Fashion Blooms at the Residence of France on September 17, 2026

Name: Fashion Blooms at the Residence of France on September 17, 2026
Start: 2026-09-17T19:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-09-17T22:30:00-04:00
Location: Residence of the French Ambassador

Schedule

Thu Sep 17 2026 at 07:00 pm to 10:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Residence of the French Ambassador | Washington, DC

In tribute to a woman of rare elegance, celebrating a life of style, grace, and cultural devotion.
About this Event

ABOUT THE EVENT:

Join the Alliance Française Board of Directors for one of Washington's most memorable evenings at the historic 1910 Tudor Revival Residence of the French Ambassador in the Kalorama neighborhood. The AFDC Gala is an occasion to celebrate the excellence of French culture in its many facets and includes Honorary Guests of domestic and international acclaim.

This year, our theme revolves around Fashion and Transatlantic Dialogue as we honor the legacy of the late Caroline “Nina” Pillsbury — a former member of the Board whose elegance, generosity, and style will be celebrated through an exhibition of select American and French designer pieces from her collection. Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, will be the Key Speaker and will share a few reflections on Fashion, Memory and Cultural Transmission

This Gala will bring together patrons, supporters, and friends of French culture for a night of hors d’oeuvres, conversations, Ken Matthews’ Band’s Live Jazz Performances, and desserts by Pâtisserie Poupon.

Your contributions help to support our FRENCH LANGUAGE PROGRAMS for children, teens and adults, as well as our SUMMER CAMP SCHOLARSHIPS, concerts, conferences, book talks, the Annual Young Poet Prize, and the one and only loan LIBRARY in French Language in the Mid-Atlantic Region in order to bring the best of FRENCH and FRANCOPHONE CULTURES to Washington. A few events are free to the public because we believe that culture needs to be accessible to everybody. To do this, we need your support!

ABOUT THE TICKETS:

(SEE DESCRIPTION of BENEFITS for EACH TICKET CATEGORY when you choose your ticket).

Tickets start at

$150 for Young Professionals (age 21 to 35), (no additional benefits)
$250 for AFDC current members, and
$350 for non-members.

Tickets at: $500 and $1,000 enjoy addditional benefits (see description inside each ticket).

The Alliance Française de Washington, Inc. is a non-governemental not-for-profit organization with a 501 (c) 3 status.

Only the portion of the ticket price above the fair market value (FMV) of any tangible benefits you will receive is considered a charitable contribution. At this time, the FMV of each ticket is estimated at $150.00. All tickets above $150.00 benefit from a tax-deductible portion.

All $100.00 tickets to sponsor an AFDC faculty are fully tax-deductible for the buyer (as long as they are not an AFDC faculty.)

ABOUT THE LATE NINA PILLSBURY:

A fluent French speaker and a true friend of France, Nina Pillsbury embodied French-American friendship with elegance, enthusiasm, and flair. In French, Nina was a "grande dame."

She loved bringing people together and did so generously for the Alliance, serving many times as Gala co-chair. Known for her love of red -the color of life and beauty- she had a kind word for everyone, from Washington's decision-makers to AFDC staff and teachers.

Her legacy is celebrated through a selection of her favorite pieces, reflecting her vision of fashion as dialogue: French and American, classic and bold, seamlessly intertwined. These pieces from well-known designers will be exhibited throughout the residence on the night of the Benefit Event.

ABOUT DR. VALERIE STEELE:

Valerie Steele is director and chief curator of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology, where she has organized more than 25 exhibitions since 1997, including The Corset: Fashioning the Body, London Fashion, Gothic: Dark Glamour; A Queer History of Fashion: From the Closet to the Catwalk, Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color, Paris, Capital of Fashion, and Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis.

She is also the author or editor of more than 30 books, including Paris Fashion, Women of Fashion, Fetish: Fashion, Sex and Power, The Corset, The Berg Companion to Fashion, and. Fashion Designers A-Z: The Collection of The Museum at FIT. Her books have been translated into Chinese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. In addition, she is founder and editor in chief of Fashion Theory: The Journal of Dress, Body & Culture, the first scholarly journal in Fashion Studies.

Steele combines serious scholarship (and a Yale Ph.D) with the rare ability to communicate with general audiences. As author, curator, editor, and public intellectual, Valerie Steele has been instrumental in creating the modern field of fashion studies and in raising awareness of the cultural significance of fashion. She has appeared on many television programs, including The Oprah Winfrey Show and Undressed: The Story of Fashion. Described in The Washington Post as one of “fashion’s brainiest women” and by Suzy Menkes as “The Freud of Fashion,” she was listed as one of “The People Shaping the Global Fashion Industry” in the Business of Fashion 500: (2014 to the present).

ABOUT THE ALLIANCE FRANCAISE OF WASHINGTON:

For more than 120 years, the Alliance Française of Washington, DC has been the French heartbeat in the Nation's Capital, fostering dialogue and understanding through French language education and vibrant Francophone cultures. Through the generosity of friends, donors, and sponsors, AFDC brings people together across generations through classes, youth programs, cultural events, and the region's only French-language lending library.

The Alliance Française of Washington, D.C. (AFDC) is a 501 (c) (3) non-governmental non-profit organization. Only the portion of your ticket exceeding the fair market value of the dinner and entertainment is tax-deductible. Tax ID: 52-6057767