In celebration of the new relationship between Brooklyn Museum’s Costume Collection and the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, teen programs at both museums have joined forces to offer fashion related events for teens.

On Friday, May 14, Brooklyn Museum Apprentices visited The Metropolitan Museum for the teen event, A Conversation with Two Artists: Fashion!  Also attending the event were other teens from across the city. Jaehee Park, a design director at the Gap, and Andrew Bolton, Curator of The Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum discussed their influences and work/life experiences in the fashion world.

Jaehee Park showed off her sketch book and talked about the six t-shirts she designed in conjunction with The Metropolitan’s exhibition American Woman: Fashioning a National Identity.  All six t-shirts are now on sale in Gap stores.  Andrew Bolton talked about exhibition design and made suggestions for those interested in becoming fashion curators. He recommends majoring in art or design history as an undergraduate and then focusing on fashion history in graduate school.

This teen event kicked off the T-shirt Design Competition for Teens being sponsored in conjunction with the exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum. Teens entering the design contest must visit the The Metropolitan Museum’s fashion exhibition and Brooklyn Museum’s exhibition, American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection to gather inspiration and design ideas. The deadline for submissions is June 14, 2010.

Other teen events include a teen night at the Brooklyn Museum and a teen festival at The Metropolitan Museum. The Brooklyn Museum’s Teen Night: Focus on Fashion will feature a dance party, performances, and hands-on art making. The event will be held on Friday, June 4 starting at 5:00 pm in the lobby. Teens are encouraged to come dressed in fashions inspired by their favorite period in American history. The Metropolitan’s Teen Festival: From Suffragist to Sirens celebrates the winners of the T-shirt design competition on Saturday, July 17 from 11:00 am-2:00 pm. Hands-on art making activities will be features at the festival.