The Museum at FIT in September

SEPTEMBER EVENTS NEWSLETTER  THE LATEST NEWS PUBLIC PROGRAMS Fashion Culture: Special Programs CURRENT EXHIBITION Fashion, A-Z: Highlights from the Collection of the Museum at FIT, Part Two  UPCOMING EXHIBITION Ivy Style  UPCOMING EXHIBITION Fashion & Technology  LINKS WE LIKE A world of fashion is on the web MUSEUM PUBLICATIONIvy Style MUSEUM INFORMATION

THE LATEST NEWS ... What's Happening ... **MFIT has been accredited!**The American Alliance of Museums (AAM) found that the Museum at FIT not only meets the National Standards and Best Practices for a U.S. Museum, but it also has “one of the most important collections of its type” and is “a good steward of its resources held in the public trust." This is the highest national recognition possible for a museum. Read more about this exciting accomplishment on our website. **2012 Artistry of Fashion Award** Yesterday, Wednesday, September 5th, the Couture Council of FIT honored Oscar de la Renta at a benefit luncheon at Lincoln Center in New York City. Around 600 fashionable guests, including Anna Wintour, Sarah Jessica Parker, Barbara Walters, and Iris Apfel, were in attendance. Learn more about the event that kicked-off fashion week. **Back to School Resources ** The start of the semester is a time of fresh beginnings and new faces on campus. Not only do we have a new exhibition that we hope you'll come see, Ivy Style, but we want to point you towards our many online resources. We've added 50 new objects and their related images to our Online Collections, bringing the total to over 650 searchable objects and 1060 images! And if you need to find something in particular but can't find it in our Online Collections, we've compiled a list of links to other museums that have made fashion available online. Also don't miss all the categorized fashion boards we've made available over at Pinterest!  **Fashion Culture Programs** Our fall programs are now all listed on the website. In addition to our popular Talk & Tours, we have a diverse array of events that includes a fashion conversation with Hal Rubenstein, the fashion director at InStyle, and a screening of A Quiet American: Ralph Rucci & Paris, with writer and filmmaker C.S. Leigh on hand to introduce the film and to answer questions afterward.

PUBLIC PROGRAMS Fashion 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 Talk and Tour: Fashion A-Z: Highlights from the Collection of The Museum at FIT, Part Two Monday, October 3, 10:30am. Join co-curator Jennifer Farley for a tour of the second installment of MFIT's showcase of modern and contemporary design, featuring selections from the museum’s permanent collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories. Fashion Film: A Quiet American: Ralph Rucci & Paris Thursday, October 4, 6pm A Quiet American: Ralph Rucci & Paris follows this great American designer for four years while he works on seven different collections, collaborating with some of the great haute couture artisans and technicians of Paris to create clothing that pushes the boundaries of what couture can be. Writer and filmmaker C.S. Leigh will be on hand to introduce the film and to answer questions afterward. Mr. Leigh’s previous films include See You at Regis Debray (2008), Process (2004), and Far From China(2001), with Marianne Faithfull and Lambert Wilson. Talk and Tour: Ivy Style Monday, October 8, 6pm Richard Press offers an informative and entertaining tour of Ivy Style, an exhibition celebrating one of the most enduring clothing styles of the 20th century. Ivy Style shows how the “Ivy League look” began on prestigious college campuses in the United States during the early years of the 20th century, and it reveals how, nearly one hundred years after its inception, Ivy style remains a thriving global influence. Mr. Press will be introduced by Patricia Mears, MFIT deputy director and curator of Ivy Style. He is the grandson of Jacobi Press, the founder J. Press, and he worked at the family company from 1959 to 1991, eventually becoming president. He also spent four years as president and CEO of F.R. Tripler & Co. A graduate of Dartmouth College and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, he has performed as an actor off-Broadway and has co-produced two plays on Broadway. He is a featured columnist on the popular website Ivy Style and was cited by Tablet Magazine as “the preeminent historian” of classic Ivy.

CURRENT EXHIBITION Fashion, A-Z: Highlights from the Collection of the Museum at FIT, Part Two  Oscar de la Renta for Balmain , evening dress in silk embroidered organza , spring 2002, France, gift of Mrs. Martin D. Gruss.  May 23 - November 10, 2012 Fashion, A-Z: Highlights from the Collection of the Museum at FIT, Part Two is the second of two exhibitions that highlight modern and contemporary pieces from the Museum’s permanent collection. More than sixty garments and accessories are featured by designers from Adrian to Zoran, including work by Charles James, Ralph Lauren, and Diane von Furstenberg. Full portraits of all exhibition objects from the two exhibitions will be included in a companion publication by TASCHEN later this fall. Read more here.

UPCOMING EXHIBITION Ivy Style  Chipp, madras jacket, circa 1970. The Museum at FIT, 87.111.4, gift of Glenn Forbes.  September 14, 2012 - January 5, 2013 Ivy Style celebrates one of the most enduring clothing styles of the 20th century. While viewed today as a classic form of dressing, in its heyday, Ivy style—or the “Ivy League look” —was actually so cutting-edge that it went on to inform the evolution of menswear for decades. This exhibition examines the genesis of Ivy style on the prestigious college campuses of the United States during the early years of the twentieth century, looks at the ways in which the style became codified by mid-century, and reveals how, nearly one hundred years after its inception, Ivy style is still a thriving global influence. Ivy Style presents three main periods of the look: the interwar years of the 1920s and 1930s; the post-war era to the end of the 1960s; and the revival from the 1980s to the present. Focusing almost exclusively on menswear dating from the early 20th century through today, more than sixty ensembles, both historic and contemporary, are intermingled in an environment evocative of an Ivy League university campus. Period material will include suits, letter sweaters, university reunion and class jackets, athletic wear, and textiles from private lenders as well as the permanent collection of The Museum at FIT. Pioneering American firms such as Brooks Brothers and J. Press will be represented by tweed jackets, polo coats, and many other classic items. A recreation of a mid-century university shop will pay homage to the traditional purveyors of Ivy style, as well as to such sartorial staples as the Oxford cloth shirt, khaki pants, penny loafers, and madras shorts. Items from the Andover Shop, Bass, Arrow Shirts, Ralph Lauren, Jeffrey Banks, and Tommy Hilfiger will appear in the exhibition, as will examples of contemporary, new interpretations of Ivy by renowned designers such as Michael Bastian and Thom Browne. In addition, many unique Ivy League objects—period photographs, sports ephemera, and drinking glasses—will be on loan from The Cary Collection. Read more here

UPCOMING EXHIBITION Fashion & Technology  Jean Paul Gaultier, Jumpsuit, Multicolor nylon/spandex, 1996, France, 96.66.1, Museum Purchase .  November 27, 2012 - May 8, 2013 Fashion & Technology will examine how, throughout history, fashion has engaged with technological advancement and been altered by it. Time and again, fashion’s dynamic relationship with technology has both expanded its aesthetic vocabulary and streamlined its means of production. In recent years, designers have made technology a focal point of their collections, but as early as the mid-eighteenth century, technological advancements were shaping fashion design and fabrication. The development of aniline dyes, the sewing machine, synthetic fibers, and zippers have all sent fashion in new directions. More recently, so have wireless circuitry and the creation of fashion design software. Technologies outside of the fashion industry also contribute to change within it. These include global transportation, the internet, blogging, online retailing, and the increased speed of global communication through digital platforms and social-media outlets. The goal of this exhibition is to analyze the impact of technologies on the nature of fashion and its design, and to question whether these developments push the industry forward or ultimately set it back. Fashion & Technology will begin with a display of examples from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, such as a 1780s suit made with a machine-knit textile, and an 1860s dress produced using synthetic dyes. From there, it will showcase prominent developments from different time periods, travelling chronologically all the way to the present day. The exhibition will feature objects exclusively from The Museum at FIT’s costume collection alongside a selection of textiles and accessories that highlight the multifaceted nature of technological developments. The use of video monitors and computers will enhance the exhibition, offering the opportunity to showcase works by small, cutting-edge design teams, such as the Dutch label Freedom of Creation, alongside pieces by fashion icons such as Elsa Schiaparelli, André Courrèges, Issey Miyake, and Nicholas Ghesquière for Balenciaga.

LINKS WE LIKE A world of fashion is on the web Hotpants Music reporter Gretta Cohn looks at the musical career of hot pants...let's just say 1971 wasn't a bad year. Goodbyes We saw the passing of a number of fashion luminaries in August: Anna Piaggi and Helen Gurley Brown Sinister Pleasures Valerie Steele guest edits Metalsmith Magazine's special 'Gothic: Sinister Pleasures' issue. The Daman Chronicles In episode 3 of The Daman Chronicles, Eric Daman sits down for a chat with Valerie Steele and the two fashion gurus break down why trends like the styles of the 80's keep coming back again and again. Miss Wintour does jeans? Anna Wintour's First Vogue cover, November 1988, saw her covergirl clad in jeans! Taking a Hard Spill in Designer Shoes This is an important cautionary tale to all designers out there! The story of the Siegerson Morrison designers (FIT alums) losing at the business side of things should not be taken lightly.

MUSEUM PUBLICATIONIvy Style Book Cover Many of the most familiar sartorial images of the 20th century can be traced to the prestigious college campuses of America. The "Ivy League Look," or "Ivy Style," was once a cutting-edge look that for decades led the evolution of menswear. Far more than a classic way of dressing, Ivy Style spread beyond the rarified walls of Harvard, Yale, and Princeton to influence countless designers. Focusing on menswear dating from the early 20th century through today, this elegant book traces the main periods of the look: the interwar years when classic items, such as tweed jackets and polo coats, were appropriated from the English man's wardrobe and redesigned by pioneering American firms such as Brooks Brothers and J. Press for young men at elite East Coast colleges; then from 1945 to the late 1960s, when the staples of Ivy Style—oxford cloth shirts, khaki pants, and penny loafers—were worn by a new, diverse group that included working-class students and jazz musicians; and finally the current revival of the Ivy look that began in the early 1980s. Ivy Style celebrates both high-profile proponents of the style—including the Duke of Windsor, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Miles Davis—who made the look their own, and designers such as Ralph Lauren, J. McLaughlin, Tommy Hilfiger, Michael Bastian, and Thom Browne, who have made it resonate with new generations of style enthusiasts. Edited by Patricia Mears, deputy director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology; With contributions by Christopher Breward, G. Bruce Boyer, Christian Chensvold, Patricia Mears, Masafumi Monden, and Peter McNeil. Available 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 at 212-217-4558