The Museum at FIT in September

THE LATEST NEWS  ... What's Happening ...  ** Valentino Celebrated** Yesterday was the Museum's annual Couture Council Artistry of Fashion Award luncheon. Heralding the arrival of Fall Fashion Week, the event brought celebrities, designers, and socialites together to honor this legendary designer and raise money to benefit the Museum. ** Dive into Sporting Life** The website for our current exhibition, Sporting Life, is now live! It's filled with lots of great images of sporting fashions and there's plenty to explore!! ** 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! ** Fall Programs are here** The full listing of fall Fashion Culture programsare now listed on our website. September offerings are listed below.

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 Monica Miller discusses the cultural history of the black dandy, from Enlightenment England to the contemporary, cosmopolitan art worlds of London and New York. Her book Slaves to Fashion received the 2010 William Sanders Scarborough Prize for the best book in African American Literature and Culture.  Slaves to Fashion LectureThursday, September 22, 6pm Exhibition curators Jennifer Farley or Colleen Hill present Sporting Life, an exhibition that explores the relationship between active sportswear and fashion over the past 150 years.  Sporting Life Talk and Tour Monday, September 26, 6pm Join exhibition curator Dr. Valerie Steele for a tour of Daphne Guinness, featuring approximately 100 garments and accessories from Guinness’s personal collection. Daphne Guinness Talk and Tour Monday, September 28, 10:30 am

CURRENT 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.

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 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 Make a Sports Jersey Corset The blog of designer Alabama Chanin features a high school lacrosse shirt re-fashioned as a corset. A not-to-be-missed home fashion project! The Ever-Fashionable Tilda Swinton Photographer Tim Walker directs Tilda Swinton in a video related to August's W Magazine cover story, "Planet Tilda."  Cindy Sherman, MAC's New Cover Girl? Cindy Sherman is certainly not the first artist to cross-over into the commercial realm by partnering with a major brand. Sherman created three highly "made up" characters using three distinct color stories for the fall 2011 MAC campaign which launches on September 29, 2011.  Dressed to Play: Sportswear 1870-1900 Did you know there's another exhibition on sporting fashion in NYC?? It is at the Alice Auten House Museum on Staten Island!!  69 is a lucky number for the Getty Museum The Getty Museum in Los Angeles has acquired 69 black-and-white original images from the estate of the late fashion photographer Herb Ritts. Consisting of photographs of nudes, portraits, and images made for high-fashion ad campaigns, this acquisition is the most significant body of the artist's work on the West Coast. An exhibition is planned for April 2012. Here's to Hoping that Costumes Aren't Gone With the Wind Textile conservators are faced with what to do with a Gone With the Wind wedding veil. Learn why the do-nothing approach is sometimes best. Poiret's Fashions Will Not Cross the Atlantic, Not Right Now Anyway The Metropolitan Museum of Art cancels their loan of Poiret's to Kremlin Museum due to a dispute that has halted all loans from Russia to American Museums.

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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