Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
New Fashion Week exhibit highlights Puerto Rican garment workers' history
By
Precious Fondren
Published Sep 6, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Center for Puerto Rican Studies Library & Archives, Hunter College, CUNY
By
Precious Fondren
Published Sep 6, 2023
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
There’s likely to be no shortage of glitz, celebrity and glamour during Fashion Week in New York, which officially kicks off on Friday. A new exhibition opening at the Abrons Arts Center on the Lower East Side pays homage to some of the least heralded behind-the-scenes workers who left their mark on the industry in the last century.
“Objects of Permanence,” the exhibition space's newest offering, opens on Wednesday just ahead of Fashion Week and runs through Sept. 14. It spotlights Puerto Rican women's roles as garment workers and labor activists in the 1950s in New York.
The installation, which was curated by fashion stylist Mellány Sánchez aims to not only highlight the role of the Puerto Rican workers but also connect their stories to exhibition patrons and some of today’s fashion designers through real artifacts tied to the Tenement Museum as well as artifacts created and reimagined by the designers themselves.
“We tapped into a select group of designers who could really understand telling the story, not specifically about domestic manufacturing, but anyone who in their studio practice can understand honoring the lives of garment workers,” Sánchez told Gothamist.
As a self-proclaimed “Nuyorican,” Sánchez said she thought it was important to surface this history.
“Understanding that objects become narrative conduits, vessels of legacy and proof of a life lived,” she said, “that's a story I feel I will be telling for the rest of my life.”
Sewing machine operators in a factory in the Garment District of Manhattan, circa 1955.
Grant White/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images
Sánchez said visitors can expect to see objects ranging from the historical — like garment works' shears and union cards, as well as period photographs — to the contemporary, including commissioned works from designers, collages and documentary videos.
Some of the designers featured in the exhibition include Christopher John Rogers, Tremaine Emory, and Elena Velez, Sánchez said.
“For those that decided to contribute it was all about a general understanding and valuing of telling this New York story,” she said.
Sánchez, 32, was born in Brooklyn and has been working in fashion since her teens. She’s worked as a wardrobe stylist for celebrities including the rapper Drake and fashion model Imaan Hammam.
Sánchez said she hopes the exhibition will enlighten attendees about the Lower East Side’s role in establishing New York as one of the world's fashion capitals.
“For people who don't know that rich history, we wanted to amplify the stories of Lower East Side garment industry workers, especially during this important time in the New York calendar, which celebrates fashion,” she said. “And we wanted to make that distinct connection and availability for anyone in the community to be able to arrive and share their story and learn new stories.”
For people who don't know that rich history, we wanted to amplify the stories of Lower East Side garment industry workers, especially during this important time in the New York calendar, which celebrates fashion.
Mellány Sánchez, fashion stylist
Aldo Lauria-Santiago, a Rutgers University professor who teaches courses on U.S Latino labor history, said Puerto Rican women were in high demand in the last century. Thousands of them were hired as sewing machine operators — one of the lowest-paid jobs in the trade. In the 1940s, New York's garment industry aggressively recruited Puerto Rican workers to replace the Southern and Eastern European workers who were cut off by new, restrictive immigration rules – a topic also covered by the Tenement Museum.
“The women had jobs in Puerto Rico that could translate easily into a garment job, so they became a good chunk of the labor force,” he said.
Lauria-Santiago said many Puerto Rican women garment workers of the time also had legacies as activists in addition to being students, mothers and members of their communities.
“There is this memory and this history that can be recovered and researched and celebrated of this tremendous participation, from the '20s through the '60s … especially women in something that supported their families,” he said.
Sánchez hopes people walk away from “Objects of Permanence” having learned how personal garments, relics and images weave individual stories into larger historical narratives.
“Objects of Permanence is also really about the capacity for us to understand that our objects are potential vessels for our legacies,” she said. “And all of us have a chance to preserve our stories and tell our stories. We just have to see it that way.”
For tickets and other information about "Objects of Permanence,” visit the Abrons Arts Center website.
Tagged
arts
manhattan
Race And Justice Unit
Precious Fondren
Precious is a former WNYC & Gothamist culture reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
1 killed, 4 others injured at Elizabeth, NJ vigil shooting
Prosecutors say shots were fired at the intersection of Elmwood Place and Irvington Avenue.
By
Catalina Gonella
Published Oct 27, 2026 at 2:45 p.m. ET
Police arrest man in Queens stabbings that ended with officer shooting woman
The arrest stems from a reported home invasion and stabbings on Friday.
By
Ryan Kost
News
Police arrest man in Queens stabbings that ended with officer shooting woman
The arrest stems from a reported home invasion and stabbings on Friday.
By
Ryan Kost
Early Addition: It's been a while since it rained
By
James Ramsay
Ex-boyfriend of woman found in shallow grave in Queens charged with murder, NYPD says
By
Brittany Kriegstein
ICE used a warehouse in NJ. Locals are ‘frustrated’ by Sherrill’s response.
By
Mike Hayes
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .