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As warm weather rolls into New York, visitors and residents alike have their pick of fashionable happenings. Enjoy the annual Met Costume Institute show, this year devoted to the first ladies of Italian design: Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada. Do a little shopping on a free walking tour of the Garment District or at one of the City's outdoor markets, which reopen this season. Other exhibitions and events, as well as sales and store openings, will crop up throughout the season, so remember to check back for additions and updates.

Events
Exhibitions
Stores & Sales

Events
April 19 and 29; May 11 and 27
Free Fashion District History Walking Tour
Explore New York City's Garment District during this one-and-a-half- to two-hour tour, led by Mike Kaback. Visit a private showroom, a sample sale, Mood Fabrics and more, all while learning about the neighborhood's historic background and importance. The tour—which starts at 10am on weekdays and 2pm on Sundays at the northwest corner of Seventh Avenue and West 39th Street—is free, but reservations are required; you can make them by calling 212-764-9600 or emailing mikesnyctours@yahoo.com.

June 6
Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis: Michael Kors
92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., 212-415-5500
To conclude the Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis series, New York Fashion Week founder Fern Mallis talks with that other top American designer, Michael Kors, whose fashion label recently celebrated its 30-year anniversary. The conversation begins at 8pm; tickets start at $19.

Exhibitions
May 3–June 15
Courtney Love: And She’s Not Even Pretty
Fred Torres Gallery, 527 W. 29th St., 212-244-5075
The first art exhibition from musician-actress Courtney Love features a brazen selection of self-portrait paintings in which a colorful, childlike execution contrasts with the darker themes of her lyrics and poetry, scribbled beside the blonde figures. Though the title of the show is a reference to the way women put each other down about men, Love has also said that much of the work is about a particular romance. In addition to the paintings, there is also a wedding gown, made by John Galliano for nuptials that never happened, now embroidered with profanities in red.

May 4–July 6
Richard Avedon: Murals and Portraits 
Gagosian Gallery, 522 W. 21st St., 212-741-1717
The legendary New York photographer who spent years shooting for Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue and The New Yorker began a special project in 1969. Between 25 and 30 feet wide, his large-scale murals present portraits of icons at enormous sizes. The group shots appear head-on in black and white with blank backgrounds. Subjects include Andy Warhol as well as a nude Allen Ginsberg embracing his lover, Peter Orlovsky.

May 5–June 15
Helmut Lang: Sculptures
24 Washington Sq. North
The designer who left his eponymous line and the world of fashion in 2005 has turned to art. “I have always been interested in materials and in transforming them,” he told The New York Times in a recent interview. His new exhibition of sculptures offers monochromatic structures, many columned, that present a visual meeting of the natural and industrial, with rubber, foam, plaster, sheepskin and tar. Though he has held a solo show in Germany and one in East Hampton last summer (using shredded garment samples as material), this is Lang’s first exhibition in the City.

May 10–August 19
Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave., 212-535-7710
This year's Costume Institute exhibition looks at the extraordinary similarities between Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada, Italian designers active during different time periods. The show draws inspiration from Miguel Covarrubias' "Impossible Interviews" for Vanity Fair in the 1930s and will include fictive conversations between Schiaparelli and Prada, suggesting new ways of looking at their most innovative work. Signature ensembles will be accompanied by Baz Luhrmann–directed videos of the women's simulated dialogue, highlighting the dissimilar ways in which they've taken on similar themes.

Through May 13
American Beauty
Lu Magnus, 55 Hester St., 212-677-6555
Claiborne Swanson Frank, a self-taught photographer who worked as an assistant at Vogue, spent two years capturing full-length portraits of beautiful American women she admired, many of them friends, like Lily Aldridge, Lauren Santo Domingo and Amanda Hearst. She compiled them in a recently released book, titled American Beauty. This eponymous exhibition showcases 27 of its 100 photographs.

May 18–September 2
Christer Strömholm: Les Amies de Place Blanche 
International Center of Photography, 1133 Sixth Ave., 212-857-0000
Swedish photographer Christer Strömholm arrived in Paris in 1956. He settled into the Place Blanche in Montmartre, where he befriended and photographed young transsexuals and prostitutes. The images were first published in a striking book in 1983 in Sweden, where they became a cult favorite.

Through May 26
Lillian Bassman: Lingerie 
Staley-Wise Gallery, 560 Broadway, 212-966-6223
A prominent art director and fashion photographer of the 1940s, working with publications like Harper's Bazaar, Lillian Bassman grew disillusioned with fashion by the '70s. She disposed of many of her negatives and ducked out of the industry to focus on other photographic interests—until the '90s, that is, when a houseguest discovered some forgotten negatives. Bassman reprinted them, experimenting with various techniques, creating a second career for herself as fine artist. Her latest work was recently released in a book and is the subject of an exhibition of the same name at Staley-Wise: Lillian Bassman: Lingerie. The images feature Bassman's trademark touch of softness and sensuality, as her aim had always been "to take the hardness out of photography." Sadly, the artist passed away in February at the age of 94.

Through June 11
Cindy Sherman 
The Museum of Modern Art, 11 W. 53rd St., 212-708-9400
MoMA presents a retrospective survey of photographs by Cindy Sherman, known for provocative self-portraits that appear simultaneously alive and cold. Sherman masterfully and sometimes eerily transforms into another person, rendering herself in various guises and situations to question the contemporary identity of women. She has always assumed the role of both photographer and model, with makeup, wigs and costumes that evoke a range of female archetypes. The show presents these multiple identities in all their large-format glory. As artist Chuck Close has observed, "She's achieved a near-Warholian superstar status. Her influence is everywhere." While she rarely does commissions, she's created portraits for a MAC Cosmetics campaign and a French Vogue–Balenciaga collaboration. The MoMA exhibition spans her career from the mid-'70s to today.

Through July 8
Beauties of the Gilded Age: Peter Marié's Miniatures of Society Women 
New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, 212-873-3400
French New Yorker Peter Marié, a society type of the 19th century, was a bachelor known for his fondness of fine art and parties. Between 1889 and 1903, he commissioned approximately 300 watercolor portrait miniatures on ivory of the prominent women he considered most beautiful—including gilded lilies like actress Maude Adams, artist Lydia Emmet and etiquette author Emily Post.

Stores & Sales
April 19
Maison Kitsuné Opens 
The NoMad Hotel, 1170 Broadway
The first American outpost of the Parisian fashion brand and record label is set to open on April 19, on the ground floor of the new NoMad Hotel, officially making that stretch of Broadway one of the City's coolest destinations.

April
Outdoor Markets Reopen
Shop for vintage clothing, handmade art and knickknacks, plus enjoy local-food favorites, at the City's outdoor markets, many of which reopen in the spring. Brooklyn Flea (in Fort Greene and Williamsburg) and Smorgasburg, for example, have already reopened, while the Hester Street Fair restarts on April 28.

May
May 16–20
Theory Sample Sale
261 W. 36th St. (Women’s)
139 Fifth Ave. (Men’s)
Find ready-to-wear, knits, suiting, outerwear and leathers for men and women at up to 65% off. The men’s sale ends May 18 and women’s, May 20.

May 17–19
The News Sample Sale
495 Broadway, 5th fl., 212-925-9700
Shop markdowns on contemporary lines for men and women, including Cheap Monday, Clu and Tim Coppens.

Through mid-June
Odin Concept Shop
330 E. 11th St.
The fragrance house has partnered with the Brooklyn-based, art-meets-architecture collective Snarkitecture (who also created the Richard Chai cave a few years back) to present an East Village shop. Inside, a wave of plaster casts of fragrance bottles flows from floor to ceiling. 

Recently Opened
American Two Shot 
135 Grand St., 212-925-3403
Browse a careful selection of clothing by local designers, as well as vintage pieces and books, all while sipping on Café Integral drinks from the in-store coffee bar and enjoying a rotating selection of art.

Bottega Veneta Men’s
237 E. 67th St., 212-879-4182
The luxury Italian line known particularly for its leather goods recently opened its first men’s-only store in the US (the second worldwide), on the Upper East Side. The brand also opened a women’s shop nearby, at 849 Madison Avenue, only a few months ago.

FiveStory
18 E. 69th St., 212-288-1338
This new boutique has taken over a luxury townhouse (two stories of it, to be exact) with intentions to become the American answer to Colette in Paris. The collection of women’s wear and accessories includes pieces by Roberta Furlanetto, Olympia Le Tan and Victoria Beckham.

Matt Bernson 
20 Harrison St., 212-941-7634
The New York–based shoe designer of namesake label Matt Bernson—adored by many for its favorable ratio of quality design to affordable pricing—has finally opened his own brick-and-mortar, in TriBeCa.

Madison Avenue
Stroll the famed street of high-end shopping for standby favorite stores and new additions. Some of the latest to open along the stretch include:
Punto Ottico, 998 Madison Ave., 212-988-2677
Cesare Attolini, 798 Madison Ave., 646-707-3006
Helmut Lang, 755 Madison Ave., 212-744-0141