Burchfield Penney Art Center to Celebrate Opening of FIT: Buffalo Fashion, Identity, and Transformation

M&T Second Friday, July 10, 2026, 5:30 – 8:00 p.m.
 

Buffalo has long been a city that transforms the raw and overlooked into something powerful and undeniably creative. FIT: Buffalo Fashion, Identity, and Transformation tells this story through fashion and artworks across a range of media. Fabric to garment, garment to outfit; this story transcends the materials. It is about shifting perspectives, recognizing and celebrating identities, and a city transforming its own narrative over time.

This new exhibition celebrates the broad, multigenerational network of designers, artists, and cultural innovators who have redefined Buffalo's creative landscape through fashion design, illustration, photography, painting, sculpture, and much more.

Curated by Tiffany Gaines, FIT traces Buffalo's story through the clothes, aesthetics, and visual cultures its people have made their own: from early twentieth-century industrial wealth and social pageantry, to the styles of immigrant and working-class communities, to today's designers remaking fashion as something equitable, sustainable, and distinctly Buffalo. Cross-industry collaboration, upcycled materials, and streetwear are more than passing fads. Woven together with art and luxury, they form the very fabric of our fashion identity.

“I couldn't be prouder of what our team and this community have built together, led by Curator Tiffany Gaines. This exhibition is an expression of the creativity and collaboration that has defined, and is now transforming our region through fashion, and represents the very best of what we do here,” says Scott Propeack, Executive Director.

“Fashion is one of the most powerful tools we have for expressing who we are, where we come from, and who we want to become,” says Tiffany Gaines, Curator. “FIT puts that story in context with art as a living conversation about Buffalo’s uniquely creative, transformative, and imaginative cultural ecosystem.”

Celebrate the exhibition opening of FIT: Buffalo Fashion, Identity, and Transformation on M&T Second Friday, July 10, 5:30–8:00 pm! The free community celebration will feature live music by the Rod Bonner Trio and a fashion-inspired paper doll art-making activity. The exhibition catalog, with a foreword by Buffalo State University Lecturer Erin Habes, will be available for purchase in The Museum Store.

Members can get an early look at the exhibition during the Members & Friends Preview on Wednesday, July 8, 5:30–7:00 pm, featuring sparkling wine and light hors d'oeuvres.

FIT: Buffalo Fashion, Identity, and Transformation will remain on view through November 1, 2026. For more information, visit burchfieldpenney.org.
 

SUPPORT FOR THIS EXHIBITION

FIT: Buffalo Fashion, Identity, and Transformation has been made possible through the generous support from the Cameron and Jane Baird Foundation and Cynthia Baird Stark; and Shelley Drake, in loving memory of Dr. Kenneth C. Drake. We gratefully acknowledge an Anonymous Donor, the Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, Cheryl Lyles and Steven Lakomy, MD, and Erik and Gina O'Neill for their leadership giving.

ABOUT THE BURCHFIELD PENNEY ART CENTER

Established in 1966 on the campus of SUNY Buffalo State University, the Burchfield Penney Art Center’s mission is to cultivate and elevate the work of Charles E. Burchfield and Western New York artists. 

The Burchfield Penney Art Center’s programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. The Burchfield Penney receives generous public support from SUNY Buffalo State University, Erie County, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the City of Buffalo. Private support is provided by The Cameron and Jane Baird Foundation, the Cullen Foundation, the Charles E. Burchfield Foundation, M&T Bank, The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, the Joy Family Foundation, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield of Western New York, the Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Designated Inclusive Arts and Culture Organizations Endowment Fund, a component fund of the Community Foundation for Greater Buffalo, Inc., Elizabeth Elser Doolittle Trust, the Mary A. H. Rumsey Foundation, the James Carey Evans Endowment, and many additional individuals, corporations, foundations, and Burchfield Penney members. The Burchfield Penney Art Center is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact

Julia Norris
Director of Communications
norrisjl[at]buffalostate.edu