Serial Style: The Business of Being Irene Castle: A Virtual Presentation by Denise N. Green
Denise N. Green will present on film star, fashion innovator, and businesswoman Irene Castle in this lecture organized by the Wharton Studio Museum and co-sponsored by the PHI and The History Center in Tompkins County.
Irene Castle was already a household name when she arrived in Ithaca in 1916 to film the first ten episodes of Patria, directed and produced by the Wharton, Inc. Studio. Castle was not only an excellent dancer and fashion innovator, but an astute businesswoman who knew the value of branding and industry connections. She was voted the most popular motion picture actress in 1916, widely considered the “best dressed woman in the world,” and the first film star to boast an eponymous fashion line. This virtual program will be moderated by Diana Riesman, Executive Director of the Wharton Studio Museum.
Denise Green is Associate Professor of Fashion Design in the College of Human Ecology, where she also serves as Director for the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection. Professor Green has curated a number of award-winning fashion exhibitions including “The Biggest Little Fashion City: Ithaca and Silent Film Style:” a collaboration with the Wharton Studio Museum, in 2016. She has recently co-authored the forthcoming book Fashion and Cultural Studies which will be published by Bloomsbury and available in print December 2021.
Register via Zoom @ https://us02web.zoom.us/j/824636923
The event is co-sponsored by The History Center, the Cornell Fashion and Textile Collection, and The Public History Initiative, as part of the 10th Annual Silent Movie Month.
Photo: Irene Castle sitting on a desk in a dance costume, inscribed by Castle to Mame Hennessy. Ithaca movie industry photograph collection, #2959. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.