What does a fashion curator do? What is the best part of being a curator? Ask A Curator Day, started in 2010 by MuseumNext founder Jim Richardson, allows the public to engage with curators at institutions across the globe using the social media hashtag #AskACurator. On September 16, the @scadfash social audience addressed questions to SCAD FASH Museum of Fashion + Film executive director Alexandra Sachs. Here are five memorable exchanges from Ask A Curator Day.

1. How do curators decide which designers they will invite for an exhibition at SCAD FASH?

Alexandra Sachs: "SCAD FASH curators work collaboratively to identify artists and designers who reflect the diversity of our student body and community, and who align with our mission to celebrate fashion as an artform and conduit of identity. Curators and staff oversee fashion-focused exhibitions, events, and programs that resonate across the university. Our curators also organize exhibitions at the SCAD Museum of Art, plan an annual summer exhibition at SCAD Lacoste, and assist with the SCAD FASHION runway shows. 


2. What does your typical day look like?


AS: "Every day is dynamic and ever-changing! Whether I’m collaborating with artists, designers, and galleries on exhibitions and events, scrolling the latest fashion news, media, and art books, or writing texts for catalogs and digital publications, I’m constantly seeking new information and connections to bring the best programming to SCAD."



3. What are the most challenging moments of your day?


AS: "Working in a creative field requires adaptability and a willingness to change while still working toward your overall vision. When I find something frustrating — a challenging installation perhaps — it’s often a sign that I need to consider different perspectives and reevaluate my approach to realize my goals.

"

4. What do you love about your job?


AS: "I am extremely fortunate to work with incredible artists, designers, professors, and colleagues. We’ve presented so many spectacular exhibitions in the past five years, including work by Guo Pei, Pierre Cardin, and the indomitable Ane Crabtree, who designed costumes for "The Handmaid’s Tale." For me the most memorable part of the job is the people I meet along the way. They make the work gratifying."

5. What kind of university should someone attend if they’re interested in becoming a curator?

AS: "For a fashion curator, it’s essential to have a solid foundation in fashion history. It also helps to have knowledge of contemporary fine art and art history. SCAD offers a minor in museum studies as part of our art history degree program, enabling students to gain practical experience in our university museums, and interact with museum professionals across different disciplines. If you’re looking for a hands-on, project-based learning experience, SCAD is the place to be!"

SCAD FASH is excited to share what happens before, during, and after an exhibition is on view. We’re expanding the visitor experience by making more behind-the-scenes content, providing a closer look at specific garments on view and in the collection, in a new IGTV series coming this October on @scadfash. Please connect by sending us a DM if you have any questions. We hope to see you at SCAD FASH and for a virtual program soon!

Plan your next SCAD FASH visit. Museum Hours: Thursday–Saturday, 11 a.m.–5 p.m.

This Thursday, July 23, at 6 p.m., join Alexandra Sachs, executive director of SCAD FASH, for a virtual tour of Derrick Adams' exhibition Patrick Kelly, The Journey. Hear the stories behind the exhibition as Sachs walks you through Adams' abstract collages and sculptural works, which incorporate Kelly's vintage clothing patterns, iconic fabrics, bold and colorful geometric forms, and embellishments. Sacchs will also discuss how Kelly's connection to the city of Atlanta enriched the exhibition through the loan of a very special collection to the museum.

Patrick Kelly, The Journey emerges from artist Derrick Adams' extensive exploration into the archive of the influential African-American fashion designer Patrick Kelly (1954–1990). Kelly was the first American to be admitted to the Chambre syndicale du prêt-à-porter, the prestigious governing body of the French ready-to-wear industry. Adams immersed himself in the Kelly archive at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in New York, where he discovered a trove of correspondence, sketches, swatches, photographs, and other memorabilia, including a proposal for a book about Kelly's life written by his friend, the esteemed poet Maya Angelou.

Derrick Adams on Patrick Kelly:

He was an artist, a performer, and things that I think a lot of designers may not necessarily consider themselves today. He was the art.

Although the works in the exhibition focus more on my work, his influence on me, looking through his archive, we were fortunate enough to have his community. A lot of the models he used were from Atlanta. He traveled to New York and Paris, but he always kept his community that first supported him.

The things that were in the archive that I was more drawn to as a visual artist were his really rough drawings that influence the making of the collage works and the sculptural works that are in the show. I decided to incorporate some of his clothing patterns into my collages to talk about fashion, to talk about the form, to talk about the body, without using the figure.

It's great to have this show here at SCAD, in the fashion department, in the museum. It all started for Patrick here in Atlanta. I think he would have loved to have had the opportunity to present his work in an institution like this. I think as a young designer, you never think where your work is going to go. Or how many people you're going to inspire. Being well known or being acknowledged, of course, as any creative person, you want to have the industry that you are a part of acknowledge your work. But I think that he would have done it regardless. Because I think he was very much into thinking about even the women in his family as a motivation to what he made, and what they would want to wear.

For me, when I think about him, I think about this person who was just unstoppable.

Register here for the virtual tour of Derrick Adams' Patrick Kelly, The Journey.