June: Goings on at The Museum at FIT

**American Fashion Lectures** The Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT is offering three lectures in conjunction with their exhibition The Dressmaker’s Art: Highlights from the Bruce Museum’s Costume Collection. Two of their programs are presented by MFIT staff.  • Wed., June 23, 1:30 p.m. Fashion and the American Image, 1930s-1950s. Jennifer Farley, Assistant Curator at The Museum at FIT provides an overview of American fashion history from the depression years through post-war suburban America, covering such designers as Adrian, Mainbocher, and Claire McCardell. The lecture explores the creation of an American image through the influence of Hollywood glamour in the 1930s, the rise of sportswear and innovative American ready-to-wear during World War II, and the culture of 1950’s suburbia. • Wed., July 14, 1:30 p.m. Reinventing Glamour: American Fashion, 1960-Today. Colleen Hill, Assistant Curator at The Museum at FIT presents a lecture exploring American fashion design from the latter half of the 20th century. During this time, fashion was increasingly associated with jeans, t-shirts, and other casual sportswear, however a number of designers, such as Halston, Norman Norell, and Pauline Trigère, were making chic, technically innovative clothing that rivaled European styles. Her talk concludes with a discussion of inventive, contemporary American dressmakers and their place in today’s fashion industry. **Japan Day in Central Park** On Sunday, June 6, take part in special LoliHime NYC events on Japan Day! Japan Day is one of New York City’s proudest traditions that brings New York’s Japan-enthusiasts together to enjoy and celebrate Japanese culture through food, games, live performances, and more. At 1:30 p.m., see a Tokyo Fashion Festa NY fashion show, including famous Lolita brands like Baby, the Stars Shine Bright and Angelic Pretty, followed by a brief performance by GRAMM, featuring Moa and Rio (a.k.a. VY) wearing H. Naoto. Afterwards, look for our tent in Central Park to exhibit "kawaii-ness" at a Lolita Tea Party! This is a great chance to show off your cute Lolita style and connect with other Lolitas in NYC. Make sure to look cute and bring your friends!

PUBLIC PROGRAMS Fashion Culture: Special Programs Reservations are required. Space is limited.  To RSVP for a program, Register Online Here Or call 212.217.4585 or email museuminfo@fitnyc.edu Fashion Culture programs and events are free unless otherwise indicated, and are organized by The Museum at FIT to provide insightful and intriguing perspectives on the culture of fashion. Lecture "Sustainable Fashion Futures" Mathilda Tham Thursday, June 17, 6pm Katie Murphy AmphitheatreFred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, NW corner 7th Ave and 27th St. Dr. Mathilda Tham will discuss how fashion and our relationship to it can incorporate more sustainable ideas, practices, and processes. Dr. Tham is a Visiting Professor in Fashion at Beckmans College of Design, Stockholm. This event is organized in collaboration with the Consulate General of Sweden. Talk and Tour Eco-Fashion: Going Green Wednesday, June 23, 10:30 am Fashion and Textile History Gallery, MFIT Co-curator Colleen Hill will lead a tour of Eco-Fashion: Going Green, an exhibition that surveys 250 years of fashion’s complex relationship with the environment. The show features brands such as Martin Margiela, EDUN, Bodkin, FIN, and NOIR. Programs in July and August are listed on the MFIT website.

CURRENT EXHIBITION Eco-Fashion: Going Green FIN, marble print dress in organic bamboo satin, Fall 2010, Norway. Gift of Per Sivertsen of FIN. - Photograph by Eileen Costa ©MFIT. May 25 - November 26, 2010 The Museum at FIT presents Eco-Fashion: Going Green, an exhibition exploring the evolution of the fashion industry’s multifaceted and complex relationship with the environment. By examining the past two centuries of fashion’s good—and bad—environmental and ethical practices, Eco-Fashion: Going Green provides historical context for today’s eco-fashion movement. Presented chronologically and featuring more than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles, the exhibition uses contemporary methods for “going green” as a framework to study the past. The objects displayed touch upon at least one of six major themes: the re-purposing and recycling of materials, fiber origins, textile dyeing and production, quality of craftsmanship, labor practices, and the treatment of animals. Curated by Jennifer Farley and Colleen Hill, the exhibition features some of the finest examples of 21st-century sustainable fashions by current, cutting-edge labels, including Alabama Chanin, Edun, FIN, and NOIR.

UPCOMING EXHIBITION Menagerie Seung Lim Kim, Real Face, Acrylic, 2010.  June 9 - July 3, 2010 Menagerie, the product of the fourth class of MA in Illustration graduates, represents the most wide-ranging work that has yet been exhibited by the School of Graduate Studies. These illustrations truly reflect not only the independently-minded mission of the program, but also the ways in which an illustrator can today have a presence that extends beyond the printed page. Students working side-by-side over the past two years have brought together a mosaic of cultures from Europe, Asia, and the Americas. Their shared ideas and collaborations mimic the notion of a “menagerie” in the best sense of the word. Most of these illustrations depict animals and/or people, but it is the various stories being told and the methods of execution that reflect the diversity of the artists who created them.

UPCOMING EXHIBITION Japan Fashion Now h.NAOTO Autumn/Winter 2008. Photograph courtesy of h.NAOTO September 17, 2010 - January 8, 2011 Japan Fashion Now will explore how Japanese fashion has evolved in recent years. Japanese fashion today embraces not only the cerebral, avant-garde looks associated with the first wave of Japanese design in the 1980s, but also a range of subcultural and youth-oriented styles, such as the Elegant Gothic Lolita style and the Cosplay phenomenon. In addition, Japanese fashion often has a strong component of realism and an obsessive interest in perfecting classic styles.Contemporary Japanese fashion is significant globally, precisely because it mixes elements of the avant-garde (pushing the aesthetic envelope at the level of “high” art) and elements of realism (such as high-tech fabrics or an obsession with the perfect pair of jeans) with popular or subcultural elements, especially those associated with electronic manifestations, such as animated cartoons and videogames.

MUSEUM PUBLICATION American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion Book Cover This beautifully illustrated book is the first to examine the relationship between innovation and aesthetics as expressed by American couturiers and fashion designers from the late 1910s to the present day. The book reveals that great design and great style are consistent elements in the work of American’s best fashion designers. Patricia Mears introduces many great forgotten figures, as well as many familiar names. Work by lesser-known figures, such as Jessie Franklin Turner, Ronaldus Shamask, and Charles Kleibecker, is discussed alongside pieces by more celebrated creators, such as Halston and Charles James; work by designers of the past is juxtaposed with that of present-day designers such as Rick Owens, Yeolee Teng, and Maria Comejo. James’s grand and structurally imposing gowns from the 1950s appear alongside contemporary Infantas by Ralph Rucci; the section on draping juxtaposes 1930s gowns by Elizabeth Hawes and Valentina with more contemporary garments by Jean Yu and Isabel Toledo; clothing cut into pure geometric shapes, such as circles, triangles, and rectangles, is illustrated by World War I–era teagowns by Jessie Franklin Turner, Claire McCardell’s mid-century rompers garments, and modern sportswear by Yeohlee and Shamask. While the United States may be best known worldwide for its casual mass-marketed garments, Mears demonstrates that artistry, innovation, and flawless construction are the true marks of American fashion.  Barnes & Noble, FIT affiliated bookstore

MUSEUM INFORMATION The Museum at FIT is dedicated to advancing knowledge of fashion through exhibitions, programs and publications. The Museum is open to the public free of charge,Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 8pm, and Saturday 10 am - 5pm. Located on the Southwest corner of Seventh Avenue at 27th Street in New York City, the museum can be reached by subway: 1, C, E, F, V, N, or R, and by bus: M20 and M23. Penn Station is close by at 31st Street for the Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit, and Amtrak. For more information, be sure to visit our website at www.fitnyc.edu/museum or phone our information line at 212-217-4558For Press Information about any of our exhibitions or programs, please call the Office of Communications and External Relations, 212-217-4700