Bill Blass’ archive heads to auction at Christie’s this September.
Christie’s will present “Bill Blass: American Elegance,” an exhibition and auction honoring the designer who helped define American style and dressed figures including Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, and Gloria Vanderbilt. The auction runs September 9–23, with a preview at Christie’s New York September 8–13 and a full exhibition at Blass’ former town house September 18–22. In total, 129 pieces will be presented, including vintage garments, fashion sketches, and personal letters, among them correspondence from Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Geoffrey Beene, and Diane Vreeland. Christie’s estimates the sale will realize more than $150,000, with proceeds benefiting the Bill Blass company. Notable lots include a plaid suit matching one Nancy Reagan wore deplaning Air Force One in 1988 (est. $800–$1,200) and a Michael Vollbracht for Bill Blass gown worn by Beyoncé for InStyle (est. $3,000–$5,000). The sale coincides with New York Fashion Week and America’s 250th anniversary celebrations, with Christie’s calling it a tribute to one of American fashion’s foundational figures.
Bergdorf Goodman honors Michael Kors’ 45-year legacy on Fifth Avenue.
Bergdorf Goodman has unveiled a Fifth Avenue window installation marking Michael Kors’ 45th anniversary, celebrating the arrival of the designer’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection. The display draws its atmosphere from the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, where the runway show was staged, featuring red velvet curtains and monumental portraits of Broadway stars Lea Michele, Audra McDonald, and Judith Light alongside key looks from the collection. The milestone carries a special resonance for Kors, whose relationship with Bergdorf Goodman dates back to the origin of his career. While working at a boutique across from the store on 57th Street, Kors was approached by then-fashion director Dawn Mello, an encounter that led him to sketch his first collection, which Bergdorf Goodman purchased in 1981.
The Academy’s film archive building to undergo a major renovation this fall.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will begin a three-year renovation of its Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study this fall. The Hollywood building, acquired by the Academy in 2000 and opened in 2002, houses much of the organization’s film archive and is attached to the 286-seat Linwood Dunn Theatre and event space. The project, expected to wrap by the end of 2029, aims to restore and modernize the facility, including constructing additional collection vaults, improving existing ones, upgrading climate control and mechanical systems, enhancing lighting, and installing new roofing. The Linwood Dunn Theatre and event space are not expected to be affected.
Kuala Lumpur’s contemporary art scene grows with the ART KL launch.
Kuala Lumpur is getting a new contemporary art platform. ART KL, debuting October 15–18, will spotlight emerging Southeast Asian artists at A Place Where (APW), a converted printing factory turned “lifestyle campus” that’s also serving as the fair’s venue sponsor. The initiative comes from a partnership between Richard Koh Art Advisory and consultancy firm Art Anonymous. Ten galleries from across the region have signed on, including Kuala Lumpur’s Galeri Sasha, Singapore’s Intersections, Jakarta’s ISA Art Gallery, Bangkok’s Warin Lab Contemporary, and Zhan Art | Space in Petaling Jaya, each mounting solo or duo presentations. Eight Malaysian artists, among them Farhan Rizuwan, Samantha Lee, and Wong Perng Fey, will contribute site-specific installations. Founder Richard Koh framed the launch as a bid to strengthen ties across the region’s art ecosystem, bringing artists, galleries, collectors, and curators into closer contact.
Painter Mary Heilmann, who reshaped abstraction with warmth, dies at 86.
Mary Heilmann spent more than five decades proving that abstraction could be warm, funny, and deeply human, a body of work that reshaped how a generation understood painting. She died at 86, but the joy embedded in her canvases, layered with gestural underpainting and playful geometric overpainting, remains her lasting signature. Shaped by Bay Area surf culture and the Beat ethos of her youth, Heilmann arrived in New York in 1968 chasing sculpture and Minimalism, only to find her true voice in painting. Some of her career highlights include major exhibitions at the Whitney, Whitechapel Gallery, and a long-term installation at Dia Beacon. Her paintings now live permanently in the collections of MoMA, and the National Gallery of Art.
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An ancient fragment of Homer’s Odyssey returns to public view at the Met.
