The Museum celebrated the opening of two new fashion collection exhibits, one of which honors the Kent State School of Fashion’s founders and another the style of Hollywood legend Katharine Hepburn.
During the celebration, retiring museum director Sarah Rogers was honored, and incoming director Sarah Spinner Liska, Ph.D., was introduced.
President Todd Diacon joked that having new employees with the same name as their predecessors was much appreciated by “aging college presidents.” He thanked Rogers for her service that helped to raise the profile of the museum.
Rogers thanked the president for being as supportive of the arts as most university presidents are of athletics.
“Dazzling Day and Night” is the new exhibit that honors Shannon Rodgers and Jerry Silverman, who helped to found Kent State’s School of Fashion, which bears their name, and the museum. They donated their collection of fashion, more than 4,000 pieces, in 1982 to help found the museum.
The exhibit, in the museum’s Higbee Gallery, runs through July 28 and features a collection of Rodgers' and Silverman’s designs from their Seventh Avenue, New York City, business, Jerry Silverman, Inc.
In 1959 Silverman and Shannon established their own company, Jerry Silverman, Inc. which became one the most successful manufacturers of women's better dresses in the industry through the 1960s and 1970s. Their showroom on Seventh Avenue in New York City was a favorite of clients and buyers for the timeliness of the ever-changing collections and the hospitality of the designer, Rodgers, and businessman, Silverman.
The collection on display was curated by Rogers, her last collection as museum director. Her retirement is effective June 30, after six years at the helm.
The new Hepburn exhibit, “The Hepburn Style: Katharine and Her Designers,” will be on display through May 25, 2025, and focuses on Hepburn’s style, including her signature khaki slacks, as well as the designers who dressed her for the movies. The costumes were fashionable, contemporary garments that blurred the line between costume and fashion, and women in the audience wanted to emulate the styles they saw.
A Hollywood icon, Hepburn collected the many costumes she wore on stage, in films and on television. In her will, she directed that the collection go to an educational institution, and the Kent State Museum was the lucky recipient.
Spinner Liska was Introduced during the event as the museum’s new director. Originally from Canada, Spinner Liska has called Northeast Ohio home for the past 11 years. She holds a doctorate in history from Yale University, where she received the Hans Gatzke Prize and a juris doctorate from Yale Law School. She was awarded a Golieb Fellowship in Legal History at New York University Law School and holds a bachelor’s degree in the history of art and french and a master's in humanistic studies from Johns Hopkins University. Spinner Liska is admitted to practice law in Ohio and is a member of the Ohio State Bar Association.