Fashioning Identity with Lynne Dixon-Speller, Miranda Levy and Linda Marcus

Fashion is a language and, whether you shout at the world about who you are in bold red and leather jackets or whisper in a soft harmony of pastels and feminine silhouettes, we all make choices that reveal our identity. As a fashion designer, Hedy Strnad helped her clients feel more like their authentic selves through her beautiful fashions in the 1930s.

Explore how fashion and design reveal a person’s identity and how designers Lynne Dixon-Speller, Miranda Levy and Linda Marcus express themselves and transform clients with their own personal fashion identities.

Museum Members $7 | Non-members $12

Doors open 20 min prior to the lecture.

Lynne R. Dixon-Speller, Dean of Academics at Edessa College of Design, has taught for over thirty years in the field of Apparel Design at Mount Mary University and The Art Institute of Wisconsin where she was promoted to department chair for both apparel design and fashion marketing. Lynne has been a designer since her teenage years, winning international design competitions as an educator, and contributing to several museum exhibitions, most notably, the Smithsonian Museum of African-American History and Culture, in the permanent collection. She has a strong interest in fantasy and statement garments. In business, she was a bridal and swimwear designer, operating under the trade name of Lynear Systems for thirty-three years.

Miranda K. Levy has been a featured artist in several fashion and art shows throughout Milwaukee. In 2013 Levy was selected as a contestant on the Lifetime television production, Project Runway, season 12. Her concepts are inspired by her unique experiences as a female serving in the military. These events influenced her functional, uniform-like yet graceful designs for civilian women. Her exclusive garments amplify the strength and confidence already present in the bold women who wear them.

Linda Marcus is a storyteller. Her medium for telling stories has changed from words and video – when she was a TV news journalist – to fabric and thread. Marcus’ designs are often nature-inspired and center on identity, emotions and relationships. In 2016, she was selected as a contestant on the Lifetime television production, Project Runway, season 15. Marcus’ designs have also been featured in the Museum of Wisconsin Art’s 2017 ‘Contemporary Threads: Wisconsin Fashion,’ just one section of the ‘A State of Fashion’ exhibition.

Offered in connection with Stitching Histories From the Holocaust, an exhibit on display at the Jewish Museum Milwaukee, April 8 – September 16, 2018.