In the context of the forthcoming publication of a Collector’s Edition book celebrating the 15th anniversary of ATOPOS cvc, artistic director Vassilis Zidianakis invites fashion curator Lydia Kamitsis to Athens. From 10-16 February Lydia Kamitsis participated in the Occupy Atopos Residency while conducting her research from the archives of the organisation. Her research will constitute the main text of the Atopos’ new book, which is due at the end of 2017.

Lydia Kamitsis was born in Lebanon, raised in Greece and moved to France in 1978 to study Art History at the Sorbonne.  A meeting with Yvonne Deslandres – one of the most important figures in fashion history – resulted in her decision to specialize in fashion and to involve herself in the Union Française des Arts du Costume (UFAC) for which she organized numerous French and international exhibitions and edited various publications. From 1995 to 2002, she worked as a scientific advisor, heading the exhibition programme and the research unit of the Musée de la Mode et du Textile in Paris, where she supervised the transfer and relocation of the museum into the Rohan wing of the Louvre, which opened to the public in January 1997. In the same year she became head of the department of contemporary fashion. Since 2003 she has collaborated with international museums as a freelance exhibition consultant (Musée de la Mode in Marseilles, Museo de la Mode in Santiago, Chile, Cité Internationale de la Dentelle et de la Mode de Calais, among others). She has also published many works, such as the Dictionnaire Internationale de la Mode that was awarded the Grand Prix du Livre du Mode in 2005. From 1993 to 2015, she was a lecturer at the Sorbonne University in the Anthropology of Art Department and at specialized Fashion Schools (ESMOD, Institut Français de la Mode in Paris, Casa Moda Academy in Morocco, and others). Lydia Kamitsis is a member of the Atopos’ Board of Advisors. 

Lydia Kamitsis Research Texts