsession
Curating Fashion from the Ground Up

Darnell-Jamal Lisby
Thursday, March 14, 2024
6:00 pm–7:00 pm
Marly Room
FREE for MFA Members; $15 Not-yet Members

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