Dr. Sonya Abrego is a New York City based design historian specializing in the history of American fashion in the twentieth century. Her work examines the intersections between dress, popular culture, modern art, and how clothing communicates and signifies from past to present. She is the author of Westernwear: Postwar American Fashion and Culture from Bloomsbury publishing, and curator of Crafting Denim, presently on view at the Center for Craft.
Sonya earned her doctorate in Decorative Arts Design and Material Culture from the Bard Graduate Center in 2016 and has worked as a visiting instructor at Parsons School of Design, Fordham University, The Pratt Institute, New York University, and The Fashion Institute of Technology. Her teaching platform includes courses of her own design such as "A Cultural History of Denim" and "Fashion & Masculinity" along with comprehensive fashion and textile history surveys at both graduate and undergraduate levels. Conferences and symposia include The American Studies Association, The Costume Society of America, The Pasold Foundation Conference, The Textile Society of America, the Popular Culture Association.
With writing that bridges the scholarly and popular, Sonya was a founding member and senior editor for Worn Fashion Journal, and has contributed to scholarly journals such as Fashion Theory and The Journal of Design History. In addition, she has worked with costume collections at The Museum of the City of New York and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and sourced, identified, and maintained a working private collection of men's and women's vintage clothing, pieces of which have been included in television and cinematic productions and design archives.
Instagram: @sonyaabrego & @postwarwesternwear
