Pamela Parmal began work at the MFA in 1999 as Associate Curator, became Curator and Department head in 2004 and was appointed Chair of the David and Roberta Logie Department of Textile and Fashion Arts in 2014. She oversees an encyclopaedic collection of textiles and dress, the highlights of which include Peruvian textiles, Japanese costumes, 18th century European and American embroideries, and cashmere shawls.
She has curated a number of exhibitions including ‘Fashion Show: Paris Collections’ in 2006; ‘The Embroideries of Colonial Boston’ in 2012; and ‘#techstyle’ in 2016. Parmal received a Masters Degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. The University of Wisconsin granted her BAs in Art History and French. Before taking her position at the MFA, she worked as Assistant and then Associate Curator for the Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design where she served as co-project director during the planning stages for the NEH funded exhibition and catalogue, ‘From Paris to Providence: The Tirocchi Sisters Dressmaking Shop’, and curated the exhibition ‘Geoffrey Beene’, for which she also wrote the accompanying catalogue.