Palm Beach Illustrated

Featured in the exhibition are interactive touchscreen displays that illustrate a timeline of American fashion and recognize the nearly 600 designers who have been members of the CFDA over the last five decades. Each living designer selected to participate in the exhibition has chosen a single object or ensemble that best represents his or her impact on the fashion world. Work by historical CFDA members have been selected by exhibition curators, Patricia Mears, deputy director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, and Fred Dennis, the FIT museum’s senior curator.

    “American designers have always had impact on how people dress,” said CFDA president, Diane von Furstenberg. “In honor of that creativity and in celebration of the CFDA’s 50th anniversary, we are proud to present, in partnership with the Boca Raton Museum of Art, an exhibit that represents the tremendous work of our members for the last five decades. ‘Impact’ was the one word that came to mind immediately – it is so strong and defining of our individual and collective influence that we knew right away that our exhibit would be called Impact: 50 Years of the CFDA.”

   Among the designers included in the exhibition are Michael Kors, Donna Karan, Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta, Zac Posen, Alexander Wang, Norma Kamali, Diane von Furstenberg, Vera Wang and Thom Browne.

IMPACT: 50 Years of the CFDA at the Boca Raton Museum of Art is sponsored in part by Neiman Marcus and Van Cleef & Arpels.