“Female empowerment is why the brand even exists.” So says Maxwell Osborne, one half of DKNY’s creative-director duo of the esteemed brand’s latest project – a partnership with the New Museum in New York which will see the fashion house and museum join forces to champion female artists. 

Titled The New Women’s Project, the pairing sees DKNY provide support for commissions and exhibitions from an all-female group of five artists – with Osborne and design partner Dao-Yi Chow citing the museum (founded by Marcia Tucker in 1977) as a natural partner thanks to their shared vision of creativity and empowerment. 

The five shows, beginning on May 4, include the first New York solo exhibitions by French painter Nicole Eisenman, London-based Polish installation artist Goshka Macuga, Romanian sculptor Andra Ursuta, Puerto Rican photographer Beatriz Santiago Muñoz and the Dazed-spotlighted Cally Spooner, overseen by Massimiliano Gioni, artistic director of the museum.

“When we planned these exhibitions, we simply sought to celebrate some of the greatest artists of today, regardless of their gender, and yet our choices attracted attention,” Gioni said in a statement. “Clearly there are still glass ceilings to be shattered, and we are thrilled to continue to do so with DKNY’s partnership.”

Osborne and Chow added: “The New Women’s Project is particularly important to DKNY’s mission. We are a brand that embodies a strong, intelligent, modern woman. Being able to magnify the New Museum’s ethos and support a forward-looking, dynamic New York institution is an honour. Our mutual dedication to the ideas and contributions of strong women is rooted in our founding visionaries.”

Watch Osborne and Chow discuss the project in the film below: