Goings on at the Museum at FIT

THE MOST FASHIONABLE MUSEUM IN NEW YORK CITY	March 2, 2011
MARCH EVENTS NEWSLETTER THE LATEST NEWS PUBLIC PROGRAMSFashion Culture: Special Programs CURRENT EXHIBITIONJapan Fashion Now CURRENT EXHIBITIONHis and Hers UPCOMING EXHIBITIONVIvienne Westwood, 1980-89 MUSEUM PUBLICATIONJapan Fashion Now MUSEUM INFORMATION
THE LATEST NEWS **Ahhhh Valentino** The Museum at FIT has chosen the recipient for the 2011 Couture Council Artistry of Fashion Award. Director Valerie Steele announced that “Valentino was chosen in recognition of his status as a world-historical figure in modern fashion, a man who has dressed every beautiful woman of the past 50 years, from Jacqueline Kennedy to Madonna. Valentino’s concept of beauty is Apollonian in its classicism and perfect taste. Yet red, the color of love and passion, runs like a leitmotif through his career, asserting his passionate love of beauty. In today’s world of an often debased celebrity culture, Valentino’s dresses continue to assert an aristocratic ideal of art and beauty.” **Newly Scheduled Public Program Tonight** On Wednesday, March 2nd, best-selling author and Coty Award-winning designer Alan Flusser will share with you the do's and dont's of buying and wearing stylish clothes, as well as the formation of an individual dressing style that transcends the fickleness of fashion's momentary appeal. A book signing will follow. Don't miss this great (free) menswear event!! Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion ~ Alan Flusser Register here.
PUBLIC PROGRAMSFashion Culture: Special Programs Reservations are required. Space is limited.  To RSVP for a program, Register Online Here 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. Don't miss this great menswear event!! Dressing the Man: Mastering the Art of Permanent Fashion ~ Alan Flusser Wednesday, March 2, 6pmKatie Murphy Amphitheatre Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor Join exhibition curator Jennifer Farley for a tour of His & Hers, an exhibition exploring how distinctions of “masculine” and “feminine” in fashion shift over time.  His & Hers Talk and Tour Wednesay, March 9, 10:30am Fashion & Textile History Gallery Curator Valerie Steele's tours lead you through Japan Fashion Now, a dramatic mise-en-scène of approximately 100 ensembles that represent Japanese fashion in all its radical creativity. Book signings follow. Japan Fashion Now Talk and Tours Monday, March 14, 6pm Wednesay, March 23, 10:30amSpecial Exhibitions Gallery, Museum Lobby Fashion historian Elyssa Dimant and Francisco Costa, women’s creative director of the Calvin Klein Collection discuss the minimalist movement in fashion as it relates to parallel currents in art, architecture, and design. A book signing follows. Minimalism and Fashion ~ Elyssa Dimant and Francisco Costa Tuesday, March 15, 6pm Katie Murphy Amphitheatre Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor What makes Opening Ceremony such a success? It's their multifaceted approach to merchandising. Humberto Leon and Carol Lim in Conversation with Valerie Steele Tuesday, March 22, 6pm Katie Murphy Amphitheatre Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor The discussion between photographer Roxanne Lowit and Simon Doonan, creative director at Barneys, of what went on behind the scenes at John Galliano fashion shows will likely be lively. A book signing will follow. Backstage Dior ~ Roxanne Lowitt and Simon Doonan Wednesday, March 23, 6pm Katie Murphy Amphitheatre Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor Adah Menken - “The Naked Lady” - was a 19th century daredevil performer, poet, and rebel. No doubt today she'd be a major tabloid celebrity. A book signing will follow.  A Dangerous Woman: Adah Isaacs Menken ~ Barbara Foster and Michael Foster Tuesday, March 29, 6pm Katie Murphy Amphitheatre Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor This night of fashion illustration will be a feast of sketches and drawings as two noted authors present their latest books. A book signing will follow. Fashion Illustration ~ Anna Kiper and Laird Borrelli Thursday, March 31, 6pm Katie Murphy Amphitheatre Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, first floor
CURRENT EXHIBITIONJapan Fashion Now Mori (Forest) Girl style, assorted fabrics, February 20 2010. Photograph by Kazuma Iwano, courtesy of Drop Shop. Closes 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
CURRENT EXHIBITIONHis 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.
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONVIvienne Westwood, 1980-89 World’s End (Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood), woman’s boots, brown suede, Buffalo collection, Fall 1982, England, museum purchase. Photograph by Eileen Costa ©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 PUBLICATIONJapan 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