CAA News Today
Valerie Steele, Director and Chief Curator of the Museum at FIT, to Deliver CAA115 Convocation Keynote Address
posted by CAA — October 26, 2026
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We are delighted to announce that Valerie Steele will deliver the Convocation keynote address at the CAA 115th Annual Conference!
Steele is Director and Chief Curator of The Museum at FIT, where she has organized more than twenty-five exhibitions since 1997, including The Corset: Fashioning the Body, London Fashion, Gothic: Dark Glamour; A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk, Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color, Paris, Capital of Fashion, and Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis.
She is also the author or editor of more than thirty books, including Paris Fashion: A Cultural History, Women of Fashion, Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power, The Corset, Gothic: Dark Glamour, Dress, Dreams, and Desire: A History of Fashion and Psychoanalysis, and Fashion Designers A-Z: The Collection of The Museum at FIT. Her books have been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. In addition, she is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, the first scholarly journal in fashion studies.
Steele possesses a gift for communicating serious scholarship to a general audience. She has appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and Undressed: The Story of Fashion. Instrumental in the creation of the modern field of fashion studies, she has raised awareness of the cultural significance of fashion. Described in The Washington Post as one of “fashion’s brainiest women” and by fashion critic Suzy Menkes as “the Freud of fashion,” she was listed as one of the “People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry” in the Business of Fashion 500. Steele holds a PhD in Modern European Cultural and Intellectual History from Yale.
CAA115 Convocation will be held on Wednesday, February 3, 6:00–7:30 p.m. ET at the New York Hilton Midtown. The event will also be livestreamed via YouTube.
Register now for the CAA 115th Annual Conference, February 3–6, 2027!
CAA Signs On to ACLS Statement Responding to the US Secretary of Education’s National Call to Action
posted by CAA — August 13, 2026
CAA has signed on to a statement issued by the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) in response to US Secretary of Education Linda McMahon’s August 3 National Call to Action. In the statement, ACLS affirms the value of the humanities and humanistic social sciences and calls for continued public investment in higher education.
While acknowledging the importance of any efforts to strengthen accountability, affordability, and open inquiry, the ACLS statement expresses concern that recent federal actions have undermined research, teaching, and academic freedom, underscoring “…this administration’s open contempt for America’s world-renowned system of higher education.” The statement argues that public trust in higher education is best strengthened through support for the institutions that generate, preserve, and share knowledge, and defends the essential role of the humanities and humanistic social sciences in American education and democracy.
“Our world is one of rapid change and wicked problems, from climate change and public health to the challenge of new technologies, notably artificial intelligence. Secretary McMahon calls for academic programs that meet ‘urgent workforce needs’ and advance American security and economic interests. Many business leaders point out that a liberal arts education, which has the humanities and humanistic social sciences at its core, is the best preparation for grasping complex situations, handling change, understanding many different types of people, and communicating clearly… surely she [Secretary McMahon] knows that calling for ‘high-return’ degrees, as she does later in her memo, frequently serves as an excuse to close academic programs in the arts and humanities – despite studies showing their role in improving resilience and mental health.”
CAA stands in solidarity with ACLS and remains committed—in service to our mission—to championing higher education, scholarly inquiry, and the arts and humanities as vital foundations of an informed, engaged, and thriving society.
Read the full statement here.
Support CAA using Amazon Smile
posted by CAA — June 22, 2021
Did you know that you can make a gift to CAA using Amazon Smile? Amazon donates 0.5% of the price of eligible smile.amazon.com purchases to the organization selected by customers — at no cost to you. Our charity link will automatically direct you to Amazon, where you will be asked to confirm that you would like your Amazon purchases to support CAA.
As a 110-year-old organization, we are proud to serve a global community of artists, designers, students, and scholars through advocacy, intellectual engagement, and a commitment to the diversity of practices and practitioners. During this pivotal moment it is more important than ever that we support our visual arts community. We hope that you will join us in our mission and help us bring our programs and publications to life by using Amazon Smile today.