Hue Spring 2016 by Fashion Institute of Technology

The Magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology

FIT was here (sorta).

volume 9 | numbers 2 & 3 | spring 2016

ON THE COVER

GET SOCIAL WITH FIT

What on Earth is an astronaut doing on Hue’s cover?

If you’re not following FIT on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, you’re missing out on great connections and conversations. Check out these top posts of the year so far.

Take a look at that flag in the background. It was made by Annin The Magazine of the

Flagmakers, the country’s oldest and largest flag manufacturer,

Fashion Institute of Technology

which has produced flags for innumerable landmark moments

Hue is for alumni and friends of FIT, a

in American history, including presidential inaugurations and

college of art and design, business and

funerals, expeditions to the North Pole and up Mount Everest,

technology. It is published three times a

and the Battle of Iwo Jima. Annin

year by the Division of Communications and External Relations, 227 West

Facebook The invitation to watch The Little Prince in the Haft Auditorium on March 14 reached 567,000 users. Of those, 42,000 viewed the event page, and 1,900 RSVPed yes.

is also the family business of

27 Street, Room B905, New York,

Sandy Van Lieu ’94. Although she

NY  10001-5992, 212 217.4700.

was a child when the Apollo 17 spacecraft touched down on the moon, she honed her manufacturing skills at FIT and is now a

Editor Linda Angrilli Managing Editor Alex Joseph, MA ’13

flagmaking company. Turn to page 18 to learn everything you ever wondered (or didn’t) about our venerable Stars and Stripes.

NOW PLAYING AT hue.fitnyc.edu

Staff Writer Jonathan Vatner Editorial Assistant Laura Hatmaker Art Direction and Design Empire Design Studio Hue online: hue.fitnyc.edu Email: hue@fitnyc.edu Get involved with FIT and your fellow alumni. Like the FIT Alumni page on Facebook and follow @FITAlumni on Twitter. Email the Office of Alumni Relations at alumnirelations@fitnyc.edu and let us know what you’ve been up to.

Courtesy of NASA

Assistant Vice President for Communications Carol Leven

sixth-generation co-owner of the

Vice President for Communications and External Relations Loretta Lawrence Keane

>> WATCH: A whiz-bang highlight reel of computer-generated imagery created by Ben Kilgore ’04, including scenes from Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and Prometheus.

Printed by Cohber Press on Rolland Enviro™ Print. The Enviro family has the lowest environmental footprint in North America due to its FSC certification and Ancient Forest Friendly policy, a 100 percent post-consumer waste fiber composition, biogas energy and processed chlorine-free manufacturing. Environmental Savings as compared to paper using 100 percent virgin fiber.

A report that FIT was named the top public college in New York State by ranking specialist Niche.com: 1,200 likes, 40 comments, and 77,000 total views.

and collaborators including Trupal Pandya ’16 and Alexander Papakonstadinou ’16.

>> WATCH: Hue’s video, Six Questions for Susanne Bartsch, is a Webby honoree! Written by Alex Joseph and produced

68 trees preserved 65,778 gallons of water saved 6,8730 lbs of waste not generated 22,075 lbs CO 2 not generated 57,000,000 BTUs of energy not consumed 28 lbs NO X nitrous oxide gas prevented

by Ken Browne, the short film was made in conjunction with

Please recycle or share this magazine.

and Sciences.

last year’s Museum at FIT exhibition about the legendary nightlife impresario. Webbys, the top prizes for internet content, are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts

—Mark Shearwood, Photography, from “The Kids Stay in the Picture,” page 22

A link to an Observer article about Fairy Tale Fashion at The Museum at FIT: 1,400 likes, 43 comments, and 73,000 views. Twitter and Instagram The street signs on FIT’s corner: 8,000 views on Twitter and 1,190 likes on Instagram.

Sunshine and shadows on Seventh Avenue: 7,800 Twitter views and 970 Instagram likes.

LinkedIn A reposted alumni note from Hue, featuring a Brooklyn mural by graphic designer Edward Ubiera ’99: 33,000 views. A link to Hue’s video of Tony Chi ’79 sharing his thoughts on hospitality design: 32,000 views. Check it out at fitnyc.edu/tonychi.

Departments

Features 7 WHY WE BUY A retail expert discloses secrets of shopping

9 MADE TO MEASURE Toss out those dress forms! New technology is here

10 HEAR, HERE

>> WATCH: A short film that lovingly details the lives of nomads in the Himalayas, by Associate Professor Praveen Chaudhry

“I just want to make beautiful pictures.”

A small sampling of cool talks on campus this spring

12 MIRROR, MIRROR Fairy Tale Fashion casts a spell at The Museum at FIT

14 EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN A professor photographs the struggles of nomads in Tibet and Kashmir

16 THE WIGMAKER Raffaele Mollica’s whole career is a hairy situation

NICK PARISSE, PHOTOGRAPHY ’09

18 RAISING THE STANDARD What do the American flags at Lincoln’s funeral, the North Pole, and Iwo Jima have in common?

22 THE KIDS STAY IN THE PICTURE Children’s fashion is a mainstay for Photography alumnus Mark Shearwood

25 THE FORCE IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE Hanging out at Skywalker Ranch with costume-keeper Joanee Alina Honour ’92

26 SIX CAREER-DEFINING PIECES BY MARIA CANALE, JEWELRY DESIGN ’82 Diamonds are this girl’s best friend

28 CREATURE FEATURES It’s alive! Or is it? Ben Kilgore, Computer Animation and Interactive Media ’04, explains CGI

4 HUE’S NEWS 8 I CONTACT: STUDENT 32 ALUMNI NOTES 35 WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

ON THE COVER

GET SOCIAL WITH FIT

What on Earth is an astronaut doing on Hue’s cover?

If you’re not following FIT on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, you’re missing out on great connections and conversations. Check out these top posts of the year so far.

Take a look at that flag in the background. It was made by Annin The Magazine of the

Flagmakers, the country’s oldest and largest flag manufacturer,

Fashion Institute of Technology

which has produced flags for innumerable landmark moments

Hue is for alumni and friends of FIT, a

in American history, including presidential inaugurations and

college of art and design, business and

funerals, expeditions to the North Pole and up Mount Everest,

technology. It is published three times a

and the Battle of Iwo Jima. Annin

year by the Division of Communications and External Relations, 227 West

Facebook The invitation to watch The Little Prince in the Haft Auditorium on March 14 reached 567,000 users. Of those, 42,000 viewed the event page, and 1,900 RSVPed yes.

is also the family business of

27 Street, Room B905, New York,

Sandy Van Lieu ’94. Although she

NY  10001-5992, 212 217.4700.

was a child when the Apollo 17 spacecraft touched down on the moon, she honed her manufacturing skills at FIT and is now a

Editor Linda Angrilli Managing Editor Alex Joseph, MA ’13

flagmaking company. Turn to page 18 to learn everything you ever wondered (or didn’t) about our venerable Stars and Stripes.

NOW PLAYING AT hue.fitnyc.edu

Courtesy of NASA

Assistant Vice President for Communications Carol Leven

sixth-generation co-owner of the

Vice President for Communications and External Relations Loretta Lawrence Keane

A report that FIT was named the top public college in New York State by ranking specialist Niche.com: 1,200 likes, 40 comments, and 77,000 total views.

and collaborators including Trupal Pandya ’16 and Alexander Papakonstadinou ’16.

>> WATCH: Hue’s video, Six Questions for Susanne Bartsch, is a Webby honoree! Written by Alex Joseph and produced

68 trees preserved 65,778 gallons of water saved 6,8730 lbs of waste not generated 22,075 lbs CO 2 not generated 57,000,000 BTUs of energy not consumed 28 lbs NO X nitrous oxide gas prevented

by Ken Browne, the short film was made in conjunction with

Please recycle or share this magazine.

and Sciences.

last year’s Museum at FIT exhibition about the legendary nightlife impresario. Webbys, the top prizes for internet content, are presented by the International Academy of Digital Arts

—Mark Shearwood, Photography, from “The Kids Stay in the Picture,” page 22

Sunshine and shadows on Seventh Avenue: 7,800 Twitter views and 970 Instagram likes.

Departments

Features 7 WHY WE BUY A retail expert discloses secrets of shopping

9 MADE TO MEASURE Toss out those dress forms! New technology is here

10 HEAR, HERE

>> WATCH: A short film that lovingly details the lives of nomads in the Himalayas, by Associate Professor Praveen Chaudhry

“I just want to make beautiful pictures.”

A small sampling of cool talks on campus this spring

12 MIRROR, MIRROR Fairy Tale Fashion casts a spell at The Museum at FIT

14 EVIDENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN A professor photographs the struggles of nomads in Tibet and Kashmir

16 THE WIGMAKER Raffaele Mollica’s whole career is a hairy situation

NICK PARISSE, PHOTOGRAPHY ’09

18 RAISING THE STANDARD What do the American flags at Lincoln’s funeral, the North Pole, and Iwo Jima have in common?

22 THE KIDS STAY IN THE PICTURE Children’s fashion is a mainstay for Photography alumnus Mark Shearwood

25 THE FORCE IS STRONG WITH THIS ONE anging out at Skywalker Ranch with H costume-keeper Joanee Alina Honour ’92

26 SIX CAREER-DEFINING PIECES BY MARIA CANALE, JEWELRY DESIGN ’82 Diamonds are this girl’s best friend

28 CREATURE FEATURES It’s alive! Or is it? Ben Kilgore, Computer Animation and Interactive Media ’04, explains CGI

4 HUE’S NEWS 8 I CONTACT: STUDENT 32 ALUMNI NOTES 35 WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

hue’s news

Graduate Students’ Exhibition Delves Into a Golden Age of Fashion Journalism

Packaging Design Students Display Champagne Taste

Cutty McGill

TOY DESIGN PROGRAM CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

YUM-O! RACHAEL RAY DELIVERS When two FIT students living in Alumni Hall put up a “Send Food” sign made entirely of Post-it notes in their window, which faces Rachael Ray’s television studio and office, they never expected to meet the celebrity chef and talk show host in person. But lo and behold, Ray showed up at their door with a tray of sandwiches and salad, and she invited them back to the studio with front-row seats. The segment aired February 24. Teresa Citera and Samantha Gellman, both second-semester Fashion Business Management majors and avid cooks, were thrilled with the delivery, which they said was above and beyond what they could ever make (or afford) themselves. “And if your parents are thinking that you’re underfed,” Ray told Citera and Gellman, “you can always come on over here and we’ll feed you.” After that delicious day, a new Post-it sign appeared on the students’ window: “Thx Rachael.”

Manhattan’s Rubin Museum of Art rang with cheers on February 15, when more than 220 Toy Design alumni gathered in the soaring space to celebrate the program’s 25th anniversary. Alumni from every graduating class along with more than 40 executives from leading toy companies paid tribute to the program and its founder and chair, Judy Ellis. In her remarks, President Joyce F. Brown called Ellis the “very heart and soul” of the program, and pointed out that virtually all Toy Design graduates are employed in the industry and have created more than 3,500 products. Four of the alumni at the event had worked on teams that won 2016 TOTY (Toy of the Year) awards from the Toy Industry Association, and one was a nominee. Recognizing the amount of talent produced by the program, Steve Pasierb, president of the TIA, said, “What we need in this industry is more Judys!” But Ellis, who was inducted into the TIA Hall of Fame in 2013, kept the focus on the graduates. “They’re part of a family that’s so connected,” she said proudly. “You really feel it when they’re all together in a group.” Remembering the event the next day, she was thinking of her former students, some of whom she hadn’t seen in years, though she keeps in touch. “It was so emotional,” she said. “So much hugging!”

FIT Tigers Are Winning! It’s been another stellar year for the college’s Athletics Department, which continues to field nationally ranked teams in NJCAA Division III. Women’s tennis finished second in the nation, with Fashion Business Management majors Kiana Brooks and Maia Sepulveda becoming national champions in singles play, and Coach Lynn CabotPuro named Coach of the Year. The half-marathon and cross-country teams both finished in the top ten in the nation, and last spring’s track and field team finished eighth in the country and placed in the top ten in ten events. Check out event recaps and video at fittigers.com.

Tree Composite by Sylvie Covey, adjunct instructor of Fine Arts, digital print, 35 by 45 inches.

EXCITING PERSPECTIVES FROM FACULTY

COLOR US SURPRISED!

What do you get when you combine 90 stellar artworks by FIT’s renowned faculty into one gallery show? New Views: FIT Art and Design Faculty Exhibition, a collection of thought-provoking pieces in a wide array of disciplines and media from the 17 programs in the School of Art and Design. The show, curated by Assistant Professor Karen Middleton, Fashion Design ’75, closed March 20, but it lives on at fitnyc.edu/newviews.

The Pantone Color Institute, which provides trend forecasting and palette-development services, now hosts a daylong course in color forecasting, offered by the Center for Continuing and Professional Studies. To mark the occasion, a few colorful facts about Pantone:

A Fashion Wish Comes True Thanks to a generous Fashion Design student and Make-A-Wish Metro New York, Cindy, a 17-year-old girl with spinal muscular atrophy, which restricts the use of her hands, lived her dream of designing a collection and presenting it on the runway. Over the course of a year, Veronica Apsan ’17 helped Cindy shop for fabric, develop patterns, and fabricate the garments. Together they created four looks: a coat, a dress, a pants/ blouse combo, and a puff skirt and top. An audience of family, friends, and faculty watched Cindy’s fashion show on November 14, presented with hair and makeup services donated by Aveda and models from FIT’s Models and Stylists Association.

 Announced in 1999, the first Pantone Color of the Year—the color of the millennium, in fact—was Cerulean Blue, a calming, universally appealing hue. This year there are two colors: Rose Quartz and Serenity.  Sephora produces makeup in the Color of the Year, every year.  The 59-room Pantone Hotel in Belgium is decorated with blocks of bright color.  Minion Yellow, a color from the hit movie Minions that debuted in 2015, represented the first time the company created a color for an animated character.

Jerry Speier

Left: A Dahl-Wolfe photo of model Bijou Barrington on the January 1942 cover. Right: Model Jean Patchett in a Carolyn Schnurer top, photographed by Dahl-Wolfe for the December 1952 issue.

Sara Griffin and Shan Khan, both Packaging Design ’16, took the top two prizes in an international competition to create a gift box and label for a magnum of Pol Roger Brut Vintage 2006 Champagne that commemorated the life of Sir Winston Churchill. The competition was sponsored by Pentland Group plc, a Londonbased conglomerate of apparel and footwear brands; Arts Thread, a media company and online design portfolio platform; Maison Pol Roger; and the International Churchill Society UK. The judging panel included two of Churchill’s grandchildren. The students’ designs were picked from more than 700 entries from 20 countries. Griffin’s box and label were covered with witty pencil drawings illustrating key moments in the British prime minister’s life, such as a plane to represent his role in World War II and a kidney to acknowledge the one he ruptured as a child. Griffin won £1,000, a trip to Maison Pol Roger in Epernay, France, and a paid internship at Pentland. Khan won £750 and an internship offer.

Dr. Joyce F. Brown, FIT’s president, and Judy Ellis, Toy Design founder and chair, with Toy Industry Association executives Ken Ebeling, Ken Seiter, Paul Vitale, and Steve Pasierb. The event was sponsored by Just Play and Nickelodeon.

In 2017, the iconic fashion magazine Harper’s Bazaar will reach its 150th year. The magazine has been a trendsetter from day one, but a recent exhibition presented in The Museum at FIT by students in the Master of Arts program in Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice, zeroed in on a 22-year period during which the triumvirate of editor-in-chief Carmel Snow, fashion editor Diana Vreeland, and photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe broke new ground in fashion journalism. The Women of Harper’s Bazaar, 1936-1958 drew on Dahl-Wolfe’s iconic images, donated to the museum by the photographer herself, to show how the three visionary women collaborated on defining the magazine’s style. Also on display were historic garments from the museum’s collection alongside the Bazaar fashion spreads in which they were featured— for example, Christian Dior’s Mystère coat from the groundbreaking 1947 collection that Snow famously christened “A New Look.” The show was on view from March 1 to April 2.

Fern Mallis, creator of New York Fashion Week and recipient of FIT’s President’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2013, signed copies of her new book, Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis, in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre on March 1. The book, adapted from her ongoing series of conversations at the 92nd Street Y, comprises 19 interviews with American fashion luminaries—including FIT alumni Norma Kamali, Calvin Klein, and Michael Kors.

QUICK READ Fashion designer Dennis Basso ’73, longtime FIT supporters John and Laura Pomerantz, and the homeshopping channel QVC will be honored at this year’s FIT Foundation gala at the Plaza Hotel on May 9.

hue | spring 2016

Academy Award–nominated cartoonist and filmmaker Bill Plympton discussed his art and animation at a February 23 event sponsored by the Illustration MFA program and the School of Graduate Studies.

Opening May 20 in The Museum at FIT’s Fashion and Textile Gallery: Uniformity, an exhibition of 70 objects that explore the history of military, work, school, and sports uniforms, and their effect on the fashion world.

For the third year in a row, FIT hosted the New York City regional competition for Poetry Out Loud, a high-school poetry-reading contest that helps students master public-speaking skills, build self-confidence, and learn about their literary heritage.

The Fashion Business Management senior capstone event on March 16 brought executives from the fast-fashion brand rue21 to speak with students, who had analyzed the company in their Merchandising Strategies class.

The papers of fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert—who founded the Council of Fashion Designers of America, produced the landmark 1973 Battle of Versailles fashion show, and introduced biannual fashion weeks in New York—are now housed in FIT’s Special Collections. hue.ﬁtnyc.edu

hue’s news

Graduate Students’ Exhibition Delves Into a Golden Age of Fashion Journalism

Packaging Design Students Display Champagne Taste

Cutty McGill

TOY DESIGN PROGRAM CELEBRATES 25 YEARS

Tree Composite by Sylvie Covey, adjunct instructor of Fine Arts, digital print, 35 by 45 inches.

EXCITING PERSPECTIVES FROM FACULTY

COLOR US SURPRISED!

Jerry Speier

Left: A Dahl-Wolfe photo of model Bijou Barrington on the January 1942 cover. Right: Model Jean Patchett in a Carolyn Schnurer top, photographed by Dahl-Wolfe for the December 1952 issue.

hue | spring 2016

Academy Award–nominated cartoonist and filmmaker Bill Plympton discussed his art and animation at a February 23 event sponsored by the Illustration MFA program and the School of Graduate Studies.

hue’s news

Why We Buy

BUILDING HYPE AROUND TYPE

The #TYPE show’s visual identity, designed by Yeh.

An expert in consumer behavior shares strategies for stores BY ALEX JOSEPH

Smiljana Peros

Despite the shift from print to digital publishing, typography remains the soul of visual communication design. #TYPE, the inaugural exhibition of FIT’s new Creative Technology minor, showcased the best student typographic designs from such courses as Introduction to Kinetic Typography, Immersive Publication Design, Digital Layout Design, Design for Screen-Based Media, and Intro to User Experience Design. “Often people look at typography as an isolated field of study and don’t realize it’s part of every aspect of design,” said C.J. Yeh, professor and assistant chair of Communication Design and coordinator of the Creative Technology minor. Examples of professional projects were displayed alongside student works to demonstrate the link between the coursework and current industry practices. The exhibition was on view from January 26 to February 6 in Gallery FIT at The Museum at FIT.

President Brown, Representative Maloney, and Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen.

Economic Impact Report Proves that

Fashion Is Big Business

Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (NY-12), joined by New York City Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen and President Joyce F. Brown, released a new report on the economic impact of the fashion industry on February 18. The announcement, made at FIT, coincided with New York Fashion Week—a biannual event that attracts more than 200,000 visitors to the city and generates nearly $900 million in total economic impact. The report, compiled by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee, of which Maloney is the ranking member, shows the importance of fashion as an economic driver. The industry—including design, manufacturing, wholesale, and retail—provides approximately 183,000 jobs in New York City, about 6 percent of the city’s private-sector workforce.

Lorenzo Ciniglio

Empowering Women to Speak Up Online

On March 6, Suyeon Kim, Fashion Design ’17, was named the top designer from FIT at the 17th annual Fusion Fashion Show, a competition between FIT and the Parsons School of Design. She described her neoprene and laser-cut vinyl garments as “feminine with unique constructions inspired by the distinct glacial formations of Iceland.” The four shows, held at Parsons this year, were attended by a total of 2,500 people. Parsons won Best Overall School, breaking FIT’s three-year winning streak.

Did you know that only 8.5 percent of Wikipedia editors are women? On March 8, International Women’s Day, the FIT community participated in a Wikipedia Edit-a-thon, a group effort of women (and people of other genders) to write pages about women, to push that statistic higher. On March 3, the related Women and Technology Symposium featured three female tech stars: Grace Choi, founder and CEO of Mink, the first printable makeup system; industrial designer Krystal Persaud, director of product design at littleBits, which produces electronic building blocks for inventors; and creative technologist Madison Maxey, co-founder and president of The Crated, a startup developing wearable technology. The events were organized by the Information Technology Division and the Gladys Marcus Library, and were supported by an FIT Diversity Grant.

QUICK READ Director Mark Osborne presented his new animated feature, The Little Prince, to a packed house in the Haft Auditorium on March 14, four days before it was to debut in the U.S. The domestic release has now been delayed, though the film has already grossed $95 million worldwide. 6

hue | spring 2016

Six Fashion Design students specializing in intimate apparel received a total of $15,000 in scholarships at the Femmy Awards, the Underfashion Club’s annual event hosted this year by burlesque icon Dita Von Teese on February 2.

On March 11, director Eric Pellerin de Turckheim presented his documentary, Hubert de Givenchy: A Life in Haute Couture, about the legendary fashion designer. It was the first film shown in the School of Art and Design’s Dean’s Dialogue series.

Recently, the consumer expert Paco Underhill was helping a European jewelry brand plan a store in Beverly Hills. In France and Italy, its branches have a private chamber for purchases of $100,000 or more. European luxury shoppers, usually from old money, appreciate discretion (especially if they’re buying for someone other than their spouse). But the California location wouldn’t need the secret room, Underhill argued: nouveaux-riches Americans like having an audience when they spend. Fortune 50 companies pay Underhill and his firm, Envirosell, handsomely for such insights. Everyone else can read the editorials he writes for The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, and his books, including Why We Buy, which has been translated into 27 languages. In January, 13 executives from around the world came to FIT’s Center for Continuing and Professional Studies for his eight-day course, “The Science of Shopping.” Participants studied how every aspect of the commercial environment affects consumer behavior, learned principles of design for stores and e-commerce, discussed strategies for changing shoppers’ perceptions of their brands, and conducted a case study of an actual retailer. Traditionally, companies looking to improve sales conduct consumer surveys. But what people say and what they actually do are often quite different. Shoppers, Underhill says, frequently underestimate the time they spend in stores and may even misremember what they purchased. That’s where the science part of his job comes in. Envirosell analyzes video of stores and hires trackers to secretly observe how people shop. One of Envirosell’s first clients was a struggling drugstore chain. Scrutinizing the stores’ checkout process on video, they noticed people arriving at the registers with their arms laden with items. Simply by placing shopping baskets in a more convenient location, Envirosell helped increase the average purchase by 18 percent. Underhill says 20,000 jobs were saved as a result. Increasing sales is a perennial business challenge, but recent social and cultural changes have left retailers more vulnerable than ever. In their marketing materials, many major brands still cast models who don’t represent the global shopper. “Imagine three women at the MAC counter at Selfridges,” Underhill says. “One might be the third wife of a Somali warlord, another the daughter of a Kazakh executive, and the third a Pakistani ‘Sloane ranger’ [a well-bred Londoner like the ones DAVID DePASQUALE, ILLUSTRATION ’10

spotted in Chelsea’s Sloane Square]. They’re not peaches and cream.” And while the average web designer is under 30, the person perusing luxury brands online may be considerably older. Our corneas yellow as we age, affecting the way we see color: a yellow background on your site may blunt your message by making the text harder to read. Though stores have traditionally been owned, designed, and managed by men, the empowered female shopper is altering the retail landscape. The sensuous environment of Victoria’s Secret is one obvious result. Underhill also appreciates the ingenuity of Pirch, a store that specializes in modern bathrooms and kitchens. A typical sale ranges from $40,000 to $60,000. Through an innovative partnership with Tesla Motors, a woman can browse shower fixtures while her husband test-drives a Model S (or, presumably,

vice versa). Another creative idea is employed by Asiye’s Boutique in Connecticut, which sells prom, homecoming, and specialty dresses using the tagline “Noticeably Unique.” To guarantee that no one else is wearing the same style, each dress is registered to a particular event or school. With all this change, it’s a stressful time in the retail world, but Underhill almost makes the challenge seem like an intellectual game that’s fun to puzzle out. How different, how much more pleasurable shopping would be if every store employed his ideal mix of artful play and scientific rigor. FIT will offer “The Science of Shopping” again in June. Participants who complete the course will earn an FIT/SUNY Professional Development certificate. Find out more and register at fitnyc. edu/shopping or call 212 217.7715. hue.ﬁtnyc.edu

hue’s news

Why We Buy

BUILDING HYPE AROUND TYPE

The #TYPE show’s visual identity, designed by Yeh.

An expert in consumer behavior shares strategies for stores BY ALEX JOSEPH

Smiljana Peros

President Brown, Representative Maloney, and Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen.

Economic Impact Report Proves that

Fashion Is Big Business

Lorenzo Ciniglio

Empowering Women to Speak Up Online

hue | spring 2016

i contact: student

Back to Nature

Made to Measure

Lydia Baird Textile Development and Marketing ’16 You and Willa Tsokanis ’16 established a textile composting system at FIT. How did you come up with the idea? I started as a Fashion Design student, and I was very aware of how much muslin was being thrown out. In my textile fibers class, I learned that cotton is biodegradable. The idea just came to me.

Students master the latest body-scanning technology used in the industry

Why is composting textiles important? If we turn fabric into compost, we’re not only keeping it out of the landfill, we’re turning it into a valuable product that we spread on FIT’s natural dye garden and other green spaces on campus. If textile composting becomes a common practice in the industry, it could also address the problem of soil erosion, which is going to be a catastrophe on the scale of global warming. If our soil turns to desert, we can’t grow crops. Can other fabrics besides muslin be composted? Any cotton fabric can be composted, but a poly-cotton wouldn’t fully decompose. I’m doing research with Professor Ajoy Sarkar, and we’re focusing on denim next. We’ll take three types of store-bought jeans, one 100 percent cotton, one with 1 percent spandex, and one eco-friendly denim that’s naturally dyed. We’re sending the results to a lab that will test for toxic chemicals, carbon/nitrogen ratios, salt levels, and nutrients in the soil.

It’s

no secret that size and fit vary widely across—and sometimes even within—brands. Retailers say sizing is the main reason for clothing returns, and manufacturers are concerned about the time and expense of shipping product around the globe, only to have it returned for poor fit. Now the Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology is preparing students to work with new technology that makes the process more precise. The students are learning on a state-of-the-art 3D body scanner, donated by [TC]2, a body measurement and visualization technology company. To get scanned, a person enters a private space the size of a changing room and strips down to their underwear.

What’s next for the compost project? I’ve connected with the composting facility on Governor’s Island, and they’ve agreed to do a pilot this spring, two or three times as big as what we’re doing on campus. Expanding textile composting is going to require municipalities to get involved, not just industry. What did this project teach you? I’m beginning to understand the connection between chemistry and fashion. I remember taking my first science class at Middlebury College when I was 18. We had to come up with a lab question based on something around us. It was the most dumbfounding thing to me—my education hadn’t taught me to be curious. To realize that science can be creative caused a huge shift in my life. You already had a career in costume design. What was that like? I was a shopper for The Amazing Spider-Man 2, The Blacklist on NBC, and Last Week Tonight With John Oliver on HBO—I would pick things up around the city to help realize the costume designer’s vision. I was also doing independent design work. For an Anne Hathaway film called Song One, we had to costume a nomadic Berber tribe wedding. We ended staying up until 3 in the morning, draping and redraping 40 women. It was a great cultural education.

hue | spring 2016

tion Management, and Textile Development and Marketing students are now working with it. The iStyling avatar can also be used for color styling with makeup and accessories, so the technology has applications across more majors, such as Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing. Frumkin is pleased that the students have the opportunity to learn this new technology. It’s changing the industry by addressing the formidable sizing dilemma, he says. “It takes the guesswork out.”

Body scanners “take the guesswork out.”

MATTHEW SEPTIMUS

The scanner works with accompanying iStyling software, which takes the information from the scan and develops an avatar that the customer can use to try on garments virtually. FIT is the only institution of higher education that has this software. Steven Frumkin, dean of the Baker School of Business and Technology, says students who train on the equipment and software have a competitive edge. “It gives us an excellent connection to industry,” he says. Fashion Design, Technical Design, Produc-

In seconds, sensors capture up to 400 data points across the body, taking thousands of measurements. The scanner generates a 3D digital image of the person, which can be used to analyze body shapes and develop made-to-measure clothing and other products. It’s light years beyond the traditional dress form or the tailor with his tape. Some retailers have already started using this new tool in their brickand-mortar stores.

Top: Manufacturers often produce garments in multiple countries, and they tend to rely on fit models from those countries, leading to discrepancies in sizing. With the 3D body scanner, a digital model can be sent electronically worldwide, creating more consistent sizing across the brand. Above: The iStyling software creates an avatar that reflects the customer’s shape and coloring for virtual assessment of garment fit and hue.

hue.ﬁtnyc.edu

i contact: student

Back to Nature

Made to Measure

Students master the latest body-scanning technology used in the industry

It’s

hue | spring 2016

Body scanners “take the guesswork out.”

MATTHEW SEPTIMUS

HEAR, HERE

Mapping Histories Fresh thinkers who visited FIT this spring

Wake Up, People Artist Dread Scott talks about the goals for his revolutionary art The multidisciplinary artist Dread Scott makes work that is designed to provoke—in a big way. His first piece, created in 1989 when he was a 24-year-old student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, consisted of a ledger book mounted on a table. To write in it, visitors had to stand on an American flag. What Is the Proper Way to Display the U.S. Flag? caused such a firestorm—President George H. Bush deemed it “disgraceful”—that Senator Bob Dole initiated a measure to outlaw the display of the flag on the floor or ground. Years later, Scott (born Scott Tyler) created another piece in which he burned the flag on the steps of the U.S. Capitol. He was arrested, and the case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled in favor of the artist and the First Amendment. “That means,” Scott told an audience at FIT on February 25, “that you can do whatever you want with it.” Scott calls his art “revolutionary,” and there’s no mistaking the vastness of his ambition. He wants to change his audience, to “move history forward,” as he puts it. A piece made in 2012 for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dread Scott: Decision, was designed for maximum audience discomfort. Visitors entered a large space where four naked black men were being menaced by German shepherds. As Scott read aloud the infamous 1857 Dred Scott Supreme Court ruling (from which he derives his nom d’art), in which the

In On the Impossibility of Freedom in a Country Founded on Slavery and Genocide (2014), shown on the screen, Scott attempted to walk into the jet of a fire hose, recalling the use of fire hoses against protesters during the Civil Rights Movement.

court held that African-Americans were not citizens, the audience was invited into voting booths. The ballot consisted of a simple yes/no question: None of the 2012 presidential candidates were addressing the fact that one out of nine black American men was currently in prison. Would you still vote? Though his work is stark and strident, Scott’s manner is affable, and his sense of humor charms. One piece, Imagine a World Without America,

Look, a Blook!

Blooks come in all shapes and sizes, including designer Judith Leiber’s glam blook handbags, top, and this blook lighter.

10 hue | spring 2016

consists merely of the title printed on a world map with the United States cropped out. Unfortunately, he acknowledged, Canada was also omitted. “That’s their fault,” he said. “They should have known better than to set up beside us.” The talk was sponsored by ARTSpeak, an interdisciplinary program presented by the departments of Fine Arts and History of Art. Find out more here: blog.fitnyc.edu/artspeak.

For one librarian, fake books speak volumes

Over the centuries, people around the world have felt such fondness for the learning and ideas found in books that they’ve created objects that mimic their shape. Everything from sewing boxes to flasks has been rendered in book form. Mindell Dubansky, The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s preservation librarian, fell in love with these fake books, which she calls “blooks,” short for “book-look.” Over three decades, she’s amassed 600 of them, and earlier this year, she curated a show, Blooks: The Art of

Books That Aren’t, at Manhattan’s Grolier Club (a space and society for bibliophiles). On March 12, she visited FIT as part of the college’s Love Your Library lecture series to discuss the exhibition. Dubansky’s obsession began when she found a blook made of coal that commemorated the life of a man killed in a mining accident. Her collection runs from high to low, and she adores it all. She loves a portable Catholic altar that can be folded up and concealed in a hard-bound,

book-shaped container when in hostile territory. But she’s also sweet on gag books, including several that “explode”—when opened, they release a startling pop. “I set them off all the time,” she said. At heart, Dubansky’s passion for blooks is actually about books. “It’s gratitude. For books. I love ’em,” she explained. “This little simple thing— it’s sitting on the shelf, you pick it up, you start reading, and the next thing you know, your entire life is transformed.”

The feminist work and ideas of artist Joyce Kozloff Artist Joyce Kozloff doesn’t need a man to explain the world to her. On March 8, she visited FIT to share her work and philosophy. After living in Mexico in the early ’70s and traveling in Morocco and Turkey, she realized the European canon excluded decorative arts—often the domain of women or non-Western peoples. A co-founder of the Pattern and Decoration movement and the Heresies feminist art collective, Kozloff started her career painting decorative art motifs on canvases to challenge the definition of “high art.” Her 1978 installation An Interior Decorated employed traditional craft techniques: she created hanging silk-screened textile panels, hand-painted tile pilasters, lithographs on Chinese silk paper, and a functional floor composed of hand-painted tiles. Critic Carrie Rickey wrote, “An Interior Decorated is where painting meets architecture, where art meets craft, where personal commitment meets public art.” In the 1980s, Kozloff made site-specific mosaics. For her 1985 installation in Suburban Station, Philadelphia, titled Galla Placidia in Philadelphia, she used Byzantine mosaic techniques but replaced the Christian saints with

If I Were a Botanist: Gaza, acrylic, mixed media, and collage on canvas, 54 by 91 inches (three panels), 2015.

William Penn, playing with the idea of icons and saints, Western art, and local history. Collaborating with city planners on public art spurred her interest in cartography. Since the 1990s, Kozloff has worked with maps as a device for examining history, geography, popular art, and culture. Working from vintage French classroom maps in her print series Social Studies (2011), she collaged in contemporary maps and images of conflict zones, slave trade and labor struggles,

Outfitumentary

endangered wildlife. When asked how these works relate to her earlier feminist pieces, she described her annoyance with depictions of Renaissanceera cartographers pointing at tiny globes, as if they were a “literal, visual representation of men explaining things to me. That is what I have always been fighting against.” —Julianna Rose Dow ’08 The talk was sponsored by ARTSpeak.

of rapid-fire video snapshots, patterns and stories emerge. Music is almost always playing in the background; here and there she pulls off a quick improv dance; her hair goes through a range of punk styles; she exposes and covers her body; and the setting changes as she moves into new apartments and studios. These shreds of information hint at important yet elusive transformations. “There’s so little information that the viewer can actively write their own story as it goes along,” Hardy said. “The story around the edges keeps people going.” “It’s casual and it’s punk and it’s in your face, and in some ways it’s leading people to nowhere,” Handelman said. “You start to think about what makes a person’s life.”

A portrait of the artist as a young lesbian feminist Beginning in 2001, artist K8 Hardy decided that someone should chronicle the daily fashion combinations of a radical lesbian artist such as herself, to preserve the culture for posterity. Armed with a MiniDV camera, she recorded a full-body image of herself consistently for 11 years, until the camera went kaput. The resulting film, Outfitumentary, debuted at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and screened at MoMA before Hardy presented it at FIT on March 8, International Women’s Day. The Film and Media program, with support from FIT’s Diversity Council and the Student-Faculty Corporation, showed the movie as part of its monthly screening series. Hardy, looking glamorous in polka-dot pants, a scarf printed with marching ants, and blue shades, sat down with Associate Professor Michelle Handelman afterward to discuss the film’s conception, lightning-fast editing process, and plotless structure. The project may have been intended as a simple visual account—and, in fact, Hardy only edited it into a film after witnessing the rise of selfie culture in 2014—but over the 82 minutes

pop culture and propaganda, and extinct and

Top: A recent portrait of Hardy. Above and Right: Stills from Outfitumentary.

hue.ﬁtnyc.edu

HEAR, HERE

Mapping Histories Fresh thinkers who visited FIT this spring

Look, a Blook!

Blooks come in all shapes and sizes, including designer Judith Leiber’s glam blook handbags, top, and this blook lighter.

10 hue | spring 2016

For one librarian, fake books speak volumes

Outfitumentary A portrait of the artist as a young lesbian feminist Beginning in 2001, artist K8 Hardy decided that someone should chronicle the daily fashion combinations of a radical lesbian artist such as herself, to preserve the culture for posterity. Armed with a MiniDV camera, she recorded a full-body image of herself consistently for 11 years, until the camera went kaput. The resulting film, Outfitumentary, debuted at the International Film Festival Rotterdam and screened at MoMA before Hardy presented it at FIT on March 8, International Women’s Day. The Film and Media program, with support from FIT’s Diversity Council and the Student-Faculty Corporation, showed the movie as part of its monthly screening series. Hardy, looking glamorous in polka-dot pants, a scarf printed with marching ants, and blue shades, sat down with Associate Professor Michelle Handelman afterward to discuss the film’s conception, lightning-fast editing process, and plotless structure. The project may have been intended as a simple visual account—and, in fact, Hardy only edited it into a film after witnessing the rise of selfie culture in 2014—but over the 82 minutes

If I Were a Botanist: Gaza, acrylic, mixed media, and collage on canvas, 54 by 91 inches (three panels), 2015.

pop culture and propaganda, and extinct and endangered wildlife. When asked how these works relate to her earlier feminist pieces, she described her annoyance with depictions of Renaissanceera cartographers pointing at tiny globes, as if they were a “literal, visual representation of men explaining things to me. That is what I have always been fighting against.” —Julianna Rose Dow ’08 The talk was sponsored by ARTSpeak.

Top: A recent portrait of Hardy. Above and Right: Stills from Outfitumentary.

hue.ﬁtnyc.edu

MIR ROR, MIR ROR A ROM A N T IC SHOW AT T H E M USEU M AT F I T E X A M I N ED HOW FA I RY T A L E S I NSPI R E FA SH ION BY RAQUEL LANERI

A SHION IS H AV ING A FA IRY-TA LE MOMEN T.

In “Furrypelts,” a little-known Brothers Grimm story, a beauti-

At the Oscars, Cate Blanchett stunned in a seafoam

ful princess tries to avoid marrying her father by asking him for

green Armani dress covered in flowers made of feath-

dresses made of the moon, the sun, and the stars, as well as a coat

ers, which looked fit for a princess; Dolce & Gabba-

made from every kind of animal in the kingdom. Sometimes

na debuted their fall 2016 collection, inspired by

these garments can illustrate a character’s vanity (as in “The Red

Cinderella and full of puffed sleeves, sequins, and dresses embroi-

Shoes,” in which an angel punishes a conceited girl by cutting

dered with helper mice and glass slippers; and Princess Leia has

off her feet); but they can also lead to her salvation (the heroine’s

reemerged as a style and beauty icon, her fantasy hair and long

coat in “Furrypelts” allows her to flee into the woods).

white robes appearing on runways and red carpets.

“I’d seen the term ‘fairy tale’ in a lot of fashion media, and I

garments for centuries, from Louis XIV’s luxurious gold court

also always felt drawn to certain fashion editorials related to

outfits to the embroidered, fur-trimmed yellow cape by Chinese

fairy tales,” says Colleen Hill, associate curator at The Museum

couturier Guo Pei that Rihanna wore to the 2015 Met Ball, which

at FIT. “But no one had explored the connection between literary

took nearly two years to construct and weighed 55 pounds. As

fairy tales and fashion really deeply.”

for those fantasy garments from “Furrypelts,” Zandra Rhodes’s

The result, Fairy Tale Fashion, was on view at the museum from

sunburst-pleated gold-lamé dress from 1981 does dazzle like the

January 15 to April 16. The exhibition included more than 80

sun, while an embroidered beaded silver gown from Bibhu Moha-

garments and accessories, many from the 21st century, arranged

patra, Fashion Design ’99, has an almost craggy, otherworldly

in fantastical tableaux to bring to life such beloved stories as “The

surface that recalls the moon.

Little Mermaid” (some lovely shipwrecked dresses from Rodarte),

“Beauty and the Beast” (a court dress that includes patches of

captivate designers, and us: It’s about transformation—chang-

animal print) and “Sleeping Beauty” (bejeweled armor from Dolce

ing one’s economic status, morphing from a mermaid into a

& Gabbana).

human, entering a parallel world. The most enticing garments

“I just began acting like an illustrator of these tales, thinking

promise this kind of change: the gown that will make you the

about how they looked in my imagination and then seeing how

belle of the ball, the shoes that will allow you to walk more grace-

that could be translated into actual fashion,” Hill says.

fully, the sexy wrap dress that will boost your confidence, the

skinny jeans that you pray one day will fit.

Fashion looms large in fairy tales. Think Cinderella’s glass

slipper, here represented by a heelless, towering 3D-printed shoe by Noritaka Tatehana; or Red Riding Hood’s cloak, most dramatically updated by Comme des Garçons’s Rei Kawakubo, with an exaggerated, quilted, patent-leather headpiece.

Top: Judith Leiber, minaudière, fall 2013. Hand-beaded Austrian crystals evoke Snow White’s apple.

12 hue | spring 2016

Designers have tried to create fantastical, sinfully alluring Above: The “Little Red Riding Hood” display featured a late 18th-century cloak, a nightdress circa 1885, an embroidered Giorgio di Sant’Angelo cloak circa 1970, an Altuzarra cloak, a Dolce & Gabbana dress, and a trippy hooded ensemble from the spring 2015 collection of Comme des Garçons. Below left: A sea-inspired dress from Rodarte’s spring 2015 collection was an ideal choice to represent “The Little Mermaid.” Below right: For the “Furrypelts” section, the gowns made from the stars, the moon, and the sun were represented by dresses by Mary Liotta, Bibhu Mohapatra ‘99, and Zandra Rhodes. The coat made from every kind of animal in the kingdom was by Diane von Furstenberg.

There’s another reason why fairy-tale fashion continues to

“Part of the enduring appeal of fairy tales is that they have this sense of optimism,” Hill says. “When we change our wardrobe in some way, I think we all hope for our own fairytale ending.” Left: Cinderella's glass slipper, represented by Noritaka Tatehana in acrylic using a 3D printer.

THE MUSEUM AT FIT

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