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"Cosby Sweater" Designer Giving Free Talk At Museum Of Art And Design
By
Jen Chung
Published May 19, 2014
Modified May 19, 2014
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Koos Van Den Akker
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 19, 2014
Modified May 19, 2014
Share
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There's a Cosby Sweater Tumblr and there's even been a Cosby Sweater Poll on Bill Cosby's site, but what does the designer behind many of those bold geometric sweaters think? This Thursday, you can find out—fashion designer Koos Van Den Akker is giving a free talk at the Museum of Art of Design this Thursday.
Dutch-born Van Den Akker, who trained in France, is known for his "couture collage"—his intricately patterned designs—and his bold designs caught the eye of Cosby's wife, who admired a friend who wore Van Den Akker. That friend then got Cosby a sweater as a gift. Cosby recently explained why the sweaters became a calling card for Dr. Cliff Huxtable, his groundbreaking take on the sitcom father:
Instead of the jacket and the tie and the professional look of a highly-educated person who knows more than any of us, put a sweater on him. It's comfort. He's comfortable. He makes you feel comfortable.
When we got into geometric cuts, then that became art. And the fellow's name is Koos Van Den Akker and that art, those blocks of leather, different shades of cotton, silk, interwoven.
They're really pieces of art.
Cosby admitted, "I don't wear them anymore. In those days, it was all right to have shoulder pads. And it was very smooth and cool looking and I had a flat stomach."
Even though the term "Cosby sweater" has been used pejoratively, Von Den Akker doesn't mind: he told Collectors Weekly, "There have been jokes about the sweaters in the ‘New Yorker’ and places like that, and it’s always negative. A Bill Cosby sweater stands for ‘crazy,’ and I love it."
The talk will be at The Theater at MAD, starting at 7 p.m.
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Cosby Sweater
Koos Van Den Akker
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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