As Seen At Symposium: Monica Geraffo's
Cold War Couture: The Re-Fashioning of Synthetic Textiles and French Luxury Fashion into Military Technology, 1945-1969

Wednesday, February 11, 2026
7:00 pm Eastern/4:00 pm Pacific
FREE Webinar, Open to All

Join us this February for a timely revisit of one of the Symposium’s most compelling interdisciplinary conversations, where fashion history, geopolitics, and material innovation converge. This As Seen At Symposium program features fashion and textile historian Monica Geraffo and her talk, “Cold War Couture: The Re-Fashioning of Synthetic Textiles and French Luxury Fashion into Military Technology, 1945–1969.”

Drawing from her doctoral research as a PhD candidate in Theater and Performance Studies at University of California, Los Angeles, Geraffo examines how Parisian couture designers engaged with synthetic textiles during the Cold War, transforming materials associated with military and industrial use into symbols of luxury, modernity, and national identity. Her work reveals how fashion functioned not only as aesthetic expression, but also as a site of technological exchange and ideological performance during a period of global tension.

Following an introduction by CSA leadership, attendees will view a recording of Geraffo’s original Symposium presentation, with the speaker joining live to respond to questions and expand on her research in real time. The session will conclude with an interactive discussion, inviting participants to engage directly with Geraffo and one another around the enduring implications of luxury fashion.

Whether you are revisiting this talk or encountering it for the first time, this members-only event offers a rich opportunity to reflect on how fashion history helps us better understand the cultural afterlives of conflict and innovation.

Click here to register
Registration closes 24 hours prior to the event.
If you missed the deadline, email conversationsondress@costumesocietyamerica.com.