Dorothy Liebes: Modern Fashion's Starchitect

media release: Hailed as the “Mother of Modern Weaving,” Dorothy Liebes (1897–1972) collaborated with some of the most famous architects and designers of the twentieth century, including producing numerous textiles for Frank Lloyd Wright. Liebes’s innovative approach to fabrics used for interiors and soft furnishings came to be defined as the “Liebes Look.” Suffused with color, texture, and shine, this signature style was expressed equally–if not even more robustly–in Liebes’s work in fashion. From her career’s start to its finish, Liebes was creatively engaged with clothing designers and keen to work in the field for its exciting pace–fast enough to keep up with her ideas.

Leigh Wishner is a design historian specializing in modern textiles and fashion. Her passion for the entwined subjects of 20th-century fabrics, fashions, and interiors is shared extensively through lectures, essays, and through her business, Totally Textiles. In 2023, she contributed to the multi-award-winning “A Dark, A Light, A Bright: The Designs of Dorothy Liebes” (Yale University Press/Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum), the first major publication devoted to this pioneering American weaver.

This free program is presented on Zoom and in partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.