Costume Council event celebrates TV fashion with Hal Rubenstein and Fern Mallis

The Costume Council of the Chicago History Museum scored again hosting yet another wonderful event, this time with two of the top insiders of the fashion world. Hal Rubenstein, longtime fashion director, consultant, media personality, and author appeared in conversation with Fern Mallis, award-winning creator of New York Fashion Week. The event was held at the Women’s Athletic Club on March 6 and co-chaired by Toni Canada and Dusty Stemer.

During the hour-long interview, attendees enjoyed a thorough, informative and incredibly funny interview that explored television’s influence on everyday style throughout the past 70 years. The discussion centered around Rubenstein’s new book, “Dressing the Part: Television’s Most Stylish Shows.” Rubenstein and Mallis led the crowd through a joyful romp of TV fashion and its impact on style today.

The book begins with fashions from the hit series “Brideshead Revisited” and goes all the way through to “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” In between, we see trends from “Mary Tyler Moore Show,” “The Lucy Show,” “Downton Abbey,” “The Crown,” “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour,” “Sex and the City” and so many others.

The audience was riveted to the conversation onstage that was also accompanied by a carefully curated video featuring the fashions and TV shows mentioned in the book.

Event sponsors were Liz Stiffel, Karen Gray-Krehbiel, Pamella Capitanini (who was also champagne sponsor), Erica Meyer, Randolph Street Market, Noren Ungaretti, Lisa Warshauer and Richard and Diane Weinberg. Table sponsors were Shelley and William Farley and Shauna Montgomery.