Goings on at The Museum at FIT

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 and Book Signing FashionEast: The Spectre That Haunted Socialism - Djurdja Bartlett Friday, February 4, 6 pm Katie Murphy Amphitheatre Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor Join Djurdja Bartlett, author and research fellow at London College of Fashion, University of the Arts London, as she discusses her new book, FashionEast: The Spectre That Haunted Socialism, which explores the rich history of fashion under communism in the 20th century. Bartlett examined more than 70 years of fashion in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to create this fascinating study. Her current research, funded by the British Academy, is on the relationship of East European to Western fashion throughout the 20th century, up to today. A book signing will follow. Special Event Tokyo Fashion Festa NY Part 2: Cosplay Thursday, February 17, 6pm Katie Murphy Amphitheatre Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor Join us for a special cosplay fashion show, featuring costumes inspired by favorite characters from manga andanime. The fashion show will be followed by a make-up demonstration showing how to create the latest cosplay and subcultural styles. After the event, MFIT will host another tea party reception—because the one last fall was so much fun!—where you can mingle, model, and learn more about cosplay! You won’t want to miss this exciting event. This program has been made possible in part through funding by the FIT Student-Faculty Corporation. Talk and Tours Japan Fashion Now Friday, February 28, 10:30am Monday, February 28, 6pm Special Exhibitions Gallery, Museum Lobby Join curator Valerie Steele for a tour of Japan Fashion Now. Staged in a dramatic mise-en-scène evoking 21st-century Tokyo, this exciting exhibition features approximately 100 ensembles that represent Japanese fashion in all its radical creativity. Tours will be followed by a signing of the companion book, Japan Fashion Now. Lecture and Book Signing Behind the Scenes of Dressed ~ Nary Manivong, David Swajeski, and Ally Hilfiger Tuesday, March 1, 6pm Katie Murphy Amphitheatre Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor Join director David Swajeski for an inside look at Dressed, his film about Laotian-American fashion designer Nary Manivong’s journey from homelessness on the streets of Ohio to the runway at New York Fashion Week. Self-taught, Manivong was named one of 12 designers to watch by Women’s Wear Daily. Following a screening of selected footage from the film, Swajeski and Manivong will be joined by Manivong’s design partner, Ally Hilfiger, to talk about NAHM, their new brand.

CURRENT EXHIBITION His and Hers Yves Saint Laurent, suit, black leather, checkered wool, fall 1983, France, gift of Roz Gersten Jacobs. - Photograph by Eileen Costa ©MFIT. November 30, 2010 - May 10, 2011 His & Hers explores the relationship between gender and fashion over the past 250 years. Clothing can act as an immediate signifier of gender – however, while making distinctions between “masculine” and “feminine” styles of clothing may seem natural, gendering is not a biological phenomenon. While much of the show discusses the changing ideas of “appropriate” attire for each gender, it also includes examples of so-called unisex and androgynous fashion. More than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles from the Museum’s permanent collection are featured chronologically, from a seemingly “feminine” 18th-century man’s velvet suit, to a woman’s “power suit” from the 1980s. Also included are works by innovative designers such as Giorgio Armani, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Gianni Versace, and Vivienne Westwood. Read more here.

CURRENT EXHIBITION Japan Fashion Now Mori (Forest) Girl style, assorted fabrics, February 20 2010. Photograph by Kazuma Iwano, courtesy of Drop Shop. September 17, 2010 - January 8, 2011 / Extended through April 2, 2011 Japan Fashion Now explores 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 Tsusho Limited. Additional support has been provided by the Couture Council of MFIT, Sokenbicha, and the Consulate General of Japan in New York. Visit the exhibition website

UPCOMING EXHIBITION Vivienne Westwood, 1980-89 Vivienne Westwood, “Rocking Horse” boots, leather and wood, 1987, England, Gift of Francisco Melendez A.K.A. Francois. Photograph by Irving Solero ©MFIT March 8, 2011 - April 2, 2011 Vivienne Westwood, 1980-89 will be the first exhibition to focus exclusively on Westwood’s fashions of the 1980s. The exhibition will highlight the significant shift in Westwood’s design style during this decade. Her work of the early 1980s was prominently featured in edgy magazines such as i-D, and her following was comprised mainly of street-style insiders. By 1985, her more structured, feminine, and historically-inspired styles began to attract the attention of the mainstream press and widened Westwood’s audience. Vivienne Westwood, 1980-89 will feature over 50 objects—including clothing, photographs, and video. Highlights will include a unisex ensemble from the Pirate collection (1981), a woman’s ensemble from the influentialBuffalo collection (1982), and a pair of Westwood’s iconic “Rocking Horse” boots from the Harris Tweed collection (1987). Editorial photographs from a number of prominent magazines, including The Face and British Vogue, will further illuminate Westwood’s impact on 1980s fashion. Runway footage and video interviews with the designer will also be on view. This exhibition has been organized and curated by FIT graduate students of the Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice program.

MUSEUM PUBLICATION Japan Fashion Now Book Cover Scholars have long acknowledged the significance of the Japanese “fashion revolution” of the 1980s, when avant-garde designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons introduced a radically new conception of fashion. But what has happened in the years since? Lavishly illustrated, Japan Fashion Now is the first book to explore how Japanese fashion has evolved in recent years. During this time, Japanese pop culture has swept the world, as young people everywhere read manga, watch anime, and play video games. Japan has had a profound impact on global culture, often via new media. With essays by Valerie Steele (“Is Japan Still the Future?”), Patricia Mears (“Formalism and Revolution”), Hiroshi Narumi (“Japanese Street Style”), and Yuniya Kawamura (“Japanese Fashion Subcultures”), Japan Fashion Now explores how the world of fashion has been transformed by contemporary Japanese visual culture. Valerie Steele is chief curator and director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Patricia Mears is deputy director of The Museum at FIT. Yuniya Kawamura is associate professor of sociology at FIT. Hiroshi Narumi is associate professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design. Yale University Press

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