Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum of FIT, has been named the 2022 recipient of the National Arts Club Medal of Honor for her achievement in fashion.
Steele is the first fashion historian to receive the honor.
The club will present her with the honor at a reception at the NAC clubhouse in Gramercy Park on April 22. The evening will include remarks by Ralph Rucci, Daphne Guinness and Robin Givhan, senior critic-at-large for The Washington Post.
“A familiar face at our club and all around New York — the fashion capital of the world — Valerie Steele has spent decades educating audiences on all aspects of fashion,” said Alice Palmisano, president of the NAC. “It is our privilege to recognize her extraordinary insight and expertise.”
Since 1997, Steel has curated or co-curated more than 25 exhibitions, including “The Corset: Fashioning the Body”; “Gothic: Dark Glamour”; “Ralph Rucci: The Art of Weightlessness”; “Daphne Guinness”; “A Queer History of Fashion”; “Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty Powerful Color,” and “Paris, Capital of Fashion.”
She is also the author or co-author of more than two dozen books, including, “Paris Fashion: A Cultural History,” “Women of Fashion” and “Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power.”
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“Fashion is such a fascinating, multifaceted subject,” said Steele, who holds a Ph.D. in cultural history from Yale University. “I’m grateful to the National Arts Club for this honor. It is always a pleasure to spend time with knowledgeable people who appreciate the cultural significance of fashion.”
Previous honorees for fashion have included Geoffrey Beene, Carolina Herrera, Arnold Scaasi, Patricia Field, Norma Kamali, Iris Apfel, Narciso Rodriguez and Anna Sui, among others.