LUXURIA MIHI IUS EST
Stéphane Houy-Towner is a binational curator, consultant and lecturer based in New York City.
About
As curator, consultant and lecturer, Stéphane Houy-Towner has worked with some of the world’s leading cultural institutions — collaborating on innovative projects with fashion labels, filmmakers and museums.
A graduate of the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum/Parsons The New School for Design in New York, he spent 14 years as a special projects researcher at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s world renowned The Costume Institute. There, Houy-Towner served as liaison with outside researchers, writers and scholars, auction houses and museum curators—including American and European fashion houses with their ready-to-wear and haute couture collections research. His expertise made him departmental specialist for menswear as well as the French luxury goods sector —with a concentration from the eighteenth century to the present.
He notably curated Rara Avis: Selections from the Iris Barrel Apfel Collection.
Services
Creative Consulting & Design Research Coordination
Historically-based turn-key research, and strategic interpretive trend analyses of the intellectual, creative and practical aspects of the global luxury goods sector.
Brand Identity
Whether repositioning or refreshing a brand, Houy-Towner can help companies understand and leverage their history in order to define their core values, make their brand unique and translate those values into a compelling and memorable identity.
Curatorial Consulting and Design Education
Houy-Towner provides concept and vision consulting to museums and other institutions—developing and organizing exhibitions, guiding with exhibition catalogues and developing educational programs related to the exhibition.
Clients
Christian Dior Couture, Yves Saint Laurent Haute Couture, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Saga Furs of Scandinavia, The Andy Warhol Museum, Parsons the New School for Design, Badgley Mishka China, George Jensen, FurInsider, Alyce Paris, Dervis-Hoffman Historical Resources, Brooklyn College, Studio Repetto
