Initiatives in Arts and Culture (IAC), a New York City–based event organizer that specializes in conferences and exhibitions focused on “fabrication, connoisseurship, cultural patrimony, cultural preservation, and the future of culture,” according to its website, will host the 20th edition of its New York Fashion, Jewelry + Design Conference: Vortex Nov. 8–9 at the Museum of the City of New York.
The Vortex conference explores “the communications revolution and its impact on the evolution, design, and sale of contemporary fashion and accessories,” according to a statement on the event. And its 20th edition will “focus on change, possibility, uncertainty, and how it relates to fashion,” along with issues relating to “the meeting of cutting-edge technology, collaborations, and the roles of traditional versus new media.”
Whew, that’s a lot. Even for two days. But Vortex’s speaker lineup—a roll call of longtime New York City fashion veterans—will surely be game to turn over such heady topics.
Panelists include New York City–based jewelers Deirdre Featherstone and Alexandra Mor, IMG Models president Ivan Bart, fashion designers Jason Wu and Rebecca Minkoff, celebrity stylist Robert Verdi, Intermix president Jyothi Rao, fashion journalist and author Constance C.R. White, and Accessories Council president Karen Giberson.
IAC’s primary activities are conferences, publications, and exhibitions that take an interdisciplinary approach. Particular areas of emphasis for the organization include American painting, “precious substances,” the history of frames, the Arts and Crafts movement, the influence of Asian cultures on American fine and decorative art, and the history and future of fashion.
IAC also hosts a Gold Conference every April that explores the precious metal’s inherent and emotional value, specifically, “how that value reflects gold’s place as a repository of our hopes and fears and, more practically, how market value is established and assured.”
Top: Featherstone Fine Jewelry platinum, diamond line tops, and neon blue tourmaline kite bellies with diamond and green tourmaline drops (photo courtesy of Featherstone Fine Jewelry)
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