Pamela Golbin is a French curator, author and fashion historian. From 1993 to 2018 she was the chief curator of fashion and textile at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris. In 2019 she became artistic director of the Jacquard artist's residency.
Golbin attended Columbia University in the City of New York and La Sorbonne in Paris, specializing in Post-World War II Abstract Expressionism. During her studies, Golbin was part of the apprenticeship program at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and worked at The Costume Institute. Concurrently, she pursued a similar program at the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris where, following her studies, she was named curator at the age of 23. During her 25-year tenure at the museum, Golbin âÂÂhelped shape the artistic sensibility in the industryâÂÂ.
Simultaneously from 2008 to 2013 in New York City, she hosted the French Institute Alliance Française (FIAF) Annual Fashion Talks. In 2018, she attended the Executive Education management program at Harvard Business School.
In 2019, Golbin was named artistic director of the Jacquard x Google Arts & Culture Residency which aims to explore the synergies between art, fashion, and technology.
Golbin collaborates closely with contemporary designers and international creative talents. John Galliano describes her as âÂÂan incomparable source of inspiration, a true well of science. Valentino Garavani admitted, âÂÂShe knows more about my own work than I doâ and Dries Van Noten remarks, âÂÂShe has incredible sensitivity and flairâÂÂ. The Financial Times wrote about her stating, âÂÂAs the chief curator of fashion and textiles at ParisâÂÂs Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Pamela Golbin is the custodian of the history of French tasteâÂÂ.The Business of Fashion accurately identifies the personalities influencing an industry in constant evolution, integrating her within their yearly classification of 500 of the most influential people shaping the fashion industry, Pamela Golbin is in charge âÂÂof one of the most significant and extensive collections of fashion and textiles in the worldâÂÂ.
Golbin is considered for her work as a historian and curator. âÂÂJust as the discipline of architecture boasts its cast of âÂÂstarchitectsâÂÂ, this critical re-presentation of fashion has been led by a roll call of âÂÂItâ curators that includes Andrew Bolton of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Valerie Steele of the Museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York; and Pamela Golbin of the Musée de la Mode et du Textile, ParisâÂÂ
She has been described by the press as âÂÂthe brains behind the LouvreâÂÂs blockbuster fashion exhibitions, Pamela Golbin, is one of the industryâÂÂs most influential people youâÂÂve never heard ofâÂÂ. In fact, until she stepped down as chief curator in 2018, her exhibitions saw âÂÂhundreds of thousands of visitors every yearâÂÂ
Of her exhibits, fashion critic Suzy Menkes wrote, "Madeleine Vionnet, Puriste de la Modeâ is an intelligent and illuminating exhibition and an example of excellence from its curator, Pamela Golbin". Or "Balenciaga Paris" is the first major exhibition of Cristóbal Balenciaga held in his adopted city, and its curator, Pamela Golbin, has brought a fine intelligence to clothes that could seem so dissonant in the age of the InternetâÂÂ
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