Goings on at The Museum at FIT

THE LATEST NEWS PUBLIC PROGRAMSFashion Culture: Special Programs CURRENT EXHIBITION Eco-Fashion: Going Green UPCOMING EXHIBITIONJapan Fashion Now MUSEUM PUBLICATION American Beauty: Aesthetics and Innovation in Fashion MUSEUM INFORMATION

THE LATEST NEWS Karl Lagerfeld, courtesy of Chanel **Couture Council to Honor Karl Lagerfeld** “In recognition of his unparalleled role as a creative force in the world of fashion," explains Dr. Valerie Steele, "we have chosen to bestow on Karl Lagerfeld, The Couture Council Fashion Visionary Award." The Couture Council of The Museum at FIT will present this unique award, created exclusively for Karl Lagerfeld, at a luncheon on September 10, at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. Individual tickets range from $1000 to $1,500. Tables of ten range from $5,000 to $25,000. Proceeds will benefit The Museum at FIT. For more information on the Couture Council, visit the museum's website here. To reserve luncheon tickets call 212.594.9206 or e-mailVictoria_Guranowski@fitnyc.edu **MFIT "in the round" ** Keep an eye out for our latest digital project, in which MFIT has partnered with Leica Camera AG andSynthescape Art Imaging to digitize highlights from our forthcoming exhibition, Japan Fashion Now. Launching in September, the project will feature high-resolution 360° views of selected works from the show. **Smithsonian Magazine's Museum Day** On Saturday, September 25, 2010, The Museum at FIT will participate in the fifth annual Museum Day, presented by Smithsonian magazine. A celebration of culture, learning, and the dissemination of knowledge, Smithsonian’s Museum Day reflects the spirit of the magazine and provides free admission to Smithsonian magazine readers and Smithsonian.com visitors at museums and cultural institutions nationwide. While MFIT is ALWAYS FREE, we are happy to be included in a nationwide event that celebrates museums and encourages museum visitation. **Fashion's Night Out** is Friday, September 10th, from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Don't miss exciting, one-of-a-kind events in hundreds of stores open after-hours to the public all around the city. Get the scoop on what's happening where by visiting www.fashionsnightout.com or by following FNO's Twitter feed @fnonyc.

PUBLIC PROGRAMSFashion 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. Talk and Tour Eco-Fashion: Going Green Wednesday, September 22, 10:30 am  Fashion and Textile History Gallery, MFIT Co-curator Jennifer Farley 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 Stella McCartney, Bodkin, EDUN, FIN, Martin Margiela, and NOIR. Talk and Tour Japan Fashion Now Monday, September 27, 6 pm Fashion and Textile History Gallery, MFIT Join exhibition curator Valerie Steele for a tour of the special exhibition Japan Fashion Now. Staged in a dramatic mise-en-scène evoking the cityscape of 21st-century Tokyo, this exciting exhibition features approximately 100 ensembles that represent Japanese fashion in all its radical creativity. Tour will be followed by a signing of the companion book, Japan Fashion Now. Programs in October, November and December 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. Read more here.

UPCOMING EXHIBITIONJapan 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. Generous support for Japan Fashion Now has been provided by Yagi Tsugho Limited. Japan Fashion Now is also supported by the Consulate General of Japan in New York. Read more here.

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 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, M, 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 212-217-4558 For Press Information about any of our exhibitions or programs, please call the Office of Communications and External Relations, 212-217-4700

The exhibitions and programs of The Museum at FIT are supported in part by the generosity of the members of the Couture Council