The Museum at FIT in October 2012

OCTOBER EVENTS NEWSLETTER  THE LATEST NEWS PUBLIC PROGRAMS Fashion Culture: Special Programs CURRENT EXHIBITION Interior Design Annual Senior Thesis Exhibition, Class of 2012  CURRENT EXHIBITION Fashion, A-Z: Highlights from the Collection of the Museum at FIT, Part Two  CURRENT 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 ... **Ivy Style Symposium** The schedule and speaker line-up for our annual fall fashion symposium on November 8-9 are now online. Don't miss two-days of international presenters who will discuss, debate, and celebrate the aesthetic, cultural, and aspirational aspects of Ivy style. Speakers include Richard Press, grandson of J. Press; journalist G. Bruce Boyer; designer Jeffrey Banks; and Claudio Del Vecchio, chairman and chief executive officer of Brooks Brothers. Register now. **2012 Artistry of Fashion Award** On 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, Ivy Style, that we hope you'll come see, but we want to point you towards our many online resources. We've added 50 new objects and their related images to ourOnline Collections, bringing the total to over 700 searchable objects and 1120 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!

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 Fashion Conversation: The Model Alliance Wednesday, October 17, 6pm Model Sara Ziff and legal scholar Susan Scafidi discuss The Model Alliance, a nonprofit advocacy group for American fashion models founded by Ziff in 2011. The Model Alliance works with the Fashion Law Institute established by Professor Scafidi at Fordham University to promote fair labor standards for models in the U.S. Ms. Ziff will also discuss her work as a producer on the film Picture Me, which chronicles models’ experiences in the fashion industry. Professor Scafidi is the first educator ever to offer a course in fashion law, and she has been internationally recognized for her leadership in the field. Hal Rubenstein ~ in conversation with Valerie Steele Saturday, October 27, 11:30 am Hal Rubenstein is the fashion director at InStyle magazine. As an authority on celebrity style, Mr. Rubenstein has appeared on TV shows such as Today and The View. He will be talking to Valerie Steele, director of MFIT, about his book, 100 Unforgettable Dresses, now in its fourth printing. This event is part of the Designers & Books Fair, to be held at FIT on October 27 and 28. There will be a $20 charge per person to attend. Please register at designersandbooks.com. Talk and Tour: Fashion, A–Z: Highlights from the Collection of The Museum at FIT, Part Two Wednesday, October 31, 10:30 am Join co-curator Jennifer Farley for a tour of Fashion, A–Z: Highlights from the Collection of The Museum at FIT, Part Two. MFIT continues its exploration of modern and contemporary design with the second of two exhibitions that showcase the most exquisite selections from the museum’s permanent collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories.

CURRENT EXHIBITION Interior Design Annual Senior Thesis Exhibition, Class of 2012  October 2 - 27, 2012 This exhibition showcases a selection of outstanding senior thesis presentations from the FIT Interior Design department’s four-year degree program. The program’s yearlong thesis project has two parts: a semester of research followed by a semester of design. Upon entering the eighth semester of study, students translate their research and 4 years of cumulative experience into final design solutions. They establish horizontal and vertical circulation patterns as they locate stairs, elevators and means of egress. While shaping and composing the various interior volumes they anticipate mechanical systems for heating, ventilation, air conditioning, power, fire, and life safety. In addition to selecting colors, finishes, furniture, and equipment students develop extensive space plans, lighting plans, elevations, perspectives, and details to illustrate their design intent.

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.

CURRENT 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. 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-18th 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 18th and 19th 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 Drool... The V&A in London will be mounting an exhibition on David Bowie in 2013. Here's a sneak peek! Ivy Style Our exhibition has been open a month now, but we think these behind-the-scenes shots still have a great story to tell. Punk it is The spring 2013 exhibition organized by The Costume Institute will be PUNK: Chaos to Couture. Johnston & Murphy All you might ever want to know about the history of Presidential shoes! Dear Cathy (Horyn) Grace Coddington posts Oscar de la Renta's open letter to New York Times fashion critic Cathy Horyn on Facebook. Oscar de la Renta: 50 years The man who designs "clothes for women to wear" has been on an unrelenting quest to help women feel beautiful for 50 years. He was honored with MFIT's Couture Council award for a life’s work that embodies a tremendous creative contribution to the field of fashion. Lady Dior Web Documentary Pretty girl speaking in a pretty language about pretty clothes. What else is there? Learning to drape in the 1920s Cornell University Library has shared some photographs from their 1920s dressmaking classes on flickr.com. Diana Vreeland on the big screen Comprised of rich archival footage and commentary contributed by friends, family and colleagues of the genuine fashion icon, Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel documents Vreeland’s transformation from “ugly duckling” to, arguably, the most influential fashion arbiter of her time. DVF's First-person view of fashion week "DVF Through Glass" is the designer's collaboration with Google Glass, a wearable new technology that lets users interact with the digital world without distracting from the real world. Tavi Gevinson on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon It's easy to fall in love with Tavi all over again! How to Write About Dressing Well: The Truth About Fashion Criticism If you are not just a wearer of fashion, but a studier and thinker on and about fashion...this article is for you.

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 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