“Snoopy in Style NYC” Spotlights the Character’s Connection to Fashion and Tennis

With the US Open upon us, and New York Fashion Week ahead, “Snoopy in Style NYC” sets ten immersive worlds within one kaleidoscopic exhibition on the relationship between Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts, fashion, tennis, music, and the city itself. Curated by The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, the installations complement Peanuts‘ illustrious history—including the creator’s close friendship with Billie Jean King and the enduring legacy of Charlie Brown’s zigzag shirt—with brand-new elements, like custom outfits for Snoopy and Woodstock and a gift shop co-created by Sarah Andelman, the founder of colette Paris.

From every angle in the 16,000-square-foot space, an unexpected piece of ephemera or an experiential contemporary interpretation snags attendees’ attention. This is thanks to the vision of Matt Murphy, founder of the eponymous studio Matt Murphy Design, who led the exhibition design and creative direction of “Snoopy in Style NYC,” and helmed the critically acclaimed 2025 “Snoopy in Style” Paris edition. Murphy has been a Peanuts collaborator for nearly 20 years.

“We were working with a very large, gridded space and the architecture was restrictive and rigid,” Murphy tells Surface. “With the ten zones, I flipped the spatial design 45 degrees so as you move through the exhibition you orient yourself to the angle of the walls. It disrupts your sense of place. It’s intentional, so that sight lines become longer and more unexpected.”

Indeed, the layout encourages discovery—from the glass vitrines with the aforementioned custom looks by the likes of the late Gloria Steinem (through Gloria’s Foundation), BODE, Christopher John Rogers, Collina Strada, Kith, LUAR, New York or Nowhere, Omega, Tanner Fletcher, Willy Chavarria, ZANKOV, and more, to Joe Cool’s Listening Lounge, an ode to Snoopy’s alter ego and an undeniable highlight that includes a DJ booth and a display of rare records and archival material.

“When you’re looking across the exhibition, each zone has its own character and its own story. You get a glimpse of one or another, a flash of color, a graphic,” Murphy adds. “It acts like a little preview that draws you into the next space and experience.”

Color and graphics guide the way. “It felt appropriate for Peanuts because Schulz created a really rich world with a super-economical visual vocabulary—black and white lines, character, gesture, then color. There are a lot of stories happening in the room but when you stand back and look across the space, it reads as a single world,” Murphy says.

Peanuts debuted as a comic strip in 1950. Last year, the enduring pop-culture creation celebrated its 75th anniversary. “Snoopy in Style NYC,” free and open to the public through September 26 at 25 Little West 12th Street, is a testament to its influence, yes, but also its continued relevance and resonance.