Exhibition Team

Anna Andreeva (3D Design)
Anna earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Finance and Investment from Baruch College (CUNY). While working in the aluminum industry, she took dressmaking and tailoring classes at FIT, thereby switching to a career in theatrical costume building at one of the key costume shops in New York City. Currently Anna is completing her MA in Fashion and Textile Studies, specializing in costume and textile conservation. Following an internship at the Yeshiva University Museum (NYC), she is working on her graduate thesis in conservation of a modern tapestry from that collection. As a weaver, dressmaker, and artist working with a variety of materials, Anna finds it fascinating to unravel the narrative of human experience from objects by “reading” their construction down to the elemental make-up. To Anna, conservation is a way of exploring, learning from, preserving, and sharing the fiber heritage of humanity.

Angela Catechis-Lolos (Public Programming)
Angela earned her BS in Marketing from St. John’s University. She has interned at the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum and the Nassau County Museum of Art, focusing on educational programs. She is completing her MA in Fashion and Textile Studies, specializing in late 19th and early 20th century European costume. Angela is currently working on her graduate thesis, “Continuity, Revival, and Transformation of Costumes from the Greek Diapontian Islands to the Diaspora.”

Faith Cooper (Curator)
Faith Cooper holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Art History and Museum Professions from FIT and has been working in the education department at The Museum at FIT since 2014. Her past work experiences include Vogue, Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt Museum, Christie’s, Condé Nast International, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Most recently, Faith completed the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Museum Education Practicum and serves on the Conference Committee board for the NYC Museum Educators Roundtable. She is currently working on her graduate thesis, “Mao Mania: The Fantasy of the Cultural Revolution.”

Molly Hartvigsen (Writing)
Molly earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Family Studies, with an emphasis in clothing construction, and a minor in business from Brigham Young University. She has held internships at the Ukrainian Museum, Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection at Drexel University, and at The Wardrobe which houses Tom Ford’s Archive. Molly is currently completing her MA in Fashion and Textiles Studies at FIT, specializing in the curation of costume and textiles. Her qualifying paper is on swimsuit designer Rose Marie Reid’s impact on the swimsuit industry throughout the late 1930s-60s.

Brynnea Irvine (Writing)
Brynnea hails from Los Angeles and now enjoys living in New York, where she is completing her MA in Fashion and Textile Studies at FIT. Her current specialization in historic costume and curatorial practices is a natural progression from her Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeology from the University of California San Diego. Brynnea’s interest in fashion history was piqued by volunteer work at the FIDM Museum in Los Angeles and furthered by an internship in the Costume Stock department at the Seattle Opera. As part of her graduate studies, she interned at the Robert and Penny Fox Historic Costume Collection at Drexel University. Brynnea is in the process of writing her qualifying paper, which analyzes the power and influence of the fashion press on the appearance and reappearance of the Leg-of-Mutton sleeve throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Linsey Labson (Graphic Design)
Linsey earned her bachelor’s degree in history from McDaniel College, with a focus on 20th-century American social history. She has held professional and intern positions at The Museum of The City of New York, Coty Inc., The Guggenheim Museum, the American Society for Microbiology, The National Museum of Women in the Arts, and The Walters Art Gallery. Currently she is interning in the conservation lab at The Museum at FIT. This spring Linsey will complete her Masters degree in Fashion and Textile Studies, specializing in costume and textile conservation. She is currently writing her qualifying paper on the history of the House of Babani.

Sara Ludueña (3D Design)
Sara moved to New York from Austin, Texas in order to complete a Master’s degree in Fashion and Textile Studies at FIT. She came to this program after studying architecture and working in historic preservation for several years throughout the state of Texas. Sara brings her architectural design experience to this exhibition, working as part of the 3D design team for this project. In school, she is specializing in textile conservation and intends to complete her qualifying paper on the conservation and mounting of a set of 19th century Chinese ceremonial armor held by the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Carol McLennan (Curator)
Carol holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts, concentrating on video, performance, and installation art, as well as a certificate in painting from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. While she continues to make art, she has held a variety of jobs working as a lighting designer and technician for touring bands, production internships with New York City Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet, a gallery assistant at Artists Space, and an artist’s assistant for the painter Alex Grey. For the past thirteen years she has worked in wardrobe departments for film and television productions such as Bull, Emergence, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. Her qualifying paper will focus on the development of the New York Dress Institute, about which you will learn a little bit in this exhibit.

Christianna Rice (Public Programming)
Originally from Rochester, New York, Christianna spent most of her life in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She currently holds a Bachelors of Science from Virginia State University in Family and Consumer Sciences with a concentration in Textiles, Apparel, Merchandising and Management. Having always enjoyed the solitude found only in museums, she is currently working towards a Master of Arts in Fashion and Textile Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, specializing in fashion conservation. Her research for her qualifying paper concerns print media advertisements and their influence on Black Culture as a means to better understand her world view. She is also hosting a panel concerning Diversity in Fashion Media in regards to this exhibition.

Michelle Porrazzo (Exhibition Coordinator)
Michelle Porrazzo earned her BFA in Fashion Design, specializing in Special Occasion and Bridal-wear from the Fashion Institute of Technology. She has interned at Special Collections and College Archives at the Fashion Institute of Technology, focusing on processing the Adele Simpson archive. She is completing her MA in Fashion and Textile Studies, specializing in costume and textile conservation. Her qualifying paper focuses on the life, achievements, and legacy of Mary Brooks Picken.

Kirstin Purtich (Graphic Design)
Kirstin holds a BA in the History of Art and Architecture from Brown University and an MA in Decorative Arts, Design History, and Material Culture from the Bard Graduate Center. She has contributed to exhibitions at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Bard Graduate Center Gallery, and The Richard H. Driehaus Museum. Most recently, she was part of the curatorial team at the American Federation of Arts, where she organized traveling exhibitions of fashion, architecture, and design. In addition to beginning her conservation-focused thesis at FIT, she is currently working as a consultant for the FIDM Museum exhibition Sporting Fashion: Outdoor Girls 1800 to 1960.

Bobbi Wall (Exhibition Coordinator)
Bobbi earned her BA in Anthropology with a minor in French and Studio Arts from the University of Pittsburgh. After spending a decade working in Fashion as a buyer, Bobbi started her own vintage business with Black Lodge Vintage. She is currently working toward an MA in Fashion and Textile Studies at FIT, specializing in Fashion archiving and collection management. She intends to complete a qualifying paper about cataloguing and archiving Franklin County, NY’s large costume collection.