First exhibition celebrating designer Daryl Kerrigan to open in New York

The first exhibition dedicated to designer Daryl Kerrigan, founder of the New York fashion label Daryl K, is set to open on November 1, at Verse Gallery in Red Hook, New York. 

Dubbed “Daryl K: I Am My Muse“, the exhibition celebrates Kerrigan’s influence on downtown style and her ongoing legacy as an independent creative force. 

Born in Ireland, Daryl Kerrigan immigrated to New York in the 1980s with a vision to empower women through clothes. Kerrigan’s collections were praised by Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, The New York Times, and W Magazine, and she received the CFDA Perry Ellis Award for emerging talent.

Curated by Nina Stritzler-Levine, the exhibition brings together more than 50 archival designs, photographs, sketches, and short films in four thematic sections. At the core of the exhibition is the concept of the “self-muse.”

Having modeled her own designs throughout her career, Kerrigan celebrates women as their own sources of inspiration.

The exhibition also spotlights Kerrigan’s unconventional runway presentations, from shows atop the Lever Building and at Gagosian Gallery to one staged in an empty swimming pool. A new digital archive of Daryl K’s collections will debut in conjunction with the exhibition, as well as a Daryl K pop-up shop.

“Verse is an ideal venue for this exhibition,” said Stritzler-Levine, “because it’s a space where traditional hierarchies in the art world dissolve. Here, the intersections of Daryl Kerrigan’s artistry and thought are revealed in full.”