Fashion Institute of Technology
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Faces and Places in Fashion: Michael Steinberg
No full textPart presentation, part Q&A, FIT's "Faces & Places in Fashion" lecture series is an opportunity to connect students and the public alike to the pulse of the fashion industry in an open and conversational setting.Retired chairman and CEO Emeritus of Macy's West Dept Stores, Mr. Steinberg describes an early career as a horticulturalist and landscape designer before trying his hand at fashion merchandising where his success at Abrahan & Strauss led to a positions at Federated and Macy's West. Currently he serves as a consultant for Macy's
Ballerina Symposium: Russ Tallchief "The Five Moons: Oklahoma’s Native American Ballerinas"
No full textBallerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse was The Museum at FIT’s 23rd academic symposium. The one-day event explored the ways in which twentieth-century ballerinas and their glamorous, romantic costumes profoundly inspired modern fashion.Russ Tallchief administers the Office of Student Diversity and Inclusion at Oklahoma City University. A playwright, author, dancer, and member of the Osage Nation of Oklahoma, Tallchief has taught classes on leadership, literature, writing, and public speaking at colleges and universities throughout Oklahoma
Ballerina Symposium: Lynn Garafola "Anna Pavlova: A Ballerina of Taste"
No full textBallerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse was The Museum at FIT’s 23rd academic symposium. The one-day event explored the ways in which twentieth-century ballerinas and their glamorous, romantic costumes profoundly inspired modern fashion.Lynn Garafola is professor emerita of dance at Barnard College, Columbia University. A dance historian who has written extensively on twentiethcentury dance, especially ballet, she is completing a biography of the choreographer Bronislava Nijinska
Ballerina Symposium: Jane Pritchard "Sylphs, Snowflakes and Soldiers"
No full textBallerina: Fashion’s Modern Muse was The Museum at FIT’s 23rd academic symposium. The one-day event explored the ways in which twentieth-century ballerinas and their glamorous, romantic costumes profoundly inspired modern fashion.Jane Pritchard, MBE, is the curator of dance at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. She is also a dance historian, lecturer, archivist, and radio commentator who curated and edited the exhibition and book Diaghilev and the Golden Age of the Ballets Russes, 1909–1929
Faces and Places in Fashion: David Wolfe
No full textPart presentation, part Q&A, FIT's "Faces & Places in Fashion" lecture series is an opportunity to connect students and the public alike to the pulse of the fashion industry in an open and conversational setting.David Wolfe, Creative Director of Doneger Design Direction, a division of the Doneger Group describes for the first time business is driving the fashion world because of the economic crisis. A slide-show presentation refers to other periods in history that suffered difficult times. For 2010 he sees a rebirth in American values, patriotism reflected in gingham, nautical, bi-color stripes, polka-dots, brighter and two-tone colors and classic lines. He predicts that fashion tunnel vision is not responding to the mood of the moment and not appealing to the consumer. Instead of revivals and vintage clothing, designers need to be creative.Recorded at the Fashion Institute of Technology amphiteatre on Sept. 21, 2009
Fashion Culture: Power In Fashion with Stefano Tonchi and Grazia d'Annunzio
No full textStefano Tonchi, global chief creative officer for L’Officiel Group, and Grazia d’Annunzio, former deputy director of Vogue Italia, discuss the power of military uniforms and their influence on high fashion. Tonchi is co-author of the book "Uniform: Order and Disorder.
Project of the Fashion Industries Oral History Series: Vera Maxwell Part 2
No full textVera Maxwell was New York City in 1901. She trained as a ballet dancer and joined the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in 1919. In 1924, she married Raymond J. Maxwell and shortly after began her first foray into the fashion world as a model for a wholesale company, eventually starting to sketch, design and model her own clothes in 1929. By 1936 Vera's designs were receiving positive reviews in the fashion press and her freelance collections were receiving attention in New York. She was also designing for 7th Avenue firms such as Adler and Adler, Glenhunt and Max Milstein. Vera opened Vera Maxwell Originals in 1946 and became known for her classic separates and suits, dresses teamed with jackets, print dresses, Chesterfield coats and Wraparound jersey dresses. During the war years, she gained a reputation for her practical sense, which was evident in the one-piece overalls she designed for female factory workers. Her simple lapel-less suits were spare and gave no hint of having been stripped of their decorations, which demonstrated her skill at overcoming the fabric rations of the time. Other innovations Vera became known for were her desire to design for women of short height, or without a model's figure and for women whose jobs took them beyond their desks. In 1974, she designed a "speedsuit" made of jersey with an elasticized waist, which could be pulled on in just 17 seconds. Vera closed her business in 1985, eventually passing away in January 1995."Vera Maxwell was a designer of American Classics. She started in the coat business. Nancy White, then working at Home and Garden, asked her to do children's coats for the magazine, which she did. She later got into women's fashion. “Vera’s a designer who understands women and understands their needs. There is a timelessness about her clothes, as we know, and thank heaven there is.”" - Kathy TankusThird interview in a series of three of Vera Maxwell, possibly conducted by John Touhey
FIT Talks: Interview of Taur Orange
No full textTaur Orange is the Director of the Office of Educational Opportunities Programs at the Fashion Institute of Technology
FIT Talks: Jamel Shabazz Interview
No full textApril Calahan, Curator of Manuscripts at the Special Collections and College Archives unit of the Fashion Institute of Technology library, interviews street style fashion photographer Jamel Shabazz. Mr. Shabazz talks of his life growing up in New York City as a child of divorce. He recalls how he started learning photography in Germany while serving in the armed forces. He began documenting his world in 1980 when he began taking photographs of young people who reminded him of his own life growing up, and found his camera facilitated his ability to engage with and mentor young people. He talks about the importance of mentorship, the trust that he honed between him and his subjects. He discusses how discounted clothing was often purchased from stores around Delancey and Orchard streets in the 1970s as well as other hubs where urban fashion originated from. He compares the photographic work he's done in the studio to his preference to shooting on the street. Calahan and Shabazz review the specific processes behind a number of Shabazz's favorite photographs. He finally discusses his respect for FIT, and his reasons for donating a collection of photographs to FIT's archive, and how important he believes photography is for documenting history. Alex Joseph, editor of Hue Magazine, joins in as interviewer to ask Mr. Shabazz about his personal clothing collection, which consists of pieces he designed himself or has kept over several decades, and which he uses in his fashion shoots. Finally, Mr. Shabazz recalls how fashion has changed over time.Jamel Shabazz was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of fifteen, he picked up his first camera and started to document his peers. Inspired by photographers Leonard Freed, James Van Der Zee, and Gordon Parks, he was marveled with their documentation of the African American community. In 1980 as a concerned photographer with a clear vision he embarked on a mission to extensively document various aspects of life in New York City, from youth culture to a wide range of social conditions. Due to its spontaneity and uniqueness, the streets and subway system became backdrops for many of his photographs.Shabazz says his goal is to contribute to the preservation of world history and culture. In the past 10 years he has had over two dozen solo exhibitions; “Men of Honor”, “A Time Before Crack”, “Pieces of a Man”, “Represent”, When Two Worlds Meet”, “Back in the Days,” and “Seconds of my Life,” which have been shown from Argentina to The Netherlands, England, Italy, Germany, France, Japan and throughout the United States.An even longer list of group showings include Art Basel; Miami, the Brooklyn Museum, the Newark Museum, the Contact Photo Festival, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Studio Museum in Harlem, Duke University, and the Adidas Photo Festival in Ethiopia.Over the years Jamel has volunteered, working with a wide range organizations centered on inspiring young people in the field of photography and social responsibility. In addition, he has been a teaching artist with the Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation; the Bronx Museum’s Teen Council youth program, The International Center of Photography, Friends of the Island Academy; and the Studio Museum in Harlem’s Expanding the Walls Project.Adding to his community service he has lectured at the Fashion Institute of Technology, The International Center for Photography, The Brooklyn Historic Foundation, Haverford College and Parsons New School of Design.Shabazz is the author of 5 monographs and has contributed to numerous others. He is presently working on a new book, titled “The Book of Life”
Project of the Fashion Industries Oral History Series: Bonnie Cashin 1982
No full textThis interview is done by Mildred Finger who talked to designer Bonnie Cashin about her life from her early years in California and her experiences in her career in New York, London and Scotland. Cashin attended The Art Students League for painting and later, The New School for social research. She was working in the world of the Seventh Avenue Garment District before pulling away from mass manufacturing ideals of the industry and was more interested in producing quality garments. She began designing for Philip Sills and then moved to designing sportswear for Adler and Adler in 1950, when she also won the Neiman Marcus Award at the Coty Awards. They also discuss Cashin’s move to London to work with Mr. Arthur Stuart Liberty of Liberty’s of London who in 1960 opened a Bonnie Cashin Shop inside the department store for custom ready-to-wear fashion. Bonnie’s true love for handcrafted techniques and fabrics lead her towards her biggest project inspired by her “impossible dream” to create the Innovative Design Fund. This non-profit fund is discussed towards the end of the interview and Bonnie describes her inspirations for creating this program that supports artists in various stages of their design career and helps them make their ideas marketable.Bonnie Cashin, born in Fresno, California in 1907, had a very successful costume and clothing design career spanning sixty years. In 1951 she started Bonnie Cashin, Inc declaring herself independent from the garment industry. She began working with Philip Sills, of Sills and Co. in 1952, for the 1953 fall season. By then she was known for her ability to use design ideas and take inspiration from her extensive travels