The Museum at FIT in August

AUGUST EVENTS NEWSLETTER  THE LATEST NEWS  PUBLIC PROGRAMSFashion Culture: Special Programs CURRENT EXHIBITIONSporting Life UPCOMING EXHIBITION MFIT Bridge Thesis Show 2011  UPCOMING EXHIBITION Daphne Guinness  LINKS WE LIKEA world of fashion is on the web MUSEUM PUBLICATIONDaphne Guinness MUSEUM INFORMATION

THE LATEST NEWS  **What's Happening?**  ** Delve into Sporting Life** Our current exhibition, Sporting Life, has its own website where you can learn more about the exhibition. It's filled with lots of great images of sporting fashions!! ** Mark your calendars** The topic of this year's Fashion Symposium has been announced!! Fashion Icons and Insiders will take place on November 3-4, 2011. You won't want to miss this one, we're lining up some very special speakers that we hope to tell you about soon! ** Honor Valentino** There are still a few tickets available for our Couture Council benefit luncheon on Wednesday, September 7th. Anne H. Bass, Charlotte Moss, Diane von Furstenberg, and The Honorable Daphne Guinness are among the luncheon chairs.

PUBLIC PROGRAMSFashion Culture: Special Programs 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. Reservations are required. Space is limited. To RSVP for a program, Register Online Here Join Jennifer Farley or Colleen Hill, exhibition curators, for a tour of Sporting Life, an exhibition that explores the relationship between active sportswear and fashion over the past 150 years. Featuring more than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles from the museum's permanent collection, it highlights changes in silhouette, construction, and technology that demonstrate the evolution of modern active sportswear.  Sporting Life Talk and Tour Wednesday, August 17, 10:30am The full schedule of fall Fashion Culture programs will be available August 15, 2011.

CURRENT EXHIBITIONSporting Life Left: Stephen Sprouse t-shirt and leggings, 1985, Gift of Stephen Sprouse, Inc. / Right: Raleigh/Giordana Sport man’s bicycling ensemble, 1985, Gift of Raleigh Cycle Co. - Photograph by Eileen Costa ©MFIT. May 25 - November 5, 2011 Sporting Life explores the relationship between active sportswear and fashion from the mid-19th century through the present. Clothing for sporting activities has often influenced fashion—and vice versa. Sportswear manufacturers have been responsible for many innovations in performance apparel, even as they recognize that “fashionability” is an important factor. Indeed, much of today’s active sportswear is just as fashionable as it is functional. Visit the Special Exhibition Website

UPCOMING EXHIBITION MFIT Bridge Thesis Show 2011  Stephen Gardner - McSorely’s -2011  September 2 - 24, 2011 The first-ever terminal degree at FIT, the MFA in Illustration, was a glint in the eyes of this first class of graduates as they pursued the MA in Illustration. They were enthusiastic, supportive, and patient. When approval for the new degree was granted, without skipping a beat, this extraordinary group of students signed on for an intensive and exciting year of study. The MFA Bridge Thesis Show represents the culmination of a year of extended exploration into finding a unique voice and brand, as well as honing drawing and painting skills. The year also included a unique trip to the West Coast to visit film and entertainment studios, and to partake in studio visits with Los Angeles area illustrators whose markets and influences are markedly different from those here in New York City. The work in this exhibition represents all of these experiences and speaks to the level of study that graduate school elicits.

UPCOMING EXHIBITION Daphne Guinness  Photo © René Hebermacher.  September 16, 2011 - January 7, 2012 Approximately 100 garments and accessories from the personal collection of Daphne Guinness will be featured in this exhibition, along with clothes that she has designed herself, a selection of her vertiginous shoes, and her films, The Phenomenology of the Body and Mnemosyne. The exhibition is co-curated by Daphne Guinness and Valerie Steele. Read more here Daphne Guinness has been made possible in part through the generosity of LEVIEV Extraordinary Diamonds. Additional support was provided by M∙A∙C Cosmetics and The Couture Council.

LINKS WE LIKEA world of fashion is on the web God Save My Shoes Watch this amusing trailer for a forthcoming documentary film on women and their shoes. While not included in this trailer, an interview with Valerie Steele is integrated into the full version.  Daphne hits the streetsA streetstyle photographer captures Daphne in Paris. Hermès: A Family Affair  A history of the "elegant" brand of Hermès (and a potential LVMH takeover attempt?) Is fashion really museum art? In case you didn't know why fashion is in museums, Suzy Menkes of the New York Times explains... Dr. Valerie Steele teams up with Barneys MFIT's director and chief curator, Valerie Steele, contributes to Barney's blog, The Window. With A Concise History of Couture, she explains the evolution of couture, from its birth in 19th century Paris to its larger-than-life presence today. "The Museum Collection" for Barbie is a fusion of fashion and art Ensembles inspired by Klimt, Van Gogh, and Leonardo da Vinci are the fashions for a new series of collector’s edition Barbie dedicated to great works of art. Jean-Paul Gaultier exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The National Post conducted a Q&A with Nathalie Bondil, the curator of the Jean Paul Gaultier exhibition. Bondil explains why Gaultier agreed to an exhibition at MMFA, having declined offers of career retrospective exhibitions in the past.

MUSEUM PUBLICATIONDaphne Guinness Book Cover “She is one of the—if not the—most stylish women living,” says designer and film director Tom Ford, speaking of Daphne Guinness, the subject and co-author of this extraordinary book. From her platinum-and-black striped hair to her towering 10-inch heels, her to-die-for couture collection and amazing diamond jewelry, Daphne Guinness embodies the rarified, personal style of a true fashion icon. A designer, editor, model, muse, and stylist, Ms. Guinness is renowned for the way she uses fashion to transform herself. As her friend, the art historian John Richardson puts it: “She is the object of her own creativity. Her persona is her own masterpiece.” Karl Lagerfeld of Chanel, Valentino, Azzedine Alaia, and the late Alexander McQueen are among the many great fashion designers whose spectacular garments form part of Daphne Guinness's personal collection of haute couture. But Ms. Guinness is far more than a great couture client, she is also an inspiration to designers because of her fearless personal style. In an extended interview with the curator and fashion historian Valerie Steele, Daphne Guinness explains the origins and characteristics of her style. She also discusses her friendships and collaborations with other creative fashion personalities from the late Isabella Blow to the photographer Steven Klein and the jeweler Shaun Leane. Sumptuously illustrated with both high-fashion photographs and paparazzi shots, the book is a spectacular showcase for the world of Daphne Guinness. Available Oct 17, 2011 from 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 at212-217-4558 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

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