Student Bios
Parker Ahmad (Display Advisor) holds a B.S. in Fashion Merchandising from Marist College with a minor in American Studies and concentrations in Fashion Promotion and Product Development. She developed her interest in fashion studies at a young age, which prompted her to move onto higher education at FIT after graduating from Marist. While at FIT, she has held various internships in collections management and archiving roles. She enjoys working directly with objects and has recently gained interest in the ways in which they are displayed. She hopes to continue these passions throughout her future career.
Lauren Bell (Media Manager) is a second-year graduate student in the Fashion and Textile Studies Master's program at the Fashion Institute of Technology, specializing in decolonial theory within museums and fashion history. With two years of experience in higher education, Lauren has focused on event planning, social media management, DEI initiatives, and leadership development. She also serves as the Social Media Assistant for The Fashion and Race Database, where she creates content and publishes articles aimed at making decolonial history more accessible. Lauren's primary professional goal is to democratize education and scholarship, ensuring they are accessible to a broader public.
Jean Rafael Colón Guerra (Design Coordinator) (He/him) received his BA in History and Art Theory with a minor in Economics from the University of Puerto Rico: Mayagüez in 2023. Currently he is doing a M.A. in the Fashion Institute of Technology's Fashion and Textiles Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice program, with a focus on textile conservation. His particular interests include collection management, archival enclosure construction, mount making, material culture as adornment, and the concretization of colonialism in Latin American dress. He has been an intern working with large scale textiles, as well as archiving textile collections. He was also an apprentice for archival box making.
Abby Cottier (Editor/Writer) received her BA in Anthropology with a concentration in Archaeology from Northwestern University in 2019. She worked in costuming in the Chicago film industry for three years before moving to New York to pursue an MA in Fashion and Textile Studies at FIT. Abby is an aspiring conservator with particular interests in material analysis and the conservation of textiles from indigenous and other marginalized communities, as well as repatriation processes and engaging source communities in conservation.
Nico Frederick (Lead Researcher) (they/them) received an AAS degree in Fashion Design and a BA in Art History and Museum Professions, both from FIT, with minors in Fashion History, Women and Gender Studies, and Film Studies. They have previous experience working within the realm of digital humanities, interning for FIT's Fashion History Timeline, the Ruth Finley Fashion Calendar Research Database, and the 19th Century Dress & Textiles Reframed Network. They served as a curatorial intern and research assistant to the curator of Decorative Arts at the New-York Historical Society and previously worked to catalog the audio-visual collection at FIT's Special Collections and College Archives. Their research interests are focused on the intersection between dress, gender, and identity as well as the history of cross-dressing.
Cora Harrington (Writer) (she/her) Cora has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Anthropology from Agnes Scott College. In her former career, she was an intimate apparel expert and author of In Intimate Detail: How to Choose, Wear, and Love Lingerie. Cora was regularly featured in publications such as The New York Times, Bloomberg, WWD, Vogue, Business of Fashion, and The Wall Street Journal. Her writing credits include Allure, Elle, and Teen Vogue. In 2022, she retired to begin her studies at FIT in 2023. Cora's most recent research, "What is a Worth Worth?: Developing a Methodology of Historical to Modern Day Price Conversions for Dress" was presented in Fashion Studies Network's "Unraveling Fashion Narratives" symposium at Parsons in June 2024. She is currently interning as a researcher in the Special Collections and Rare Books division of the FIT library. As a curatorial major, her primary research interests include a history of fairy tales through the lens of textiles and developing curriculum on the history of lingerie.
Sandy Ing (Education and Public Programming) (she/hers) received a B.S. in Environmental Management and minor in Theatre Arts from California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, and has an extensive background and passion for the performing arts and community engagement in cultural organizations. She has previous experience as an archivist for The Metropolitan Opera and The Wardrobe and as a visitor services representative for the San Jose Museum of Quilt and Textiles, and she additionally assists in social media for the Fashion History Timeline. Her research interests include homeland and diasporic East and Southeast Asian dress and their intersection with theories of race, nation building, and cultural identity.
Flora Keene (Exhibition Designer) is an emerging costume and textile conservator with a special interest in costume mounting. She holds a B.A. in Humanities, the Arts, and Social Thought with a concentration in Arts and Aesthetics from Bard College Berlin. Her interest in fashion and textile studies began at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she completed a high school internship within the textile conservation department. Since then, Flora has worked in numerous galleries, non profit artist organizations, and museums, most notably the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy. In tandem with her studies at FIT, Flora is an intern at the textile conservation lab at Saint John the Divine, where she works to treat tapestries, needleworks, flags, and more.
Zoe Klipstein (Registrar) has an Associate's degree from Suffolk Community College in Studio Art and a Bachelor's degree from FIT in Art History and Museum Professions, with a minor in Fashion History. Because of AHMP, Zoe was also able to work closely with The Morgan Library as a student ambassador, where she helped put together a costume contest based on the exhibit Imperial Splendor. At FIT, she was a founding member and Vice President of the Art History and Museum Professions Association. After graduating from FIT, she worked in attractions at Walt Disney World for 8 months. This past summer, Zoe was a collections management intern at The Long Island Museum where she was able to help organize their costume collection. Her research interests include the intersection of alternative fashion and performance costume.
Rina Nkulu (Writer) received her BA in English and Art History from the University of Arizona. Her work has been published in Vulture, 032c, SSENSE, Real Life Magazine, Teen Vogue, Rookie, and others. In her time at FIT, she has completed both conservation and curatorial coursework and interned at the Ukrainian Museum. Her primary research interests as a conservator include contemporary fashion, modern and technical synthetic fabrics, and utilitarian clothing.
Zachary Portnoy (Research Manager) graduated from CUNY Queens College, receiving a B.A in Textiles and Apparel with a minor in Art History. Zachary has worked in both library and museum spaces; he acted as the primary stacks associate for the Benjamin S. Rosenthal Library, and he spent two years volunteering for the Metropolitan Museum of Art through the Met Collective. His current professional pursuits are within the luxury handbag industry. Zachary works for Madison Avenue Couture, assisting in the authentication process for vintage and contemporary handbags, shoes, and jewelry. During his time at FIT, Zachary has fostered a deep research interest in fashioning the Western witch. His primary focuses are the witch in film, early modern witch-trials, and the dressed identity of the witch.
Lucy Postal (Content Advisor) (she/her) received her B.A. in History and Theater from Vassar College. Her life-long interest in historic fashion and living history museums were the inspiration for her undergraduate thesis, "From Hostess to Interpreter: An Investigation into Colonial Williamsburg's Evolving Portrayal of History Throughout the Twentieth Century," which has led to her current research on the role of women's historic dress in modern depictions and interpretations of the past. She interned at the Vassar College Costume Collection and the Locust Grove Estate in Poughkeepsie, NY, and currently works as an assistant cataloguer at the Leonard A. Lauder Estée Lauder Companies Archives. In the future, Lucy hopes to continue working with historic garments in fashion archives and museum collections.
Emily Prunty, (Visual Graphic Designer) holds an A.S. in Photography from Nassau Community College and a B.A. in Art History from Hofstra University. Her interest in textile arts was sparked while curating an exhibition of Uzbek suzani textiles at Hofstra, leading her to pursue an MA in Fashion and Textile Studies at FIT. She blends academic knowledge with practical expertise gained from a life-long hobby of antique collecting and restoration, and is now on track to receive a degree in textile conservation. Her special interest lies in the kimono and school uniforms of Japanese girls from the early 20th century.
Summer Rye (Project Manager) received her BA in Art History and Fashion Media, with a minor in Journalism from Southern Methodist University in Dallas. She began her career in fashion social media, but quickly found her passion for curation. For over three years, as assistant to the Curator of Fashion Design at Phoenix Art Museum, Summer supported the collection of over 9,000 objects spanning nearly 500 years. She has contributed to six exhibitions and counting including Generation Paper and Barbie®: A Cultural Icon on view at the Museum of Art and Design in New York City. She has a special interest in Victorian and Edwardian cosmetics and beauty practices.
Katherine Shark (Conservation Advisor) received her BFA in Fiber Arts and Humanistic Studies, with a minor in Experimental Fashion and Art History, from the Maryland Institute College of Art. She worked as a sewing instructor, designer, and in libraries for three years before coming to FIT for her masters degree in textile conservation. At FIT, she has interned at the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, focusing on the material identification of a Dorothy Liebes apron, and at the Museum at FIT, recreating a 1948 suit to be an interactive exhibition element. Katherine is deeply interested in synthetic materials and coated textiles, as well as flat pattern making and traditional tailoring techniques.
Audrey Teuber (Publications Coordinator) is a higher-education fundraising and operations professional with a passion for fashion history. She is currently the Assistant Manager of Advancement Operations at the Fashion Institute of Technology Foundation and is pursuing her M.A. in Fashion and Textile Studies at FIT. Formally, she graduated with a bachelor's degree in Art History and has worked at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco with additional experience from the Fashion and Race Database and the curatorial team at the NYPL for Performing Arts. She currently lives in New York City.
Kristin Winters (Digital Media Advisor) holds a Bachelor of Art in Fashion Design from Savannah College of Art and Design. While developing a career in operations and supply chain, Kristin was a docent at the Getty Villa and a house manager at Hollyhock House, a house museum built by Frank Lloyd Wright. Kristin looks forward to joining her career experience with a keen interest in the role fashion and textiles play in human history through the Fashion and Textiles Studies program at FIT.