Attention Cornell Students:

We invite Cornell students to apply for the Charlotte A. Jirousek Fellowship in the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection (CF+TC). Award winners will be given the opportunity to conduct research about a topic of their choice and curate a fashion exhibition in the Human Ecology Display Cases, located on Level T of the Human Ecology Building during the 2022-23 academic year. The late Dr. Charlotte Jirousek was the curator of the CF+TC (formerly the Cornell Costume Collection) and Associate Professor in the Department of Fiber Science and Apparel Design, 1992 – 2014. Professor Jirousek was passionate about integrating the CF+TC into the educational experience of Cornell students.  During her time at Cornell, she mentored hundreds of students who conducted research, curated exhibitions, and were employed in the CF+TC.  Thanks to a the generous support of alumni and friends, we will be able to support as many as two fellowships in the 2022-23 academic year. The student(s) selected will be awarded $4500 to mount a fashion exhibition during the 2022-23 academic year; therefore, only freshman, sophomores, juniors, and graduate students who do not plan to complete their degrees this academic year are eligible to apply.

 

Previous Charlotte Jirousek Fellowship recipients include:

• Danielle Harris ’22 (2021-2022) Fashioning Mental Health (tentative title, funded by Laura Bowman Gray) – to open May 2022
• Sophie Wang, ’21 (2020-2021) The Prep (May 8 – August 15, 2020)
• Audrey Perlman, ’21 (2020-2021) Clothing Amidst Conflict: Womenswear During WWII (May 1 – September 15, 2021)
• Athanasiou Geolas, PhD ’22 (2019-20) Standards for a New Womanhood: Gender, Race, and Expertise (December 7, 2020 – February 26, 2021)
• Sian Brown, MA ’20 (2019-20) Black Excellence: Fashion that Prevails (February 12 – May 26, 2020)
• Tori Pietsch, ’19 (2018 – 2019) Revolution and Restraint: Reconstructing Masculinity Through Menswear (May 6 – September 1, 2019)
• Rachel Doran, ’19 (2017-2018) Go Figure: The Fashion Silhouette & the Female Form (November 2017 – May 2018)
• Kennedy Rauh, ’17 (2016-2017) Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue (February – July 2017)
• Samantha Stern, ’17 (2015-2016) Heavy Metal: The Malleability of Fashion (September – December 2015)

Eligibility: Cornell University students (freshmen, sophomores, juniors and graduate students).  Seniors and graduate students completing degrees during the current academic year are unfortunately not eligible to apply.

Application Procedure & Required Documents:

1. Project Proposal: Include a proposal (no more than 1500 words) describing your research idea and how you anticipate sharing your findings through a curated fashion exhibition.  Please include a list of examples of items you hope to use from the Cornell Fashion + Textile Collection, as well as other sources (if applicable).
2. Budget: Include a budget outlining how you plan to spend the $4,500.  We realize that this budget may change as your research and exhibition design develops.  Please indicate how you anticipate spending the money.  For example: you may need to travel to another museum, library, or archive to conduct further research; you may wish to borrow items from another museum or private collection (in which case you may have to pay a loan fee, transportation, and insurance costs on the items); you may wish to purchase an item to include in your exhibition (in this case, all items purchased with research funds must be accessioned as part of the CF+TC collection).  In addition, the student is responsible for installation costs related to the exhibit: e.g., printing high quality photographs, backdrops, labels, costs associated with photograph permissions and other materials required for installation (e.g., insect pins, adhesives, display props, etc.). If your budget deviates from the proposal significantly, a revised budget will be requested.
3. Timeline:  Please include a timeline that indicates how much time is needed to complete various project milestones, and the proposed date of exhibit installation.  Please outline how much time is required for research, research travel (if applicable), sourcing objects, exhibition design, and exhibition installation.  Please indicate the date you would like to begin installing your exhibition, and the ideal opening date. Please note that the earliest date for an exhibit opening is Nov. 2022, and the latest date to propose opening your exhibit is May 2023.
4. References: Please include the names and contact details of two faculty references (letters of reference are not required).

If you have any questions about the application process, please contact Professor Green by email (dng22@cornell.edu) to schedule a meeting. She will be happy to answer your questions, help you to understand what is available in the collection, and provide guidance about creating a budget, curatorial design, and etc.

All proposals are due on Tuesday Nov. 30, 2021.  Students will be notified of the decision within one month, after the CF+TC Collections Advisory Committee and Charlotte Jirousek Fellowship Committee have been able to meet and review applications.