Catherine Acosta Nicole K. Rivas
We will be hearing from Catherine Acosta, Product Archivist and Historian for Vans and Nicole K. Rivas, New York-based fashion historian, archivist, researcher, and host of The Archaeology of Fashion: And The Discourse on Secondhand Objects podcast.
Catherine will be presenting on the process of creating the Vans Archive, which was officially established in 2019 at Vans HQ in Costa Mesa, California in addition to highlighting some of her current research on lesser known aspects of the brand’s history.
Nicole will discuss her research which explores the stories embedded within objects where she utilizes visual and material culture to investigate sartorial representations of self-identity.
This virtual event will take place on Wednesday, February 9th at 7:00PM ET. Please register via the Register button at left, and please contact programming@nycarchivists.org with any questions.
Participant bios:
Catherine Acosta is currently the Product Archivist and Historian for the iconic Southern California footwear and action sports brand Vans, a VF Company. Since joining Vans in 2018, she has created the brand’s official archive at their headquarters in Costa Mesa, California and collaborated on numerous projects relating to the brand’s history and cultural heritage. Previously, she was a Teaching Assistant at Parsons School of Design and a Curatorial Fellow at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City. She holds a master’s degree in the history of design from Parsons School of Design and a bachelor’s degree in video art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Nicole K. Rivas is a New York-based fashion historian, archivist, researcher, and host of The Archaeology of Fashion: And The Discourse on Secondhand Objects podcast. She holds a master’s degree in fashion studies from Parsons The New School for Design, and her research focuses on the multifaceted stories that underline themes of identity and autonomy in connection to place and time through fashion. Archiving ephemeral objects, vintage items, and conserved pieces in hybrid collections for companies like The Wardrobe, and Archive, and A Current Affair, and utilizing institutions such as the Levi Strauss & Co. Archives, de Young Costume and Textile Arts Collection, FIDM Museum Collections, and The New School Archives & Special Collections for various projects, her interests include preserving cultural heritage and stories through the garments we wear in this never-ending forward movement of time. Her inquisitiveness is centered on rewriting the narrative surrounding the value of "old clothes." Nicole’s mission is to materialize accessibility for fashion intellects, industry professionals, non-experts, and a global audience not only in the 21st century but for research needs a hundred years from now.
