STYLING IT WRIGHT
Join us for a month of engaging programs celebrating fashion, textile design, and architecture. Explore how these creative disciplines connect through a textile lecture, hands-on upcycling projects, a high-energy design competition, and a fashion show inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural legacy.
Sponsored by
Model wearing a skirt from the Dorothy Liebes/Bonnie Cashin Skirtings Collection, standing in front of the Liebes-designed theater curtain for the American Pavilion at the Brussels World’s Fair, 1958; Dorothy Liebes Papers, Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
Tuesday, April 1 6:00-7:00pm CDT
Virtual Wright Design Series Lecture
Dorothy Liebes: Modern Fashion’s Starchitect
Presented by Leigh Wishner
Hailed as the “Mother of Modern Weaving,” Dorothy Liebes (1897–1972) collaborated with some of the most famous architects and designers of the twentieth century, including producing numerous textiles for Frank Lloyd Wright. Liebes’s innovative approach to fabrics used for interiors and soft furnishings came to be defined as the “Liebes Look.” Suffused with color, texture, and shine, this signature style was expressed equally–if not even more robustly–in Liebes’s work in fashion. From her career’s start to its finish, Liebes was creatively engaged with clothing designers and keen to work in the field for its exciting pace–fast enough to keep up with her ideas.
Leigh Wishner is a design historian specializing in modern textiles, fashion, and interiors. Her passion for the entwined subjects of 20th-century fabrics, apparel, and furnishings is shared extensively through lectures, essays, social media, and her vintage business, Totally Textiles. In 2023, she contributed to the multi-award-winning A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes (Yale University Press/Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum), the first major publication devoted to this pioneering American weaver. Leigh is currently writing a book on d.d. & Leslie Tillett, wedded mavericks of mid-century textile design and fabric creation. She is also working on Pattern Play USA: Adventures in Twentieth-Century Textile Design, a book celebrating the diversity and impact of fabrics designed and produced in America.
This free program is presented on Zoom.
Sunday, April 6 1:00-3:00pm
T-shirt Transformation
Give an old tee new life with creative upcycling! This all-ages program offers fun, hands-on projects for everyone. Use our materials or bring your own tee to transform a shirt into a variety of wearable and functional items.
Make and Take Creations: Turn a t-shirt into a dog toy, necklace, superhero cape, and more at our activity stations.
Refresh Your Style: Give your shirt a new look with cutting techniques, guided by fashion and textile artist Emily Popp.
Create Together: Work with the Textile Arts Center on a large-scale fabric collage inspired by Monona Terrace’s windows.
Discover Textile Art: View “Once Upon A Shirt”, a quilt exhibit made from men’s shirts by Madison fiber artist Pam Bell.
Friday, April 25 6:00-9:00pm
Garbage to Glam Design Night
Assemble your team and transform discarded materials into runway-worthy couture! We’ll provide the recycled materials—you bring the vision. With just two hours, your team will design and fabricate a high-fashion creation from the trash pile. Then, it’s time to strut your stuff on the catwalk, showcasing your upcycled masterpiece for a chance to win prizes for the most innovative design.
21+ Cash bar and light refreshments. $30/team of 2-6 people Or $15/individual
“The Wright Look” Fashion Show
Sunday, April 27 6:00-7:00pm
Presented by The Vault, UW Madison’s premiere business, fashion, and creative student organization
Experience the intersection of architecture and fashion, where innovative designs inspired by his legacy take center stage.
Free and open to the public