Hue Fall 2010

Alumni Magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology

volume 4 | number 1 | fall 2010

Features

Departments

6 City Views Cathy Hobbs ’06 designs on TV (and in real life, too)

4 Hue’s News Recent developments at and related to FIT

9 Life’s Rich Pageant The photography of Mary Ellen Mark

8 I Contact A grad returns for her second degree, 23 years later

10 Why Design Now? The Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s triennial— and four alumni who work there

10 14

16

9 Footprint FIT’s Starbucks: a greener beanery

14 Japan Fashion Now Director and Chief Curator Valerie Steele on The Museum at FIT’s latest

19 Faculty On ….

Like butterflies, graduates emerge transformed

16 Meet “Cute” Lolitas frolic at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

28 Alumni Notes Find out what your classmates are up to

18 The Power of Ten Cosmetics and Fragrance master’s program marks a stellar decade

31 Sparks James Damian ’73 looks into Gene Moore’s windows

ON THE COVER Our cover seems to feature just one alum— superstylist Robert Verdi, Jewelry Design ’88.

In fact, it features five. Part of a special Hue collaborative project, it was shot by photographer Robert Mendolia ’03 with assistance from fellow Photography grads Sean Waltrous ’02 and

20 Nose Job If your perfume, soap, or powder smells good, thank Ana Terzi ’06

Michael Stewart ’10, and Verdi’s nylon jacket was created by Anthony Caputo, Menswear ’91, design director for Li & Fung. See “Angel and Demon,” pp. 22-25. Below: Verdi wears wool-and-

22 Angel and Demon Photographer Robert Mendolia ’03 shows the light and dark sides of Robert Verdi ’88

leather coat by Alfonso Gaitan, Menswear ’10, at the J. Lindeberg show during New York’s Fashion Week. The bag is Verdi’s own design.

26 Floored Katalin Laszlo ’05 works on rugs for home design’s big names

31

20 Sitings of Technology, a State University of New York college of art and design, business and technology.

It is published three times a year by the Division of Communications and External Relations, Alumni Magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology

227 West 27 Street, Room B905, New York City 10001-5992, 212 217.4700.

Email: hue@fitnyc.edu

volume 4 | number 1 | fall 2010

Address letters to the editors, Hue magazine.

Vice President for Communications and External Relations Loretta Lawrence Keane Assistant Vice President for Communications Carol Leven

Editor Linda Angrilli

On FIT’s website, www.fitnyc.edu Continuing and Professional Studies: fitnyc.edu/continuinged

Managing Editor Alex Joseph

FIT job openings: fitnyc.edu/jobs

Staff Writer Gregory Herbowy

The Museum at FIT: fitnyc.edu/museum

Editorial Assistant Vanessa Machir Art Direction and Design Empire Design Studio

Back cover: Single-note scents and fragrance samples in Ana Terzi’s lab (pp. 20-21). Photo: Joanne Chan.

Gladys Marcus Library: fitnyc.edu/library To view videos about the college, go to: youtube.com/aboutfit Email the FIT Alumni Association: victoria_guranowski@fitnyc.edu Go to fitnyc.edu/hue to answer The Ask, tell us what inspires you for Sparks, or update your alumni info.

Patrick McMullan

Hue is the alumni magazine of the Fashion Institute

Hue magazine on the web: fitnyc.edu/hue

2

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

3

Features

Departments

6 City Views Cathy Hobbs ’06 designs on TV (and in real life, too)

4 Hue’s News Recent developments at and related to FIT

9 Life’s Rich Pageant The photography of Mary Ellen Mark

8 I Contact A grad returns for her second degree, 23 years later

10 Why Design Now? The Cooper-Hewitt Museum’s triennial— and four alumni who work there

10 14

16

9 Footprint FIT’s Starbucks: a greener beanery

14 Japan Fashion Now Director and Chief Curator Valerie Steele on The Museum at FIT’s latest

19 Faculty On ….

Like butterflies, graduates emerge transformed

16 Meet “Cute” Lolitas frolic at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

28 Alumni Notes Find out what your classmates are up to

18 The Power of Ten Cosmetics and Fragrance master’s program marks a stellar decade

31 Sparks James Damian ’73 looks into Gene Moore’s windows

ON THE COVER Our cover seems to feature just one alum— superstylist Robert Verdi, Jewelry Design ’88.

In fact, it features five. Part of a special Hue collaborative project, it was shot by photographer Robert Mendolia ’03 with assistance from fellow Photography grads Sean Waltrous ’02 and

20 Nose Job If your perfume, soap, or powder smells good, thank Ana Terzi ’06

Michael Stewart ’10, and Verdi’s nylon jacket was created by Anthony Caputo, Menswear ’91, design director for Li & Fung. See “Angel and Demon,” pp. 22-25. Below: Verdi wears wool-and-

22 Angel and Demon Photographer Robert Mendolia ’03 shows the light and dark sides of Robert Verdi ’88

leather coat by Alfonso Gaitan, Menswear ’10, at the J. Lindeberg show during New York’s Fashion Week. The bag is Verdi’s own design.

26 Floored Katalin Laszlo ’05 works on rugs for home design’s big names

31

20 Sitings of Technology, a State University of New York college of art and design, business and technology.

It is published three times a year by the Division of Communications and External Relations, Alumni Magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology

227 West 27 Street, Room B905, New York City 10001-5992, 212 217.4700.

Email: hue@fitnyc.edu

volume 4 | number 1 | fall 2010

Address letters to the editors, Hue magazine.

Vice President for Communications and External Relations Loretta Lawrence Keane Assistant Vice President for Communications Carol Leven

Editor Linda Angrilli

Continuing and Professional Studies: fitnyc.edu/continuinged

Managing Editor Alex Joseph

FIT job openings: fitnyc.edu/jobs

Staff Writer Gregory Herbowy

The Museum at FIT: fitnyc.edu/museum

Editorial Assistant Vanessa Machir Art Direction and Design Empire Design Studio

Hue magazine on the web: fitnyc.edu/hue

2

On FIT’s website, www.fitnyc.edu

Back cover: Single-note scents and fragrance samples in Ana Terzi’s lab (pp. 20-21). Photo: Joanne Chan.

Gladys Marcus Library: fitnyc.edu/library To view videos about the college, go to: youtube.com/aboutfit Email the FIT Alumni Association: victoria_guranowski@fitnyc.edu Go to fitnyc.edu/hue to answer The Ask, tell us what inspires you for Sparks, or update your alumni info.

Patrick McMullan

Hue is the alumni magazine of the Fashion Institute

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

3

QUICK READ

Been to fitnyc.edu/hue lately? If not, you’ve been missing out on exclusive slideshows, video, and extra content about the FIT community and campus happenings. New features for fall 2010 include:

The Museum at FIT kicked off its 2010-11 season in September with the opening of Japan Fashion Now, a review of the past 30 years of Japanese design, from the avant-garde to street styles. A related symposium, featuring academics, curators, designers, and fashion editors, was held on campus November 4 and 5. Turn to page 14 to check out an essay on the exhibition

by Valerie Steele, chief curator and director of The Museum at FIT, and to page 16 for “Meet ‘Cute,’” Hue’s Japanese Lolita fashion spread. Japan Fashion Now runs through April 2, 2011.

>> FIT’s Office of Disability Support Services,

Ralph Rucci, Fashion Design ’80, by FIT faculty member Bil Donovan, Fashion Illustration ’78 (below). >> Interviews with the Japanese Lolitas

The upper and lower courtyards in front of the David Dubinsky and Business and Liberal Arts centers feature new seating, plants, and bike racks. A serpentine planting bed has been installed at the face of the breezeway between the buildings—an echo

In “Nose Job” (pp. 20-21), Ana Terzi ’06 reveals how Coty, the cosmetics and fragrance company, tests its scented products.

What do you look— or smell—for when buying a fragrance?

Email hue@fitnyc.edu Submissions will be considered for publication in a future issue.

hue | fall 2010

by Heather Kosch, Fashion Design ’02, and shoe designs by alumna Alessandra Gold.

The iron fences and walls in front of Coed and Nagler halls were removed, with a lower wall erected in their place. A new pathway, featuring inset lighting and seating areas, was constructed between the halls.

The project, designed by architecture and planning firm David Smotrich & Partners, will be completed by the end of fall.

When was the last time you received a handwritten note instead of an email?

For Hue it was July, when Cynthia Williger Trainer, Fashion Buying and Merchandising ’69, sent us her update via USPS. Trainer’s postgraduate life has taken her from the buying offices of Bonwit Teller and Allied Stores to a 500-acre farm in Dickson, TN, to the Nashville Symphony, for which she played viola. She’s now pursuing an art career and expecting her third grandchild.

forthcoming romance novel by Leslee Carlson Breene, Fashion Illustration and Advertising Design ’65. >> Photos by Mary Ellen Mark (see “Life’s

Rich Pageant,” p. 9). >> A slideshow of VIPs from the Couture

Council lunch honoring Karl Lagerfeld.

Jerry Speier

of the serpentine wall in front of the Marvin Feldman Center, which was inspired by one of Thomas Jefferson’s designs for the University of Virginia campus. New seating also went up in front of the Feldman Center.

Improved lighting has been installed in front of the dining hall, and a ramp is being constructed for wheelchair access to the Morris W. and Fannie B. Haft Auditorium.

have social anxiety, pervasive development disorders, or other nonverbal learning disorders.

A collaboration with the Jewish Child Care Association’s Compass Project, projectTHRIVE provides help with independent living skills, navigating academia, social skills training, time management, and organization. >> FIT’s first annual sustainability grants, supported by a $15,000 fund established

by President Joyce F. Brown, were awarded to Karen Pearson, Science and Math, and

His & Hers, the latest exhibition in the Fashion and Textile History Gallery, opens November 30 and runs through May 2011.

An examination of the social and cultural factors behind gender conventions in fashion, and an illustration of the evolution of “masculine” and “feminine” clothing over the past 250 years, His & Hers includes works by designers such as Giorgio Armani, Jean Paul Gaultier, Gianni Versace, and Vivienne Westwood.

>> An excerpt from Starlight Rescue, the

FIT’s Campus Makeover This summer, the college broke ground on a campus beautification project to make FIT’s outdoor areas greener, more welcoming, and more user-friendly. A total of 22 new trees—donated by MillionTreesNYC, a citywide clean-air and sustainability initiative—were planted on 26th, 27th, and 28th streets. All preexisting campus trees were inspected by arborists; one, found to be dead, was replaced. Several plants were relocated to the rear of Nagler Hall to create a more pleasant sitting area for students.

>> Slideshows of handmade wooden jewelry

students on the autism spectrum or who

Shades of Karl Lagerfeld: top, the man of the hour with President Joyce F. Brown and, above, Anna Wintour (left) and Diane Kruger.

Elaine Maldonado, director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, for their Teaching Sustainability outreach; Jewelry Design staff Sarah Abramson, Lauren Pineda, and Brian Weissman, for their Green Studio initiative; and MaryAnn Sorensen Allacci, Interior Design, for Building a Sustainable Design Resource: Partnering on the Next Generation of FIT Library Research Guides. >> Steven Stipelman, FIT class of 1963 and longtime Fashion Design–Art faculty member,

For more museum information or to view the schedule of Fashion Culture events, visit fitnyc.edu/museum.

sketched Chelsea Clinton’s wedding dress for the August 2, 2010, cover of WWD. >> Art Ortenberg, husband of Liz Claiborne

Karl Lagerfeld Honored with Couture Council Award

(1929-2007) and cofounder of the brand, spoke to students and signed copies of his book, Liz Claiborne: The Legend, The Woman, in September, as part of the Places and Faces

Fashion world luminaries gathered at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall on September 10 to honor Karl Lagerfeld, German-born designer for Chanel as well as his own label. Lagerfeld, also a noted photographer and artist, received the Couture Council of The Museum at FIT’s Fashion Visionary Award, which, said museum director Valerie Steele, recognized his “unparalleled role as a creative force in the world of fashion.” In attendance were Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, Barneys Creative Director Simon Doonan, President Joyce F. Brown, and actress Diane Kruger, who presented Lagerfeld with his award.

in Fashion class. >> In November, Annemarie Iverson, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics’ senior vice president of creative brand development, discussed and signed copies of her book, In Fashion: From Runway to Retail, Everything You Need to Know to Break into the Fashion Industry, at the Barnes & Noble at FIT.

The Museum at FIT

Smiljana Peros

of “Meet ‘Cute’” (pp. 16-17).

FIT-ABLE, has launched projectTHRIVE, for

what’s happening on campus

what’s happening on campus

Japan Fashion Now and His & Hers at FIT’s Museum

>> Watercolor sketches of fashions by

Students enjoy the great outdoors, sort of, in new seating outside the Marvin Feldman Center.

4

Hue’s Fall 2010 Online Treats

From His & Hers: Suit, black-and-white checked wool, silk charmeuse, Yves Saint Laurent, fall 1983, gift of Roz Gersten Jacobs.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

5

QUICK READ

Been to fitnyc.edu/hue lately? If not, you’ve been missing out on exclusive slideshows, video, and extra content about the FIT community and campus happenings. New features for fall 2010 include:

The Museum at FIT kicked off its 2010-11 season in September with the opening of Japan Fashion Now, a review of the past 30 years of Japanese design, from the avant-garde to street styles. A related symposium, featuring academics, curators, designers, and fashion editors, was held on campus November 4 and 5. Turn to page 14 to check out an essay on the exhibition

by Valerie Steele, chief curator and director of The Museum at FIT, and to page 16 for “Meet ‘Cute,’” Hue’s Japanese Lolita fashion spread. Japan Fashion Now runs through April 2, 2011.

>> FIT’s Office of Disability Support Services,

Ralph Rucci, Fashion Design ’80, by FIT faculty member Bil Donovan, Fashion Illustration ’78 (below). >> Interviews with the Japanese Lolitas

The upper and lower courtyards in front of the David Dubinsky and Business and Liberal Arts centers feature new seating, plants, and bike racks. A serpentine planting bed has been installed at the face of the breezeway between the buildings—an echo

In “Nose Job” (pp. 20-21), Ana Terzi ’06 reveals how Coty, the cosmetics and fragrance company, tests its scented products.

What do you look— or smell—for when buying a fragrance?

Email hue@fitnyc.edu Submissions will be considered for publication in a future issue.

hue | fall 2010

by Heather Kosch, Fashion Design ’02, and shoe designs by alumna Alessandra Gold.

The iron fences and walls in front of Coed and Nagler halls were removed, with a lower wall erected in their place. A new pathway, featuring inset lighting and seating areas, was constructed between the halls.

The project, designed by architecture and planning firm David Smotrich & Partners, will be completed by the end of fall.

When was the last time you received a handwritten note instead of an email?

For Hue it was July, when Cynthia Williger Trainer, Fashion Buying and Merchandising ’69, sent us her update via USPS. Trainer’s postgraduate life has taken her from the buying offices of Bonwit Teller and Allied Stores to a 500-acre farm in Dickson, TN, to the Nashville Symphony, for which she played viola. She’s now pursuing an art career and expecting her third grandchild.

forthcoming romance novel by Leslee Carlson Breene, Fashion Illustration and Advertising Design ’65. >> Photos by Mary Ellen Mark (see “Life’s

Rich Pageant,” p. 9). >> A slideshow of VIPs from the Couture

Council lunch honoring Karl Lagerfeld.

Jerry Speier

of the serpentine wall in front of the Marvin Feldman Center, which was inspired by one of Thomas Jefferson’s designs for the University of Virginia campus. New seating also went up in front of the Feldman Center.

Improved lighting has been installed in front of the dining hall, and a ramp is being constructed for wheelchair access to the Morris W. and Fannie B. Haft Auditorium.

have social anxiety, pervasive development disorders, or other nonverbal learning disorders.

A collaboration with the Jewish Child Care Association’s Compass Project, projectTHRIVE provides help with independent living skills, navigating academia, social skills training, time management, and organization. >> FIT’s first annual sustainability grants, supported by a $15,000 fund established

by President Joyce F. Brown, were awarded to Karen Pearson, Science and Math, and

His & Hers, the latest exhibition in the Fashion and Textile History Gallery, opens November 30 and runs through May 2011.

An examination of the social and cultural factors behind gender conventions in fashion, and an illustration of the evolution of “masculine” and “feminine” clothing over the past 250 years, His & Hers includes works by designers such as Giorgio Armani, Jean Paul Gaultier, Gianni Versace, and Vivienne Westwood.

>> An excerpt from Starlight Rescue, the

FIT’s Campus Makeover This summer, the college broke ground on a campus beautification project to make FIT’s outdoor areas greener, more welcoming, and more user-friendly. A total of 22 new trees—donated by MillionTreesNYC, a citywide clean-air and sustainability initiative—were planted on 26th, 27th, and 28th streets. All preexisting campus trees were inspected by arborists; one, found to be dead, was replaced. Several plants were relocated to the rear of Nagler Hall to create a more pleasant sitting area for students.

>> Slideshows of handmade wooden jewelry

students on the autism spectrum or who

Shades of Karl Lagerfeld: top, the man of the hour with President Joyce F. Brown and, above, Anna Wintour (left) and Diane Kruger.

Elaine Maldonado, director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching, for their Teaching Sustainability outreach; Jewelry Design staff Sarah Abramson, Lauren Pineda, and Brian Weissman, for their Green Studio initiative; and MaryAnn Sorensen Allacci, Interior Design, for Building a Sustainable Design Resource: Partnering on the Next Generation of FIT Library Research Guides. >> Steven Stipelman, FIT class of 1963 and longtime Fashion Design–Art faculty member,

For more museum information or to view the schedule of Fashion Culture events, visit fitnyc.edu/museum.

sketched Chelsea Clinton’s wedding dress for the August 2, 2010, cover of WWD. >> Art Ortenberg, husband of Liz Claiborne

Karl Lagerfeld Honored with Couture Council Award

(1929-2007) and cofounder of the brand, spoke to students and signed copies of his book, Liz Claiborne: The Legend, The Woman, in September, as part of the Places and Faces

Fashion world luminaries gathered at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall on September 10 to honor Karl Lagerfeld, German-born designer for Chanel as well as his own label. Lagerfeld, also a noted photographer and artist, received the Couture Council of The Museum at FIT’s Fashion Visionary Award, which, said museum director Valerie Steele, recognized his “unparalleled role as a creative force in the world of fashion.” In attendance were Vogue Editor Anna Wintour, Barneys Creative Director Simon Doonan, President Joyce F. Brown, and actress Diane Kruger, who presented Lagerfeld with his award.

in Fashion class. >> In November, Annemarie Iverson, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics’ senior vice president of creative brand development, discussed and signed copies of her book, In Fashion: From Runway to Retail, Everything You Need to Know to Break into the Fashion Industry, at the Barnes & Noble at FIT.

The Museum at FIT

Smiljana Peros

of “Meet ‘Cute’” (pp. 16-17).

FIT-ABLE, has launched projectTHRIVE, for

what’s happening on campus

what’s happening on campus

Japan Fashion Now and His & Hers at FIT’s Museum

>> Watercolor sketches of fashions by

Students enjoy the great outdoors, sort of, in new seating outside the Marvin Feldman Center.

4

Hue’s Fall 2010 Online Treats

From His & Hers: Suit, black-and-white checked wool, silk charmeuse, Yves Saint Laurent, fall 1983, gift of Roz Gersten Jacobs.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

5

Cathy Hobbs, Interior Design ’06, on design, on real estate, and on-air

n 1999, Cathy Hobbs, then a broadcast journalist for New York City’s WPIX-11, enrolled in FIT’s Interior Design program. She had long taken an interest in the field. In her lean years, newly graduated from the University of Southern California and working on-air at a TV station in Bakersfield (a job she began while still a student), Hobbs made her own home decorations, stitching drapes and pillows and reupholstering furniture. As her WPIX assignment was to cover breaking news live in the evening, it meant free days and many nighttime hours spent, Hobbs says, “sitting around. So I figured, ‘Why not do something constructive with the time?’ That’s where I ended up doing my FIT homework—

6

hue | fall 2010

in the studio, waiting for news to happen.”

Seven years and three Emmy awards for her reporting later (“I was nominated for more Emmys while I was at FIT than when I wasn’t,” she says, and boasts a total, so far, of five statuettes), Hobbs graduated with her BFA. By then she was already a few years into her second career, having founded her interior design firm, aphereä, while still a student. Last year, Hobbs left the newsroom and launched Metro Residential, a weekly real estate and interior design show she executive-produces, co-hosts, and co-owns.

The show airs Sunday mornings on WPIX, available to 10 million-plus homes in the greater metropolitan region. This summer, she and her husband welcomed their first

Claudio Papapietro

By Greg Herbowy

child, a daughter. Her work pace has yet to flag.

“I was making calls the day after I delivered,” she says.

Hobbs recounts much of this while taking a photographer and this writer on a tour of the Livmor, a recently opened condominium building in Harlem for which she designed the children’s playroom, gym, lobby, hallways, and screening room. She also decorated the Livmor’s model residence, a furnished but unoccupied apartment for prospective buyers to tour.

Warm hues—particularly orange, which Hobbs calls her “signature color”— predominate throughout, and a large wall in the lobby is covered with a distinctive woven wood paneling. The earth tones echo the brick and brownstone of a romanticized Harlem. The panels resemble basketwork and thatched roofs, and suggest more remote sources of inspiration.

“I’ve been all over,” says Hobbs, whose experiences abroad include covering a food drop in Sarajevo with the National Guard during the Bosnian Civil War. “My travels have definitely influenced my work.”

The Livmor is aphereä’s biggest project, in size and prominence, to date, and Hobbs’s pride in the work is evident. “I presented three design directions to the developers,” she says, “and they picked my personal favorite.” As she makes her way through the building, she talks warmly with everyone she encounters, from management to

maintenance to the doorman. This ease with conversation, though no doubt honed during her broadcasting career, is nonetheless genuine and irrepressible. “The professors at FIT, they all know me,” she laughs.

“I mean, I was there for seven years! That ‘Fashion Hot Dog’ guy at the corner?

He knows me, too.” She has turned this skill to her advantage in interior design. Beginning with the people who sold units in the Brooklyn building she and her husband live in, Hobbs has cultivated a network of area real-estate brokers and developers who regularly come to her with jobs, and to pitch their more outstanding listings—“eye candy,” she says—for Metro Residential segments. And through these relationships, she has come to find her niche, specializing in projects designed to maximize a property’s sales potential (see sidebar).

Moving forward, Hobbs has plans to further meld her on-air and design occupations, building a personality-driven design brand that incorporates “a line of home products and books, the TV show, a blog, and radio spots.”

She has already begun the process of democratizing her services with aphereä’s Design Recipes, step-bystep home-decoration guidelines, complete with resource listings (Hobbs’s favorites include ABC Carpet & Home, B & J Fabrics, and Crate & Barrel’s CB2 brand), for the d.i.y.-minded. Like Hobbs herself, 20 or so years ago.

Opposite: Hobbs in the model unit of the Livmor, a condo building in Harlem. She furnished the space for buyers to tour. “I love designing model units,” she says. “I get to pick out everything, from the vase on the table to the art on the walls.”

Below: Hobbs in the Livmor’s lobby; the model unit’s master bedroom.

“My work has a lot of Eastern influences, a lot of ’40s and ’50s Hollywood.”

Selling Your Space On Metro Residential, Hobbs often takes on a “design challenge”—like converting an unfinished basement into livable space—for clients looking to boost their home’s price on the market. But you don’t need costly renovations to make a place more attractive to buyers, she says.

Here are her four tips for owners looking to make a sale.

Clean You’d be surprised how many people don’t take the time to do this right. Don’t just sweep the floor— replace old, dirty light switches and electrical sockets and give the place a fresh coat of paint.

Declutter People like to see furnished homes but they want to see the space, too. Edit, edit, and edit again, even if it means putting stuff in storage. You’re moving anyway.

Depersonalize Too many personal belongings, like family photos on the wall, convey that this is “your” space.

Neutralize Too much bold color turns buyers off. Use muted shades for the majority of the space, with the bolder choices as accents.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

7

Cathy Hobbs, Interior Design ’06, on design, on real estate, and on-air

n 1999, Cathy Hobbs, then a broadcast journalist for New York City’s WPIX-11, enrolled in FIT’s Interior Design program. She had long taken an interest in the field. In her lean years, newly graduated from the University of Southern California and working on-air at a TV station in Bakersfield (a job she began while still a student), Hobbs made her own home decorations, stitching drapes and pillows and reupholstering furniture. As her WPIX assignment was to cover breaking news live in the evening, it meant free days and many nighttime hours spent, Hobbs says, “sitting around. So I figured, ‘Why not do something constructive with the time?’ That’s where I ended up doing my FIT homework—

6

hue | fall 2010

in the studio, waiting for news to happen.”

Seven years and three Emmy awards for her reporting later (“I was nominated for more Emmys while I was at FIT than when I wasn’t,” she says, and boasts a total, so far, of five statuettes), Hobbs graduated with her BFA. By then she was already a few years into her second career, having founded her interior design firm, aphereä, while still a student. Last year, Hobbs left the newsroom and launched Metro Residential, a weekly real estate and interior design show she executive-produces, co-hosts, and co-owns.

The show airs Sunday mornings on WPIX, available to 10 million-plus homes in the greater metropolitan region. This summer, she and her husband welcomed their first

Claudio Papapietro

By Greg Herbowy

child, a daughter. Her work pace has yet to flag.

“I was making calls the day after I delivered,” she says.

Hobbs recounts much of this while taking a photographer and this writer on a tour of the Livmor, a recently opened condominium building in Harlem for which she designed the children’s playroom, gym, lobby, hallways, and screening room. She also decorated the Livmor’s model residence, a furnished but unoccupied apartment for prospective buyers to tour.

Warm hues—particularly orange, which Hobbs calls her “signature color”— predominate throughout, and a large wall in the lobby is covered with a distinctive woven wood paneling. The earth tones echo the brick and brownstone of a romanticized Harlem. The panels resemble basketwork and thatched roofs, and suggest more remote sources of inspiration.

“I’ve been all over,” says Hobbs, whose experiences abroad include covering a food drop in Sarajevo with the National Guard during the Bosnian Civil War. “My travels have definitely influenced my work.”

The Livmor is aphereä’s biggest project, in size and prominence, to date, and Hobbs’s pride in the work is evident. “I presented three design directions to the developers,” she says, “and they picked my personal favorite.” As she makes her way through the building, she talks warmly with everyone she encounters, from management to

maintenance to the doorman. This ease with conversation, though no doubt honed during her broadcasting career, is nonetheless genuine and irrepressible. “The professors at FIT, they all know me,” she laughs.

“I mean, I was there for seven years! That ‘Fashion Hot Dog’ guy at the corner?

He knows me, too.” She has turned this skill to her advantage in interior design. Beginning with the people who sold units in the Brooklyn building she and her husband live in, Hobbs has cultivated a network of area real-estate brokers and developers who regularly come to her with jobs, and to pitch their more outstanding listings—“eye candy,” she says—for Metro Residential segments. And through these relationships, she has come to find her niche, specializing in projects designed to maximize a property’s sales potential (see sidebar).

Moving forward, Hobbs has plans to further meld her on-air and design occupations, building a personality-driven design brand that incorporates “a line of home products and books, the TV show, a blog, and radio spots.”

She has already begun the process of democratizing her services with aphereä’s Design Recipes, step-bystep home-decoration guidelines, complete with resource listings (Hobbs’s favorites include ABC Carpet & Home, B & J Fabrics, and Crate & Barrel’s CB2 brand), for the d.i.y.-minded. Like Hobbs herself, 20 or so years ago.

Opposite: Hobbs in the model unit of the Livmor, a condo building in Harlem. She furnished the space for buyers to tour. “I love designing model units,” she says. “I get to pick out everything, from the vase on the table to the art on the walls.”

Below: Hobbs in the Livmor’s lobby; the model unit’s master bedroom.

“My work has a lot of Eastern influences, a lot of ’40s and ’50s Hollywood.”

Selling Your Space On Metro Residential, Hobbs often takes on a “design challenge”—like converting an unfinished basement into livable space—for clients looking to boost their home’s price on the market. But you don’t need costly renovations to make a place more attractive to buyers, she says.

Here are her four tips for owners looking to make a sale.

Clean You’d be surprised how many people don’t take the time to do this right. Don’t just sweep the floor— replace old, dirty light switches and electrical sockets and give the place a fresh coat of paint.

Declutter People like to see furnished homes but they want to see the space, too. Edit, edit, and edit again, even if it means putting stuff in storage. You’re moving anyway.

Depersonalize Too many personal belongings, like family photos on the wall, convey that this is “your” space.

Neutralize Too much bold color turns buyers off. Use muted shades for the majority of the space, with the bolder choices as accents.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

7

steps toward a sustainable future

a student in first person

Pattern Recognition Naira Batash Technical Design ’11 Fashion Design ’87 Last fall, you reenrolled at FIT after more than 20 years in the workplace. What was it that prompted your return?

I had left my job to care for my mother but wanted to stay involved in the fashion industry. Technology keeps

Life’s Rich Pageant

The sustainable design behind FIT’s new hangout

Photographer Mary Ellen Mark visits campus

It isn’t just the logo that’s green at FIT’s Starbucks, which has been serving up Frappuccinos and other beverages in the dining hall since last January. In planning the café, the college worked with Jason Spears, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)certified design manager for Starbucks, to make the space and its operations eco-friendly.

getting better and it’s our obligation to keep up with it.

My grandmother used to say, “You’ll learn until you die.”

Most of the café’s furnishings and all of its casework

(the decorative housing for appliances) were manufac-

Clayton Moore, the former Lone Ranger, Los Angeles, 1992.

Moore was wearing the mask when Mark arrived. “He was very paranoid,” she said.

Speaking of family and education, I’m told your

tured within 500 miles of campus, the short shipping

daughter went to FIT, too.

distance reducing the materials’ carbon footprint. What’s

Her name is Maya Papismedov. She graduated in 2009,

more, the banquette, storefront, and wainscoting are

Fashion Merchandising Management. I got married, and

made of bamboo, a fast-growing, renewable resource.

then got pregnant with her, while I was still a student

The wall mural was printed on 100-percent postconsumer

here. I took my final exam on a Monday and had my

recycled material. The paneling is made of reclaimed

love the idea of American

they don’t look at what they’ve just

daughter that Friday.

coconut shells and, since coconuts are naturally resistant

ritual,” renowned photographer

shot and “miss a picture while they’re

to decomposition, needed no chemical treatments for

Mary Ellen Mark said. It

looking at it.” But her talent has proved

durability. The walls separating the café from the dining

was September 14 and Mark,

durable, recognized and rewarded

Can you describe what it is that you do as a technical designer?

A designer gives me a sketch and I make a “tech pack”—a manual on how to manufacture the garment, with all the construction details and instructions on how each detail should be developed. So a technical designer must have computer drawing skills as well as knowledge of construction, patternmaking, and grading.

hall’s general seating area were kept low to minimize

speaking in the Katie Murphy Amphi-

for nearly five decades. In addition

the materials used and increase airflow, which takes

theatre as the first guest of the

to her documentary work—for which

advantage of the room’s existing heating, venting,

Photography Department’s 2010-11

she’s photographed everything from

and air-conditioning systems. Much of the “barista”

Photo Talk series, began the evening

traveling circuses in India to a school

equipment is Energy Star certified for efficiency, and

with a slideshow of her work, which

for disabled children in Iceland—

reduced-flow faucets decrease water usage.

included black-and-white images of

Mark has shot ads for Heineken and

parades, rodeos, and trick-or-treating

Nissan and behind-the-scenes action

Of course, often the most sustainable thing to do

Have you studied anything besides fashion?

is to not do. In this instance, that meant installing the

kids on Halloween. Many of the photos

and publicity stills for countless

I grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia, when it was a part of the

Starbucks in an underused space rather than building

were first printed in magazines like

movies, including Apocalypse Now

Soviet Union, and in a sense, I was always a fashionista.

a new structure. As George Jefremow, executive director

the late, lamented Life and Look, back

(1979) and Sleepy Hollow (1999). She

I worked part time at a fashion house and for Zurab

of Facilities and overseer of the project, points out,

when publications were willing to

also collaborates with her husband,

Tsereteli, an artist and architect. But when it came time

“Few items carry as much sustainable weight as the

devote many-page spreads to photo

filmmaker Martin Bell, helping to

to apply to an art academy, I found out that because of

reuse of existing space.”

essays on “the kind of human interest

produce his pictures and photograph-

my imperfect drawing skills I wouldn’t get accepted in

stories we don’t see anymore,” she said.

ing his subjects.

the fashion program. So I enrolled in architecture

instead. It was strange. I was not allowed to create a

trayed herself as a throwback to the

finished with a screening of his latest

dress, but I could design a house or a bridge?

days of yore, when editors gave corre-

documentary, Prom (2010), for which

spondents an open-ended assignment—

Mark is planning to publish a compan-

“prostitutes in Bombay,” for instance—

ion photo book, and an audience Q&A

and several months to work on it.

with the couple. Asked by a student

“I’m still an analog photographer,”

about the prospects for young photo-

she said, by way of explaining her

graphers, Mark let her belief in the

preference for film over digital, and

enduring value of her work, and that

she advises her students (though based

of others like her, show. “Life is rich

in New York, Mark teaches photogra-

and interesting,” she said. “There has

phy in Oaxaca, Mexico) to mask the

to be a future in documenting it.”

When and why did you move to New York?

My mother and I immigrated in 1984 to get away from communism. I was considering a career in computer science at the time. But when we visited a placement organization, the counselor found out I’d made the clothes I was wearing and put me in touch with FIT right then. He said, “You don’t want to work in computer science! Your eyes will be red and swollen from staring at a screen all day long.” Now we’re all staring at screens working on the computer, the first thing I do when

Bell was on hand, and the event

FIT’s Photo Talk series is organized by Assistant Professor Jessica Wynne and cosponsored

I get home is check my email.

by the college’s Diversity Council and Student-Faculty Corporation. All talks are free and open to the public. The next event, featuring Alec Soth, is in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, Smiljana Peros

Matthew Septimus

hue | fall 2010

Throughout her talk, Mark por-

display screens on their cameras, so

all day long. But I love computers. Even after a day of

8

Starbucks Is Green

December 8 at 6 pm .

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

9

steps toward a sustainable future

a student in first person

Pattern Recognition Naira Batash Technical Design ’11 Fashion Design ’87 Last fall, you reenrolled at FIT after more than 20 years in the workplace. What was it that prompted your return?

I had left my job to care for my mother but wanted to stay involved in the fashion industry. Technology keeps

Life’s Rich Pageant

The sustainable design behind FIT’s new hangout

Photographer Mary Ellen Mark visits campus

It isn’t just the logo that’s green at FIT’s Starbucks, which has been serving up Frappuccinos and other beverages in the dining hall since last January. In planning the café, the college worked with Jason Spears, a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)certified design manager for Starbucks, to make the space and its operations eco-friendly.

getting better and it’s our obligation to keep up with it.

My grandmother used to say, “You’ll learn until you die.”

Most of the café’s furnishings and all of its casework

(the decorative housing for appliances) were manufac-

Clayton Moore, the former Lone Ranger, Los Angeles, 1992.

Moore was wearing the mask when Mark arrived. “He was very paranoid,” she said.

Speaking of family and education, I’m told your

tured within 500 miles of campus, the short shipping

daughter went to FIT, too.

distance reducing the materials’ carbon footprint. What’s

Her name is Maya Papismedov. She graduated in 2009,

more, the banquette, storefront, and wainscoting are

Fashion Merchandising Management. I got married, and

made of bamboo, a fast-growing, renewable resource.

then got pregnant with her, while I was still a student

The wall mural was printed on 100-percent postconsumer

here. I took my final exam on a Monday and had my

recycled material. The paneling is made of reclaimed

love the idea of American

they don’t look at what they’ve just

daughter that Friday.

coconut shells and, since coconuts are naturally resistant

ritual,” renowned photographer

shot and “miss a picture while they’re

to decomposition, needed no chemical treatments for

Mary Ellen Mark said. It

looking at it.” But her talent has proved

durability. The walls separating the café from the dining

was September 14 and Mark,

durable, recognized and rewarded

Can you describe what it is that you do as a technical designer?

A designer gives me a sketch and I make a “tech pack”—a manual on how to manufacture the garment, with all the construction details and instructions on how each detail should be developed. So a technical designer must have computer drawing skills as well as knowledge of construction, patternmaking, and grading.

hall’s general seating area were kept low to minimize

speaking in the Katie Murphy Amphi-

for nearly five decades. In addition

the materials used and increase airflow, which takes

theatre as the first guest of the

to her documentary work—for which

advantage of the room’s existing heating, venting,

Photography Department’s 2010-11

she’s photographed everything from

and air-conditioning systems. Much of the “barista”

Photo Talk series, began the evening

traveling circuses in India to a school

equipment is Energy Star certified for efficiency, and

with a slideshow of her work, which

for disabled children in Iceland—

reduced-flow faucets decrease water usage.

included black-and-white images of

Mark has shot ads for Heineken and

parades, rodeos, and trick-or-treating

Nissan and behind-the-scenes action

Of course, often the most sustainable thing to do

Have you studied anything besides fashion?

is to not do. In this instance, that meant installing the

kids on Halloween. Many of the photos

and publicity stills for countless

I grew up in Tbilisi, Georgia, when it was a part of the

Starbucks in an underused space rather than building

were first printed in magazines like

movies, including Apocalypse Now

Soviet Union, and in a sense, I was always a fashionista.

a new structure. As George Jefremow, executive director

the late, lamented Life and Look, back

(1979) and Sleepy Hollow (1999). She

I worked part time at a fashion house and for Zurab

of Facilities and overseer of the project, points out,

when publications were willing to

also collaborates with her husband,

Tsereteli, an artist and architect. But when it came time

“Few items carry as much sustainable weight as the

devote many-page spreads to photo

filmmaker Martin Bell, helping to

to apply to an art academy, I found out that because of

reuse of existing space.”

essays on “the kind of human interest

produce his pictures and photograph-

my imperfect drawing skills I wouldn’t get accepted in

stories we don’t see anymore,” she said.

ing his subjects.

the fashion program. So I enrolled in architecture

instead. It was strange. I was not allowed to create a

trayed herself as a throwback to the

finished with a screening of his latest

dress, but I could design a house or a bridge?

days of yore, when editors gave corre-

documentary, Prom (2010), for which

spondents an open-ended assignment—

Mark is planning to publish a compan-

“prostitutes in Bombay,” for instance—

ion photo book, and an audience Q&A

and several months to work on it.

with the couple. Asked by a student

“I’m still an analog photographer,”

about the prospects for young photo-

she said, by way of explaining her

graphers, Mark let her belief in the

preference for film over digital, and

enduring value of her work, and that

she advises her students (though based

of others like her, show. “Life is rich

in New York, Mark teaches photogra-

and interesting,” she said. “There has

phy in Oaxaca, Mexico) to mask the

to be a future in documenting it.”

When and why did you move to New York?

My mother and I immigrated in 1984 to get away from communism. I was considering a career in computer science at the time. But when we visited a placement organization, the counselor found out I’d made the clothes I was wearing and put me in touch with FIT right then. He said, “You don’t want to work in computer science! Your eyes will be red and swollen from staring at a screen all day long.” Now we’re all staring at screens working on the computer, the first thing I do when

Bell was on hand, and the event

FIT’s Photo Talk series is organized by Assistant Professor Jessica Wynne and cosponsored

I get home is check my email.

by the college’s Diversity Council and Student-Faculty Corporation. All talks are free and open to the public. The next event, featuring Alec Soth, is in the Katie Murphy Amphitheatre, Smiljana Peros

Matthew Septimus

hue | fall 2010

Throughout her talk, Mark por-

display screens on their cameras, so

all day long. But I love computers. Even after a day of

8

Starbucks Is Green

December 8 at 6 pm .

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

9

 Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

 curator’s choice

Why Design Now?

Matilda McQuaid

Hue asked the Cooper-Hewitt’s deputy curatorial director, head of the textiles department, and co-curator of Why

Design Now? to choose an exhibit to set the stage for the

A look at the museum’s triennial exhibition

alumni picks on the next spread.

By Alex Joseph

Favorite project in the show: City master plan, Medellín,

Illustrations by Amy Geller, Illustration MA ’10

Colombia, 2004–7, by Plan B Architects. Alejandro Bernal (Colombian, b. 1973), Felipe Mesa (Colombian, b. 1975), Camilo Restrepo (Colombian, b. 1974), and J. Paul Restrepo (Colombian, b. 1944).

Why it’s her favorite: It’s a city—not just a product. It can be used as a model to improve other cities, because that’s what we’re faced with. We’re rarely going to have the opportunity to build a new city from the ground up.

What happened there: Medellín was a dangerous, crime-ridden place. Instead of just having the police put the drug dealers in prison, the planners decided to attack the problem from every angle. Collaborating with social workers, anthropologists, urban planners, and community members, they built ten new schools (and upgraded 132 more), a dozen new libraries and parks, and an expanded commuter rail system, among other projects.

Why did it work? Sergio Fajardo, the mayor, insisted that “our most beautiful buildings must be in our poorest areas.”

A lot of thought went into how the architecture affects interactions between the landscape and the people—it all ties together. New York can get bogged down in bureaucracy; look at Ground Zero! But the Medellín plan was built in four years. The city owns half of all the utilities, including gas and electric, and the mayor put the money into public projects.

Further implications: Troubled urban centers such as Detroit could benefit from this example.

10

basically edible,” says Matilda McQuaid, one of the show’s curators and

recognized green building certification system. Pilatowicz says Living

looked for ideas recently at the Cooper-Hewitt, National

head of the museum’s textiles department. She hopes visitors will find

Buildings are “the next step beyond LEED”—buildings that generate

Design Museum’s triennial exhibition, Why Design Now?

this and other innovations in the show uplifting. (She herself loves the

all their own energy with renewable resources, capture and treat

For the first time, the triennial has a predetermined eco-

horsehair textile developed by Maharam, and the Neonurture, a low-cost,

their own water on site, and are beautiful. She recently toured the

conscious focus and an international scope. Divided into eight themes—

durable neonatal incubator made from discarded vehicle parts.)

water treatment center at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies

energy, mobility, community, materials, prosperity, health, communication,

in Rhinebeck, NY, which may be the first completed Living Building.

and simplicity—the 134 products, proposals, and messages in the exhibition

ments presented in Why Design Now? Marianne Klimchuk, chair of the

address the social question raised by the museum’s director, Bill Moggridge:

Packaging Design Department, says sneaker companies like Puma now

so we thought we’d let one of its curators and your fellow alumni

“Why and how is design thinking an essential tool?”

see the shoe box as a first touch point for consumers—and that sustain-

select the highlights. Four graduates of FIT’s MA program now called

ability and reuse are becoming important considerations. Grazyna

Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice work

substitute for the usual polystyrene building insulation can be grown in the

Pilatowicz, assistant professor of Interior Design and author of FIT’s new

dark like fungus? Greensulate, created by the product development firm

MA program in Sustainable Interior Environments, is excited about the

Ecovative Design LLC, is an organic, fire-retardant board made from the roots

Living Building Challenge, a proposal from the Cascadia Region of the

of mushrooms and other natural byproducts. “Rats won’t eat it, though it’s

U.S. Green Building Council, which created LEED, the internationally

hue | fall 2010

amygellerillustration.com

The answer is often surprising. Who knew, for example, that a

FIT’s design-savvy community is attuned to the kinds of develop-

The triennial exhibition offers a surplus of food for thought,

at the Cooper-Hewitt; on the next spread, we asked each of them to choose an object from the show and talk about why it’s his or her favorite. Start there—then see the show for yourself before it closes

sergio gómez



Hue is always wondering what the future will be like, so we

The Orquideorama, a series of 14 interconnected, modular structures used as a public garden and event space, was one of many projects realized in the plan for Medellín, Colombia.

January 9, 2011.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

11

 Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

 curator’s choice

Why Design Now?

Matilda McQuaid

Hue asked the Cooper-Hewitt’s deputy curatorial director, head of the textiles department, and co-curator of Why

Design Now? to choose an exhibit to set the stage for the

A look at the museum’s triennial exhibition

alumni picks on the next spread.

By Alex Joseph

Favorite project in the show: City master plan, Medellín,

Illustrations by Amy Geller, Illustration MA ’10

Colombia, 2004–7, by Plan B Architects. Alejandro Bernal (Colombian, b. 1973), Felipe Mesa (Colombian, b. 1975), Camilo Restrepo (Colombian, b. 1974), and J. Paul Restrepo (Colombian, b. 1944).

Why it’s her favorite: It’s a city—not just a product. It can be used as a model to improve other cities, because that’s what we’re faced with. We’re rarely going to have the opportunity to build a new city from the ground up.

What happened there: Medellín was a dangerous, crime-ridden place. Instead of just having the police put the drug dealers in prison, the planners decided to attack the problem from every angle. Collaborating with social workers, anthropologists, urban planners, and community members, they built ten new schools (and upgraded 132 more), a dozen new libraries and parks, and an expanded commuter rail system, among other projects.

Why did it work? Sergio Fajardo, the mayor, insisted that “our most beautiful buildings must be in our poorest areas.”

A lot of thought went into how the architecture affects interactions between the landscape and the people—it all ties together. New York can get bogged down in bureaucracy; look at Ground Zero! But the Medellín plan was built in four years. The city owns half of all the utilities, including gas and electric, and the mayor put the money into public projects.

Further implications: Troubled urban centers such as Detroit could benefit from this example.

10

basically edible,” says Matilda McQuaid, one of the show’s curators and

recognized green building certification system. Pilatowicz says Living

looked for ideas recently at the Cooper-Hewitt, National

head of the museum’s textiles department. She hopes visitors will find

Buildings are “the next step beyond LEED”—buildings that generate

Design Museum’s triennial exhibition, Why Design Now?

this and other innovations in the show uplifting. (She herself loves the

all their own energy with renewable resources, capture and treat

For the first time, the triennial has a predetermined eco-

horsehair textile developed by Maharam, and the Neonurture, a low-cost,

their own water on site, and are beautiful. She recently toured the

conscious focus and an international scope. Divided into eight themes—

durable neonatal incubator made from discarded vehicle parts.)

water treatment center at the Omega Institute for Holistic Studies

energy, mobility, community, materials, prosperity, health, communication,

in Rhinebeck, NY, which may be the first completed Living Building.

and simplicity—the 134 products, proposals, and messages in the exhibition

ments presented in Why Design Now? Marianne Klimchuk, chair of the

address the social question raised by the museum’s director, Bill Moggridge:

Packaging Design Department, says sneaker companies like Puma now

so we thought we’d let one of its curators and your fellow alumni

“Why and how is design thinking an essential tool?”

see the shoe box as a first touch point for consumers—and that sustain-

select the highlights. Four graduates of FIT’s MA program now called

ability and reuse are becoming important considerations. Grazyna

Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice work

substitute for the usual polystyrene building insulation can be grown in the

Pilatowicz, assistant professor of Interior Design and author of FIT’s new

dark like fungus? Greensulate, created by the product development firm

MA program in Sustainable Interior Environments, is excited about the

Ecovative Design LLC, is an organic, fire-retardant board made from the roots

Living Building Challenge, a proposal from the Cascadia Region of the

of mushrooms and other natural byproducts. “Rats won’t eat it, though it’s

U.S. Green Building Council, which created LEED, the internationally

hue | fall 2010

amygellerillustration.com

The answer is often surprising. Who knew, for example, that a

FIT’s design-savvy community is attuned to the kinds of develop-

The triennial exhibition offers a surplus of food for thought,

at the Cooper-Hewitt; on the next spread, we asked each of them to choose an object from the show and talk about why it’s his or her favorite. Start there—then see the show for yourself before it closes

sergio gómez



Hue is always wondering what the future will be like, so we

The Orquideorama, a series of 14 interconnected, modular structures used as a public garden and event space, was one of many projects realized in the plan for Medellín, Colombia.

January 9, 2011.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

11

 We asked four alumni who work







assistant curator, textiles department

textile conservator

assistant curator, wall coverings

Sarah Scaturro ’06

Susan Brown ’01

at the Cooper-Hewitt to tell us about their favorite objects from Why Design Now? All are graduates of the MA program now called Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice.

Gregory Herringshaw ’91

Favorite object: “Return to Sender” artisan

Favorite object: Custom wallpapers

eco-casket, by Greg Holdsworth (New Zealander,

by Trove (pictured, Alar 002). Randall

b. 1960). New Zealand, 2007. Plywood, wool fleece.

Buck (American, b. 1967) and Jee Levin (American, b. Korea, 1972).

Why it’s her favorite: As a curator, you get to

United States, 2008–9. Inkjet on paper.

learn about a particular work through extensive reading, studio visits, and discussion with the

Why it’s his favorite: Trove is a

designer—opportunities the museum visitor

really young company; it started in

doesn’t have. This design is so visually strong

2004. The designers are a couple who

that it speaks for itself.

live in Chelsea. All their designs are eco-friendly. They’re printed with

Materials matter: The designer’s father-in-law

organic, water-soluble inks; they use

was passionate about wood, yet when he died,

a wax-based coating, instead of vinyl,

his coffin was made of medium-density

to create a washable surface; and

fiberboard with plastic woodgrain laminate and

they can be recycled.

metal-coated plastic hardware—an insult to a man who, in life, cared deeply about the integrity

And they’re beautiful, too:

of materials. The eco-casket is also biodegradable

The designers manipulate images

and non-toxic (in the case of cremation),

in Photoshop to create a sense

allowing a gentler re-entry into the earth.

Good to know: When Holdsworth’s own father died, he wanted to sit and share a special

Favorite object: Shoestring dress, by Maison Martin

of movement and depth. One has

Margiela Artisanal line. Martin Margiela (Belgian, b. 1957).

moths that look like they’re flying

France, 2009.

up to the ceiling. Another features a swinging chandelier, captured at

bourbon they’d been saving, but the coffin sides

Why it’s her favorite: I’m interested in innovative

were too high to see him. The low sides of

materials and construction methods. This piece uses

“Return to Sender” allow families to sit with

an everyday object in an unconventional way to create

Coming soon: The museum is

their loved ones, and the curved, flexible lid is

something almost couture. Plus it’s unexpected: when

getting a wallpaper from a Barcelona

like tucking in a blanket one last time.

you first see it, you don’t even realize it’s shoelaces that

company that’s an image of a

are woven together at the shoulder and waist.

handbag with an eyeball on it.

different points on its trajectory.

You expect wallpaper to be warm

Would it be hard to put on? No. From dressing the

and welcoming, but here the wall

mannequin, I can tell you that it’s like putting on a vest.

is looking back at you. It’s quite

greg holdsworth

And very flattering!

large-scale and very surreal.

Why she loves her job: Anything fashion or textile related goes through my hands. I help curators realize their vision for an exhibit, and sometimes the designers



as well. But at the same time, I have the challenge of

collections manager, textiles department

both protecting and interpreting the objects. I recently Favorite object: Alpaca velvet sample blanket,

Do you have favorite textiles in the

identified the fiber in a wall covering that was made

designed and manufactured by Maharam.

Cooper-Hewitt’s collection? We have close to

in either the 19th or 20th century. By studying it under

United States, 2009. Undyed alpaca wool, cotton,

135 Mexican samplers—pieces produced by

a polarized light microscope, I determined it was

natural colors.

girls at schools or convents to show their

viscose rayon, which wasn’t used commercially until

embroidery skills. They are remarkable examples

the 20th century.

Why it’s her favorite: Well, it’s quite bold.

Maharam made this sample blanket for us by using nine colors of the natural alpaca wool. We have other sample blankets, but they typically have small squares of color and pattern. This one is more unusual.

What’s special about alpaca wool? It’s incredibly

of the convergence of cultures occurring over the centuries after the Spanish conquest. They show trove

Kimberly Randall ’03

the influence of indigenous motifs, European pattern books, and the impact of Chinese floral motifs found on embroidered shawls brought to Mexico during the height of the Manila galleon trade, from the 17th to 18th century.

soft and luxurious, and it’s impressive that you can get nine different colors from the breed.

Maharam produces this velvet without the use of synthetic dyes or finishes so there’s less

12

hue | fall 2010

marina faust

matt flynn

impact on the environment.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

13

 We asked four alumni who work







assistant curator, textiles department

textile conservator

assistant curator, wall coverings

Sarah Scaturro ’06

Susan Brown ’01

at the Cooper-Hewitt to tell us about their favorite objects from Why Design Now? All are graduates of the MA program now called Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice.

Gregory Herringshaw ’91

Favorite object: “Return to Sender” artisan

Favorite object: Custom wallpapers

eco-casket, by Greg Holdsworth (New Zealander,

by Trove (pictured, Alar 002). Randall

b. 1960). New Zealand, 2007. Plywood, wool fleece.

Buck (American, b. 1967) and Jee Levin (American, b. Korea, 1972).

Why it’s her favorite: As a curator, you get to

United States, 2008–9. Inkjet on paper.

learn about a particular work through extensive reading, studio visits, and discussion with the

Why it’s his favorite: Trove is a

designer—opportunities the museum visitor

really young company; it started in

doesn’t have. This design is so visually strong

2004. The designers are a couple who

that it speaks for itself.

live in Chelsea. All their designs are eco-friendly. They’re printed with

Materials matter: The designer’s father-in-law

organic, water-soluble inks; they use

was passionate about wood, yet when he died,

a wax-based coating, instead of vinyl,

his coffin was made of medium-density

to create a washable surface; and

fiberboard with plastic woodgrain laminate and

they can be recycled.

metal-coated plastic hardware—an insult to a man who, in life, cared deeply about the integrity

And they’re beautiful, too:

of materials. The eco-casket is also biodegradable

The designers manipulate images

and non-toxic (in the case of cremation),

in Photoshop to create a sense

allowing a gentler re-entry into the earth.

Good to know: When Holdsworth’s own father died, he wanted to sit and share a special

Favorite object: Shoestring dress, by Maison Martin

of movement and depth. One has

Margiela Artisanal line. Martin Margiela (Belgian, b. 1957).

moths that look like they’re flying

France, 2009.

up to the ceiling. Another features a swinging chandelier, captured at

bourbon they’d been saving, but the coffin sides

Why it’s her favorite: I’m interested in innovative

were too high to see him. The low sides of

materials and construction methods. This piece uses

“Return to Sender” allow families to sit with

an everyday object in an unconventional way to create

Coming soon: The museum is

their loved ones, and the curved, flexible lid is

something almost couture. Plus it’s unexpected: when

getting a wallpaper from a Barcelona

like tucking in a blanket one last time.

you first see it, you don’t even realize it’s shoelaces that

company that’s an image of a

are woven together at the shoulder and waist.

handbag with an eyeball on it.

different points on its trajectory.

You expect wallpaper to be warm

Would it be hard to put on? No. From dressing the

and welcoming, but here the wall

mannequin, I can tell you that it’s like putting on a vest.

is looking back at you. It’s quite

greg holdsworth

And very flattering!

large-scale and very surreal.

Why she loves her job: Anything fashion or textile related goes through my hands. I help curators realize their vision for an exhibit, and sometimes the designers



as well. But at the same time, I have the challenge of

collections manager, textiles department

both protecting and interpreting the objects. I recently Favorite object: Alpaca velvet sample blanket,

Do you have favorite textiles in the

identified the fiber in a wall covering that was made

designed and manufactured by Maharam.

Cooper-Hewitt’s collection? We have close to

in either the 19th or 20th century. By studying it under

United States, 2009. Undyed alpaca wool, cotton,

135 Mexican samplers—pieces produced by

a polarized light microscope, I determined it was

natural colors.

girls at schools or convents to show their

viscose rayon, which wasn’t used commercially until

embroidery skills. They are remarkable examples

the 20th century.

Why it’s her favorite: Well, it’s quite bold.

Maharam made this sample blanket for us by using nine colors of the natural alpaca wool. We have other sample blankets, but they typically have small squares of color and pattern. This one is more unusual.

What’s special about alpaca wool? It’s incredibly

of the convergence of cultures occurring over the centuries after the Spanish conquest. They show trove

Kimberly Randall ’03

the influence of indigenous motifs, European pattern books, and the impact of Chinese floral motifs found on embroidered shawls brought to Mexico during the height of the Manila galleon trade, from the 17th to 18th century.

soft and luxurious, and it’s impressive that you can get nine different colors from the breed.

Maharam produces this velvet without the use of synthetic dyes or finishes so there’s less

12

hue | fall 2010

marina faust

matt flynn

impact on the environment.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

13

1 N. Hoolywood. Men’s ensemble from the Skyscraper collection, autumn/winter 2009-10.

2 Junya Watanabe for Comme des Garçons. Ensemble, spring/summer 2001, Japan. Collection of The Museum at FIT. 3 Comme des Garçons. Dress, autumn/ winter 2009-10, Japan. Collection of The Museum at FIT.

Japan Fashion Now is the first exhibition to explore contemporary Japanese fashion in all its radical creativity, from high fashion to street style. The exhibition begins by revisiting the Japanese “fashion revolution” of the 1980s, an important turning point in fashion history. For the first time, a non-Western culture had significantly affected the global fashion system, and had done so by projecting an image of hypermodernism.

Avant-garde Japanese designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons introduced a radically new conception of fashion to the catwalks of Paris. It was not simply that black became the default color or “deconstruction” the word of the day. Utilizing innovative textile technologies along with aspects of traditional Japanese clothing culture, these

Japan Fashion Now

designers were instrumental in creating a new relationship between body and clothes, a new attitude toward the beauty of imperfection, and a new appreciation of fashion as “art.”

Contemporary Japanese fashion remains

significant globally precisely because it mixes elements of the avant-garde (pushing the aesthetic subcultural and street style. But how has it evolved

The Museum at FIT’s current exhibition explores contemporary Japanese looks, from avant-garde dress to street style

in the 20-plus years since the fashion revolution of the 1980s, and who are the new Japanese designers?

What is the role of Japanese youth fashion? Where does Tokyo fit in the hierarchy of fashion’s world

Photos: The Museum at FIT

envelope at the level of “high” art) with aspects of

2

3

cities? Is Japan still the future? These are the

N. Hoolywood

by Valerie Steele

questions to which Japan Fashion Now provides

the salaryman’s classic business suit. Indeed, some

include Hime-Decora-kei (princess-decoration

costume play) is not a subcultural or street style,

a variety of answers.

of the most interesting new designers in Japan

style) and the bohemian Mori Girl (forest girl)

nor is it a type of fashion. Instead, it might be

are those who work in menswear. Many of them,

look. Probably the most famous girls’ styles are

described as a kind of role play involving dressing

that evokes the famous cityscape of 21st-century

such as John Lawrence Sullivan, Miharayasuhiro,

the Lolitas and Gothic Lolitas, which first ap-

up as characters, often those from popular manga,

Tokyo. Approximately 90 outfits represent different

and Phenomenon, are inspired by retro American

peared in Harajuku, Tokyo’s fashionable shopping

anime, or video games. Tokyo’s Akihabara

themes and neighborhoods, such as Omotesando,

or British styles—from punk to preppy, and from

district, in the 1990s. Japan Fashion Now features

neighborhood is a center of cosplay activity, with

site of the Comme des Garçons flagship store.

grunge to Savile Row—but the result is as Japanese

classic Lolita looks by famous brands such as

many cafés where the waitresses dress as anime

Ensembles by Rei Kawakubo, Junya Watanabe, and

as Sony.

Angelic Pretty and Baby, The Stars Shine Bright,

characters or Lolita-like cat-maids.

Tao Kurihara exemplify the evolution of decon-

and Gothic-Punk Lolita styles by Hirooka Naoto

struction and reconstruction. Also featured are a

street and subcultural styles. Already by the 1970s,

of h.Naoto, including stage costumes worn by the

the world, Japan is also obsessed with perfecting

range of looks by Jun Takahashi of Undercover,

members of the Speed Tribe motorcycle gangs

singers Hangry & Angry.

classic utilitarian garments, such as jeans,

along with new brands such as Sacai and matohu.

had abandoned the classic biker look of black

sneakers, and leather jackets. The sheer variety

leather jacket and jeans in favor of elegant and

young people everywhere read manga (comic

and quality of Japanese style is evident everywhere

characteristics of their clothing culture, the

bizarre costumes known as Kamikaze suits and

books), watch anime (animated film), and play

you look.

Japanese are also greatly attracted to fashion and

combat gear. But in Japan, rebellion is often cute

computer video games. Contemporary artists have

novelty. As a result, the fashion scene in Tokyo

(kawaii). The significance of kawaii culture is

also been inspired by what Takashi Murakami calls

Dr. Valerie Steele is the director and chief curator

extends far beyond the student’s school uniform or

exemplified by contemporary style tribes that

“Japan’s exploding subculture.” Cosplay (short for

of The Museum at FIT.

The exhibition includes a dramatic mise en scène

Although uniforms and uniformity are dominant

Japan has some of the world’s most exciting

As Japanese pop culture has swept the world,

One of the most fashion-forward countries in

1 14

hue | fall 2010

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

15

1 N. Hoolywood. Men’s ensemble from the Skyscraper collection, autumn/winter 2009-10.

2 Junya Watanabe for Comme des Garçons. Ensemble, spring/summer 2001, Japan. Collection of The Museum at FIT. 3 Comme des Garçons. Dress, autumn/ winter 2009-10, Japan. Collection of The Museum at FIT.

Japan Fashion Now is the first exhibition to explore contemporary Japanese fashion in all its radical creativity, from high fashion to street style. The exhibition begins by revisiting the Japanese “fashion revolution” of the 1980s, an important turning point in fashion history. For the first time, a non-Western culture had significantly affected the global fashion system, and had done so by projecting an image of hypermodernism.

Avant-garde Japanese designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons introduced a radically new conception of fashion to the catwalks of Paris. It was not simply that black became the default color or “deconstruction” the word of the day. Utilizing innovative textile technologies along with aspects of traditional Japanese clothing culture, these

Japan Fashion Now

designers were instrumental in creating a new relationship between body and clothes, a new attitude toward the beauty of imperfection, and a new appreciation of fashion as “art.”

Contemporary Japanese fashion remains

significant globally precisely because it mixes elements of the avant-garde (pushing the aesthetic subcultural and street style. But how has it evolved

The Museum at FIT’s current exhibition explores contemporary Japanese looks, from avant-garde dress to street style

in the 20-plus years since the fashion revolution of the 1980s, and who are the new Japanese designers?

What is the role of Japanese youth fashion? Where does Tokyo fit in the hierarchy of fashion’s world

Photos: The Museum at FIT

envelope at the level of “high” art) with aspects of

2

3

cities? Is Japan still the future? These are the

N. Hoolywood

by Valerie Steele

questions to which Japan Fashion Now provides

the salaryman’s classic business suit. Indeed, some

include Hime-Decora-kei (princess-decoration

costume play) is not a subcultural or street style,

a variety of answers.

of the most interesting new designers in Japan

style) and the bohemian Mori Girl (forest girl)

nor is it a type of fashion. Instead, it might be

are those who work in menswear. Many of them,

look. Probably the most famous girls’ styles are

described as a kind of role play involving dressing

that evokes the famous cityscape of 21st-century

such as John Lawrence Sullivan, Miharayasuhiro,

the Lolitas and Gothic Lolitas, which first ap-

up as characters, often those from popular manga,

Tokyo. Approximately 90 outfits represent different

and Phenomenon, are inspired by retro American

peared in Harajuku, Tokyo’s fashionable shopping

anime, or video games. Tokyo’s Akihabara

themes and neighborhoods, such as Omotesando,

or British styles—from punk to preppy, and from

district, in the 1990s. Japan Fashion Now features

neighborhood is a center of cosplay activity, with

site of the Comme des Garçons flagship store.

grunge to Savile Row—but the result is as Japanese

classic Lolita looks by famous brands such as

many cafés where the waitresses dress as anime

Ensembles by Rei Kawakubo, Junya Watanabe, and

as Sony.

Angelic Pretty and Baby, The Stars Shine Bright,

characters or Lolita-like cat-maids.

Tao Kurihara exemplify the evolution of decon-

and Gothic-Punk Lolita styles by Hirooka Naoto

struction and reconstruction. Also featured are a

street and subcultural styles. Already by the 1970s,

of h.Naoto, including stage costumes worn by the

the world, Japan is also obsessed with perfecting

range of looks by Jun Takahashi of Undercover,

members of the Speed Tribe motorcycle gangs

singers Hangry & Angry.

classic utilitarian garments, such as jeans,

along with new brands such as Sacai and matohu.

had abandoned the classic biker look of black

sneakers, and leather jackets. The sheer variety

leather jacket and jeans in favor of elegant and

young people everywhere read manga (comic

and quality of Japanese style is evident everywhere

characteristics of their clothing culture, the

bizarre costumes known as Kamikaze suits and

books), watch anime (animated film), and play

you look.

Japanese are also greatly attracted to fashion and

combat gear. But in Japan, rebellion is often cute

computer video games. Contemporary artists have

novelty. As a result, the fashion scene in Tokyo

(kawaii). The significance of kawaii culture is

also been inspired by what Takashi Murakami calls

Dr. Valerie Steele is the director and chief curator

extends far beyond the student’s school uniform or

exemplified by contemporary style tribes that

“Japan’s exploding subculture.” Cosplay (short for

of The Museum at FIT.

The exhibition includes a dramatic mise en scène

Although uniforms and uniformity are dominant

Japan has some of the world’s most exciting

As Japanese pop culture has swept the world,

One of the most fashion-forward countries in

1 14

hue | fall 2010

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

15

in the teahouse

Alexandra Alisa Moy, Hunter College student

Alexa Ko, Hunter College student

Christine de la Rosa,

Type of Lolita: sweet/bittersweet/punk

Type of Lolita: Sweet/Classic/Bittersweet

Fashion Design--Illustration ’13

(and sometimes Mori)

Type of Lolita: Punk

This is a very dressed-up look for me.

[]

On an ordinary day, would you wear jeans?

Lolita is a way for me to embrace my youth and reclaim my femininity and my modesty…. We wear the clothes for ourselves; not for the attention of men and not for the expectations of our times.

Sure.

Lolita style has a lot of restrictions--not a lot of skin or cleavage showing, no skirts above the knee. but I like wearing skirts a little higher, ’cause I have nice legs.

A “Lolita” idyll in a Japanese gar den, captur ed

by Chr istopher Hall, Photogr aphy and the digital image ’11 Makeup: Nico Lopez

by Alex Joseph

Judy Yang, Fashion Design ’13 Dress: Angelic Pretty Necklace: Charlotte Russe

Type of Lolita: Sweet

Stephanie Matos, Illustration ’12 Type of Lolita: Sweet

It’s about being cute.

That’s about it.

Dress: Baby, The Stars Shine Bright Top: Charlotte Russe

Whitney Newman, Fashion Design ’12 Type of Lolita: Goth/Punk

I’m pretty low-maintenance, but I’ll include aspects of Lolita in all my looks. It’s an escape from reality to wear something fantastical.

[]

You a big Tim Burton fan?

Yeah.

Dress: Bodyline Accessories: Betsey Johnson and Forever 21 Hair and shoe bows: Her own

16

hue | fall 2010

Skirt/petticoat: Betsey Johnson Blouse: H&M. Shoes: Demonia Hat: “My mom got this. I’m not sure where it’s from.”

Assistants: Julianna Dow, Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice ’08, and Andrew Emma, Photography and the Digital Image ’11

Everyone in America is so casual and I like dressing up. Wearing Lolita, or seeing other people wearing it, makes me happy.

O

Dress and hair ribbon: Angelic Pretty

Skirt: Metamorphose Other clothes: Hot Topic and eBay

Norie Ayukawa,

Hue decided to find out what American

ne of the stranger

fashion-related subcul-

Lolitas were like. We put out a casting call

tures explored in The

for models on Facebook and around

Museum at FIT’s Japan

campus. And lo, nearly 30 came, sporting

Fashion Now exhibition is

crinolines and festooned with pink bows.

called Lolita. Like perverse Little Bo Peeps,

members embrace extreme femininity,

the 2004 Japanese film Kamikaze Girls;

including crinolines, pink bows, parasols, and

the flamboyant rock band Malice Mizer;

lace. (The gothic version, Goth-Loli, wears all

the anime, or animated characters, on the

black.) Any reference to Nabokov’s novel is

TV show Sailor Moon; the fashion labels

unintended; instead, they champion Rococo

Angelic Pretty and Metamorphose. A book,

and Victorian aesthetics—and anything that

The Gothic and Lolita Bible, is a touchstone.

can be described as “cute.”

Their online community is called Elegant

Gothic & Lolita: http://community.livejournal.

Lolita style can be seen as a form of

jewelry designer Type of Lolita: elegant gothic aristocratic For me, this is just for dress-up. I’m usually more casual.

These Lolitas shared many references:

youth rebellion. “In Japan, rebellion is often

com/egl. We chose eight of them, and one

Chicken-leather corset belt; rooster- and chicken-feather collar; hand-bustled and pleated skirt with corset: Autumn, heartlessrevival.com (Autumn studied styling at FIT.) Jewelry: model’s own, hydesvice.com

cute (kawaii),” writes Valerie Steele, director

perfect day, the group set out for the

of the museum and curator of the exhibition.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where student

The look first appeared in the ’90s in hip

Christopher Hall ’11 photographed them

Type of Lolita: “Kuro/Black

Japanese neighborhoods like Harajuku.

in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden.

(usually a ‘twin style’ with

In the past 60 years, Japanese youth often

adopted Western fashions; however, “the

reproduced here, were as varied as the

girl subcultures in Japan in the 1990s and

looks. The style has branched out from

2000s have had few connections with

classic to gothic, punk, and even “nature

Why become a Lolita? The answers,

Western counterparts…[and are] freed from

girl”—Mori Lolita. No single trait defines the

the inferiority complex,” Hiroshi Narumi, an

group, and in their determination to redefine

associate professor at the Kyoto University

“girlishness,” they can be proudly defiant.

of Art and Design, writes in the show’s

As Christine de la Rosa ’13 put it, “We wear

catalogue. Smitten with Japanese manga

a look that is frilly and feminine and often

(comic books), video game characters, and

cute, sometimes demure and ladylike, but

the theatricality of gothic fashion, the girls

the personality hidden under our petticoats

have turned urban streets into stages.

could very well surprise you.”

Camille Ford, Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing ’11

I researched Lolitas for a class project.

I like the idea of being able to dress up and go crazy on the weekend. And I like cute things.

an all-white counterpart)”

Top: various vintage pieces Skirts: Free People, Forever 21 Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

17

in the teahouse

Alexandra Alisa Moy, Hunter College student

Alexa Ko, Hunter College student

Christine de la Rosa,

Type of Lolita: sweet/bittersweet/punk

Type of Lolita: Sweet/Classic/Bittersweet

Fashion Design--Illustration ’13

(and sometimes Mori)

Type of Lolita: Punk

This is a very dressed-up look for me.

[]

On an ordinary day, would you wear jeans?

Lolita is a way for me to embrace my youth and reclaim my femininity and my modesty…. We wear the clothes for ourselves; not for the attention of men and not for the expectations of our times.

Sure.

Lolita style has a lot of restrictions--not a lot of skin or cleavage showing, no skirts above the knee. but I like wearing skirts a little higher, ’cause I have nice legs.

A “Lolita” idyll in a Japanese gar den, captur ed

by Chr istopher Hall, Photogr aphy and the digital image ’11 Makeup: Nico Lopez

by Alex Joseph

Judy Yang, Fashion Design ’13 Dress: Angelic Pretty Necklace: Charlotte Russe

Type of Lolita: Sweet

Stephanie Matos, Illustration ’12 Type of Lolita: Sweet

It’s about being cute.

That’s about it.

Dress: Baby, The Stars Shine Bright Top: Charlotte Russe

Whitney Newman, Fashion Design ’12 Type of Lolita: Goth/Punk

I’m pretty low-maintenance, but I’ll include aspects of Lolita in all my looks. It’s an escape from reality to wear something fantastical.

[]

You a big Tim Burton fan?

Yeah.

Dress: Bodyline Accessories: Betsey Johnson and Forever 21 Hair and shoe bows: Her own

16

hue | fall 2010

Skirt/petticoat: Betsey Johnson Blouse: H&M. Shoes: Demonia Hat: “My mom got this. I’m not sure where it’s from.”

Assistants: Julianna Dow, Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice ’08, and Andrew Emma, Photography and the Digital Image ’11

Everyone in America is so casual and I like dressing up. Wearing Lolita, or seeing other people wearing it, makes me happy.

O

Dress and hair ribbon: Angelic Pretty

Skirt: Metamorphose Other clothes: Hot Topic and eBay

Norie Ayukawa,

Hue decided to find out what American

ne of the stranger

fashion-related subcul-

Lolitas were like. We put out a casting call

tures explored in The

for models on Facebook and around

Museum at FIT’s Japan

campus. And lo, nearly 30 came, sporting

Fashion Now exhibition is

crinolines and festooned with pink bows.

called Lolita. Like perverse Little Bo Peeps,

members embrace extreme femininity,

the 2004 Japanese film Kamikaze Girls;

including crinolines, pink bows, parasols, and

the flamboyant rock band Malice Mizer;

lace. (The gothic version, Goth-Loli, wears all

the anime, or animated characters, on the

black.) Any reference to Nabokov’s novel is

TV show Sailor Moon; the fashion labels

unintended; instead, they champion Rococo

Angelic Pretty and Metamorphose. A book,

and Victorian aesthetics—and anything that

The Gothic and Lolita Bible, is a touchstone.

can be described as “cute.”

Their online community is called Elegant

Gothic & Lolita: http://community.livejournal.

Lolita style can be seen as a form of

jewelry designer Type of Lolita: elegant gothic aristocratic For me, this is just for dress-up. I’m usually more casual.

These Lolitas shared many references:

youth rebellion. “In Japan, rebellion is often

com/egl. We chose eight of them, and one

Chicken-leather corset belt; rooster- and chicken-feather collar; hand-bustled and pleated skirt with corset: Autumn, heartlessrevival.com (Autumn studied styling at FIT.) Jewelry: model’s own, hydesvice.com

cute (kawaii),” writes Valerie Steele, director

perfect day, the group set out for the

of the museum and curator of the exhibition.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden, where student

The look first appeared in the ’90s in hip

Christopher Hall ’11 photographed them

Type of Lolita: “Kuro/Black

Japanese neighborhoods like Harajuku.

in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden.

(usually a ‘twin style’ with

In the past 60 years, Japanese youth often

adopted Western fashions; however, “the

reproduced here, were as varied as the

girl subcultures in Japan in the 1990s and

looks. The style has branched out from

2000s have had few connections with

classic to gothic, punk, and even “nature

Why become a Lolita? The answers,

Western counterparts…[and are] freed from

girl”—Mori Lolita. No single trait defines the

the inferiority complex,” Hiroshi Narumi, an

group, and in their determination to redefine

associate professor at the Kyoto University

“girlishness,” they can be proudly defiant.

of Art and Design, writes in the show’s

As Christine de la Rosa ’13 put it, “We wear

catalogue. Smitten with Japanese manga

a look that is frilly and feminine and often

(comic books), video game characters, and

cute, sometimes demure and ladylike, but

the theatricality of gothic fashion, the girls

the personality hidden under our petticoats

have turned urban streets into stages.

could very well surprise you.”

Camille Ford, Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing ’11

I researched Lolitas for a class project.

I like the idea of being able to dress up and go crazy on the weekend. And I like cute things.

an all-white counterpart)”

Top: various vintage pieces Skirts: Free People, Forever 21 Shoes: Jeffrey Campbell

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

17

FIT’s graduate program in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management has much to celebrate. For ten years, it has been preparing talented mid-level managers in the beauty business for positions of senior leadership. Through the support of corporate partners ranging from Chanel to Procter & Gamble (many firms, though competitors, have joined forces to aid the program) students benefit from executive mentors, overseas market exposure through study in Paris, London, Shanghai, and Tokyo, and personalized career planning. The program’s 150 graduates have capitalized on their knowledge, skills, and industry connections to boost their careers (at least 20 have been promoted to corporate vice president).

The program is also a think tank for the industry. Students present their research to an industry audience that reached 700 this year. “They take a deep dive into critical issues, and come back with a fresh perspective,” says program chair Stephan Kanlian, noting that some companies, including Estée Lauder and L’Oréal, are using alumni to form their own internal think tanks. In addition, the program sponsors high-level conferences and lectures, including joint alumni breakfasts with the Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative at the Wharton School.

Tenth-anniversary events included a conference on retail engagement with Wharton, a brainstorm on product innovation led by design giant IDEO and videotaped for the WWD CEO Summit, a tribute to ten alumni at the Fragrance Foundation’s FiFi Awards breakfast, and a panel discussion featured in WWD, which launched L’Oréal’s study, 100,000 Years of Beauty.

To cap off the anniversary year, 350 alumni and executives gathered to honor Linda Wells, editor of Allure, and Marc Pritchard, global marketing and brand building officer at Procter & Gamble.

“It was a celebration for the whole industry,” Kanlian says. “It is a unique industry that works together to train future leaders and innovative business models for growth.”

—Alexander Gelfand For more on the Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management program, including video, go to fitnyc.edu/cfmm.

18

hue | fall 2010

For Rebecca Heck ’07, when the chemistry’s right, the rewards are sweet

Douglas Bender calls himself a fragrance activist, and it’s easy to see why. Bender, who always knew he wanted to go into perfumery, has worked in virtually every facet of the industry, running quality control for raw materials supplier Citrus & Allied Essences, establishing a gas chromatography lab for Victoria’s Secret Beauty, and assisting iconic “noses” like Yves de Chirin (Thierry Mugler’s Angel) and Yann Vasnier (Marc Jacobs’s Lola) at fragrance houses Quest and Givaudan. And all of this before he came to FIT. But Bender is also committed to restoring fragrance to what he says is its historic role as something more than an accessory. “Today, fashion leads fragrance,” he says. “But that wasn’t always true. There was a time when fragrance led fashion.” Bender wants that time to come again.

To that end, he founded a consultancy to “create fragrances that make a statement”—a broad mandate that covers everything from product development to online marketing, to establish strong, distinctive brands that command attention.

Bender is developing his own fragrance line, Christopher Street, which he hopes to launch this year.

Meanwhile, through his consulting work, he is helping to change the way the fragrance industry is perceived by the wider world. For example, he was responsible for bringing the Fragrance Foundation and its coveted FiFi Awards into the realm of social media and the blogosphere.

“The Fragrance Foundation had been industry- rather than consumerfocused,” Bender says. “I set up a blog, gave them a presence on MySpace and Facebook, and pumped out to consumers what the FiFi Awards were and why the foundation was important.”

Through initiatives such as inviting consumers to vote for fragrance of the year (previously, only industry members voted), Bender gave people “a connection they would not ordinarily have to that world.”

Every month, 8,000 samples pass through the fragrance labs that Rebecca Heck runs in New York City for the Swiss-based fragrance house Firmenich. A chemist who previously investigated hair shine for L’Oréal and Colgate, Heck still gets directly involved in developing and testing new fragrances for Firmenich’s clients.

But as director of technical development for fine fragrance, North America, she is primarily responsible for shepherding all of the company’s fine fragrances from initial concept to manufacture to store shelves.

It’s a complex process, with millions of dollars on the line. But Heck, who is also a founding co-chair of the alumni association for the MPS in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management, savors the combination of hard science and big business. “I get to do chemistry,” she says, “but I also get to see a whole side of the business that most people never see.”

Clients typically select fragrances from a list of options provided by Firmenich’s perfumers, or “noses,” then request modifications—like making the juice, as fragrance is known in the trade, “more fun,” or adding a “grapefruit note.” The juice recipes then go to the chemists and technicians in Heck’s creation lab, which produces oils for everything from cologne to body powder.

Also a filmmaker, Bender prepared video presentations to help celebrate the tenth anniversary of the MPS in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management. One of these, which premiered at the anniversary breakfast on September 22, is based on eight months’ worth of interviews with students, alumni, and industry leaders; its themes are education, leadership, and innovation.

Fortunately, the fragrance industry seems big enough, and broad enough, to accommodate even this activist’s boundless energy. “There’s room for everyone out there,” he says. “It’s just about finding your place, and your voice.”

Fragrance development managers help determine precisely what “more fun” might mean; research chemists search for novel ways of turning raw materials, like grapefruit, into bottled scents. “That’s our specialty—new smells that no one else has come up with yet,” Heck says.

The applications lab then blends the oils into products, like perfumes and shower gels. Next comes stability testing. Samples are stored for weeks at various temperatures to ensure that after sitting on the shelf the product “still looks and smells good.”

Heck recalls how a client once blended a Firmenich fragrance into an untested body powder. “Within three days, it was rancid,” says Heck, who was called in to fix the problem.

It’s rigorous, technically demanding work. But it also requires creative thinking and the ability to deal with clients. That’s fine with Heck, who studied film at NYU after earning her chemistry degree, and considers herself both a right- and left-brain person. “There are a lot of very creative people in this industry, but it’s still a business, and you need to be using both sides of your brain constantly.”

insights from the classroom and beyond

Program Marks TEN Years of Success

Douglas Bender ’07 helps tell the story of fragrance

Matthew Septimus

Cosmetics and Fragrance Master’s

Lab Fab

Photos: Leo Sorel

The Power of Ten

Message in a Bottle

Metamorphosis Stephan Kanlian, chairperson, Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management MPS As our students go through the program, they undergo a metamorphosis, especially through their capstone research project. My favorite example of this is the key moment when they realize they have become the experts, and they are teaching the industry. This was really proved starting with the class of ’07, which did a study on the global luxury consumer, sponsored by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. The research was mentored by IDEO, the global design and innovation firm, and included a trip to China. The students explored how the Louis Vuitton brand could take the lead, creating a market that didn’t yet exist in China: luxury lifestyle. They recommended that LV’s flagship stores in China establish global lifestyle centers, offering art exhibitions, wine tastings, jewelry and luggage craft exhibitions, and cultural events to educate newly wealthy consumers about the luxury lifestyle. Building on the travel and voyage history of the LV brand, they also suggested a concierge travel service. To instill pride in Chinese consumers, they proposed that LV create “indigenous product” by Chinese designers available exclusively in China—which because of limited availability would become objects of desire around the world. The research was presented by FIT and IDEO at the American Express Luxury Summit. Three years later, some luxury brands, like Hermès and LV, are doing exactly what the research suggested. Our students do indeed become experts. They enter the program with intellect and talent, and are completely transformed by the time they graduate into confident and innovative leaders. The metamorphosis is a joy to watch.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

19

FIT’s graduate program in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management has much to celebrate. For ten years, it has been preparing talented mid-level managers in the beauty business for positions of senior leadership. Through the support of corporate partners ranging from Chanel to Procter & Gamble (many firms, though competitors, have joined forces to aid the program) students benefit from executive mentors, overseas market exposure through study in Paris, London, Shanghai, and Tokyo, and personalized career planning. The program’s 150 graduates have capitalized on their knowledge, skills, and industry connections to boost their careers (at least 20 have been promoted to corporate vice president).

The program is also a think tank for the industry. Students present their research to an industry audience that reached 700 this year. “They take a deep dive into critical issues, and come back with a fresh perspective,” says program chair Stephan Kanlian, noting that some companies, including Estée Lauder and L’Oréal, are using alumni to form their own internal think tanks. In addition, the program sponsors high-level conferences and lectures, including joint alumni breakfasts with the Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative at the Wharton School.

Tenth-anniversary events included a conference on retail engagement with Wharton, a brainstorm on product innovation led by design giant IDEO and videotaped for the WWD CEO Summit, a tribute to ten alumni at the Fragrance Foundation’s FiFi Awards breakfast, and a panel discussion featured in WWD, which launched L’Oréal’s study, 100,000 Years of Beauty.

To cap off the anniversary year, 350 alumni and executives gathered to honor Linda Wells, editor of Allure, and Marc Pritchard, global marketing and brand building officer at Procter & Gamble.

“It was a celebration for the whole industry,” Kanlian says. “It is a unique industry that works together to train future leaders and innovative business models for growth.”

—Alexander Gelfand For more on the Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management program, including video, go to fitnyc.edu/cfmm.

18

hue | fall 2010

For Rebecca Heck ’07, when the chemistry’s right, the rewards are sweet

Douglas Bender calls himself a fragrance activist, and it’s easy to see why. Bender, who always knew he wanted to go into perfumery, has worked in virtually every facet of the industry, running quality control for raw materials supplier Citrus & Allied Essences, establishing a gas chromatography lab for Victoria’s Secret Beauty, and assisting iconic “noses” like Yves de Chirin (Thierry Mugler’s Angel) and Yann Vasnier (Marc Jacobs’s Lola) at fragrance houses Quest and Givaudan. And all of this before he came to FIT. But Bender is also committed to restoring fragrance to what he says is its historic role as something more than an accessory. “Today, fashion leads fragrance,” he says. “But that wasn’t always true. There was a time when fragrance led fashion.” Bender wants that time to come again.

To that end, he founded a consultancy to “create fragrances that make a statement”—a broad mandate that covers everything from product development to online marketing, to establish strong, distinctive brands that command attention.

Bender is developing his own fragrance line, Christopher Street, which he hopes to launch this year.

Meanwhile, through his consulting work, he is helping to change the way the fragrance industry is perceived by the wider world. For example, he was responsible for bringing the Fragrance Foundation and its coveted FiFi Awards into the realm of social media and the blogosphere.

“The Fragrance Foundation had been industry- rather than consumerfocused,” Bender says. “I set up a blog, gave them a presence on MySpace and Facebook, and pumped out to consumers what the FiFi Awards were and why the foundation was important.”

Through initiatives such as inviting consumers to vote for fragrance of the year (previously, only industry members voted), Bender gave people “a connection they would not ordinarily have to that world.”

Every month, 8,000 samples pass through the fragrance labs that Rebecca Heck runs in New York City for the Swiss-based fragrance house Firmenich. A chemist who previously investigated hair shine for L’Oréal and Colgate, Heck still gets directly involved in developing and testing new fragrances for Firmenich’s clients.

But as director of technical development for fine fragrance, North America, she is primarily responsible for shepherding all of the company’s fine fragrances from initial concept to manufacture to store shelves.

It’s a complex process, with millions of dollars on the line. But Heck, who is also a founding co-chair of the alumni association for the MPS in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management, savors the combination of hard science and big business. “I get to do chemistry,” she says, “but I also get to see a whole side of the business that most people never see.”

Clients typically select fragrances from a list of options provided by Firmenich’s perfumers, or “noses,” then request modifications—like making the juice, as fragrance is known in the trade, “more fun,” or adding a “grapefruit note.” The juice recipes then go to the chemists and technicians in Heck’s creation lab, which produces oils for everything from cologne to body powder.

Also a filmmaker, Bender prepared video presentations to help celebrate the tenth anniversary of the MPS in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management. One of these, which premiered at the anniversary breakfast on September 22, is based on eight months’ worth of interviews with students, alumni, and industry leaders; its themes are education, leadership, and innovation.

Fortunately, the fragrance industry seems big enough, and broad enough, to accommodate even this activist’s boundless energy. “There’s room for everyone out there,” he says. “It’s just about finding your place, and your voice.”

Fragrance development managers help determine precisely what “more fun” might mean; research chemists search for novel ways of turning raw materials, like grapefruit, into bottled scents. “That’s our specialty—new smells that no one else has come up with yet,” Heck says.

The applications lab then blends the oils into products, like perfumes and shower gels. Next comes stability testing. Samples are stored for weeks at various temperatures to ensure that after sitting on the shelf the product “still looks and smells good.”

Heck recalls how a client once blended a Firmenich fragrance into an untested body powder. “Within three days, it was rancid,” says Heck, who was called in to fix the problem.

It’s rigorous, technically demanding work. But it also requires creative thinking and the ability to deal with clients. That’s fine with Heck, who studied film at NYU after earning her chemistry degree, and considers herself both a right- and left-brain person. “There are a lot of very creative people in this industry, but it’s still a business, and you need to be using both sides of your brain constantly.”

insights from the classroom and beyond

Program Marks TEN Years of Success

Douglas Bender ’07 helps tell the story of fragrance

Matthew Septimus

Cosmetics and Fragrance Master’s

Lab Fab

Photos: Leo Sorel

The Power of Ten

Message in a Bottle

Metamorphosis Stephan Kanlian, chairperson, Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management MPS As our students go through the program, they undergo a metamorphosis, especially through their capstone research project. My favorite example of this is the key moment when they realize they have become the experts, and they are teaching the industry. This was really proved starting with the class of ’07, which did a study on the global luxury consumer, sponsored by LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. The research was mentored by IDEO, the global design and innovation firm, and included a trip to China. The students explored how the Louis Vuitton brand could take the lead, creating a market that didn’t yet exist in China: luxury lifestyle. They recommended that LV’s flagship stores in China establish global lifestyle centers, offering art exhibitions, wine tastings, jewelry and luggage craft exhibitions, and cultural events to educate newly wealthy consumers about the luxury lifestyle. Building on the travel and voyage history of the LV brand, they also suggested a concierge travel service. To instill pride in Chinese consumers, they proposed that LV create “indigenous product” by Chinese designers available exclusively in China—which because of limited availability would become objects of desire around the world. The research was presented by FIT and IDEO at the American Express Luxury Summit. Three years later, some luxury brands, like Hermès and LV, are doing exactly what the research suggested. Our students do indeed become experts. They enter the program with intellect and talent, and are completely transformed by the time they graduate into confident and innovative leaders. The metamorphosis is a joy to watch.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

19

In 2003, Terzi joined Coty. The following year,

she enrolled in FIT’s Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management Master of Profes-

Nose Job

sional Studies program, for a more comprehensive study of the industry. “I had the science background from my undergraduate education and I learned the creative side from the perfumer.

I came to FIT to better understand the marketing and the business side of beauty—how a fragrance is marketed and advertised, and what determines

Ana Palombo Terzi, Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management ’06, makes sense of scents

the trends.”

by Greg Herbowy

“A good sense of smell is something you can

acquire,” Terzi says. “It’s like learning music. First you learn the notes. Then you learn the accords.”

Notes, in fragrance-speak, are single aromas: rose, black pepper, kumquat, caramel. Accords are combinations of three or more notes “that blend

Ana Palombo Terzi, senior fragrance evaluator for Coty, works in an office-slash-laboratory on the second floor of the company’s Morris Plains, NJ, building, where, by her own lowball estimate, she smells 150 oils, colognes, lipsticks, creams, aftershaves, soaps, powders, and body sprays each day. Coty, a cosmetics and fragrance manufacturer founded in France in 1904, posts about $4 billion in annual profits, 70 percent of it from sales of scented products that range from Chloé perfume to Adidas-branded deodorant. And every one of the thousands developed each year must pass under Terzi’s nose before it enters the U.S. marketplace.

“ A good sense of smell is something you can acquire,” Terzi says. “It’s like learning music.

First you learn the notes. Then you learn the accords.”

20

hue | fall 2010

audience and brand identity, correlative trends in

unused oils that she can choose from to submit

accord can be made with notes of bergamot,

art and design, even the intended color of the juice,

to marketing for time-sensitive projects.

grapefruit, and orange, for example.” Fragrances

which is how the industry refers to a fragrance’s

are typically described as three successive groups

market-ready preparation—but never prescribing

database on Coty’s internal website, each fra-

of notes: top, middle, dry.

specific aromas. “That is sacrilege,” Terzi says.

grance’s entry listing its initial purpose, house

In her lab, Terzi stores dozens of tiny vials,

“Perfumers are artists. We don’t want to intrude

of origin, date of creation, consumer test score,

each labeled with the raw material or single-note

on their palette at all.” Coty sends its brief to as

and use level—the amount of oil to be used when

scent it contains. In some instances, she has

many as four fragrance houses, which create

mixing the solution. It also includes an open field,

several variations of a note. There is a vanilla

candidates, in the form of undiluted oils, for

where Terzi suggests potential applications and

formulated for colorless products (vanilla normally

consideration. Several weeks later, when the

discusses the concept, and a rundown of the

darkens solutions), French vanilla, vanilla from

candidates arrive, they are tested by a toxicologist

top, middle, and dry notes. Writing this last bit is

Madagascar, and so on. She keeps these for

and microbiologist for safety, by consumers for

Terzi’s favorite part of the job. She enjoys the

reference and study, the better to fine-tune her

appeal, and by Terzi and Welsh for olfactory

challenge of crafting a succinct, memorable

The library’s catalogue exists as a searchable

Terzi smells products after they’ve been stored

spent time developing colors for Faber-Castell’s

perception and description of fragrances.

stability. If the product is to be released under a

description: “I get to sit and smell and daydream.”

in the containers they will be sold in, to test

makeup pencils. It wasn’t until 2001, after she

During testing, if Terzi suspects a fragrance is

celebrity’s name—some of Coty’s bestsellers are

In her spare time, she freelances for Brandchannel.

whether any of the packaging’s components, like

and her husband moved to New Jersey for his

unstable—if it loses potency too quickly or develops

fragrances made for designers like Marc Jacobs,

com, writing about the industry’s trends and

the pump’s plastic straw and spray head, alter the

career, that she first began working in fragrances,

an off-note, most commonly a whiff of vinegar,

actresses like Halle Berry, and performers like

branding. “English is the best language in the

formula’s scent. She smells products after they

as a specialty-bath-product developer at Avon.

rancidity, or metal—she will solicit the opinion

Jennifer Lopez and, beginning in 2012, Lady Gaga—

world,” she says. “It’s so malleable.”

have been exposed to extreme heat and light, to

of her director, Laurie Welsh. Each new formula

the viable candidates are submitted to him or her,

be sure that they will remain stable even if

aromas with a perfumer, to train her nose and

represents substantial investments in research,

for feedback and for final say. “They are highly

glass bottles of oils, are stored in two refrigerators

shipped or stored in less-than-ideal conditions.

familiarize her with fragrance development and

development, and testing, so, Welsh says, “We

involved in the development process,” Terzi says.

in Terzi’s office, where they share space with more

Sometimes, she will smell a product for a full

the field’s terminology, which runs the gamut from

never reject on one nose. I have the unique

than 2,000 quarter-ounce samples of every Coty

week, taking it from the sterility of the lab—where

the scientific to the fanciful—since English is short

privilege of smelling only the bad stuff.”

Often, the reason a candidate is set aside has

fragrance on the U.S. market, kept on hand for

it is customarily sampled on strips of blotting

on olfactory terms, aromas are often described in

nothing to do with its quality. Sometimes it

further testing should any consumer or production

paper—to her home, where she wears it on her

terms of color, taste, or even touch. Once a week

manufacturers in business, Coty develops none

scores high in consumer testing but the celebrity

problems arise. Every year, she reviews the

wrists or neck and observes its interactions with

for four years, Terzi would wake up predawn and

of its fragrances in house. “Perfumery is very

preferred another. “Angel by Thierry Mugler has

selection to make sure it covers a broad range and

her body’s pheromones. When smelling several

commute to Manhattan to spend an hour at the

specialized,” says Leslie Smith, vice president

a praline note that was polarizing,” Terzi says.

to pull anything more than four years old. “It’s not

products in quick succession, Terzi will pause

perfumer’s laboratory, smelling scents and

for research and development. “You have to build

“But Thierry insisted on it. It reminded him of

that the older ones have gone bad, but the market-

between samples to sniff her sleeve—the olfactory

describing them, before returning to New Jersey

a whole infrastructure for it.” Perfumers also need

his childhood. And it ended up selling phenom-

ers will not like to see that a candidate is from

equivalent of a palate cleanser. On especially

for her workday. “He didn’t want me to name the

to maintain large, costly ingredient inventories.

enally.” Sometimes the intended product is

2005. The trends have moved on.”

demanding days, when a sleeve-sniff is not enough,

fragrances’ raw materials,” she says. “I would have

Even if Coty were to invest in an in-house

canceled for business reasons, which strands

“I’ll run up and down the stairs,” she says. “You

to think up adjectives. So if I was smelling cedar

operation, it would be difficult, if not impossible,

even the chosen fragrance.

Terzi’s library. About 100 more have aged into

hyperventilate a bit and your nose clears up.”

wood, I wouldn’t say ‘cedar wood,’ I’d say ‘pencil

to match the depth of talent the company can

obsolescence, unavoidable losses in an industry

shavings.’” One exercise, Terzi’s favorite, the per-

access by working with independent fragrance

these orphaned candidates, especially since Coty

governed by ever-changing moods and tastes.

Wherever I go, I’m crushing and smelling leaves,

fumer called Battleship, after the popular board

houses. “If we had a perfumery team,” Smith says,

periodically creates and rolls out a product within

But they didn’t go unloved. Terzi recalls one in

smelling the fruits and vegetables.” But she was a

game. She and a fellow student would each be given

“it’d be between five and ten perfumers, whereas

a contracted timeframe, maybe six months instead

particular, “a beautiful, sparkling, clean, abstract

few years into her career before she found a

a set of the same ten fragrances. One would be

we now have access to maybe 100.”

of the usual year, and testing a new fragrance can

floral” that she submitted for several projects

professional outlet for her passion. In Brazil,

randomly labeled 1 through 10, the other A through

eat up three months or more. So in 2005, he asked

before its sell-date passed.

develops, it creates a brief, a document outlining

Terzi to create and maintain an internal library,

what Coty is looking for—the product’s target

a collection of the fragrance houses’ best-testing

“For my own delight.”

Terzi calls herself “a fragrance aficionada .…

There, Terzi’s bosses arranged for her to study

where Terzi was born and raised, she studied

J. After each had smelled her set, they would try

pharmaceutical science and biochemistry and

to match the fragrances by comparing notes.

Joanne Chan

Terzi in her Morris Plains, NJ, office. Opposite: Terzi samples a Harajuku Lovers solid perfume; pumps, or half-ounce bottles, of fragrance oils.

together to create a new odor identity. A citrus

Despite being one of the largest fragrance

Instead, for each new scent the company

Invariably, this process results in leftovers.

To Leslie Smith, it seemed a waste to discard

The library’s archives, roughly 120 half-ounce

To date, Coty has made use of 40 entries from

“I still have a pump of it in the fridge,” she says.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

21

In 2003, Terzi joined Coty. The following year,

she enrolled in FIT’s Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management Master of Profes-

Nose Job

sional Studies program, for a more comprehensive study of the industry. “I had the science background from my undergraduate education and I learned the creative side from the perfumer.

I came to FIT to better understand the marketing and the business side of beauty—how a fragrance is marketed and advertised, and what determines

Ana Palombo Terzi, Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management ’06, makes sense of scents

the trends.”

by Greg Herbowy

“A good sense of smell is something you can

acquire,” Terzi says. “It’s like learning music. First you learn the notes. Then you learn the accords.”

Notes, in fragrance-speak, are single aromas: rose, black pepper, kumquat, caramel. Accords are combinations of three or more notes “that blend

Ana Palombo Terzi, senior fragrance evaluator for Coty, works in an office-slash-laboratory on the second floor of the company’s Morris Plains, NJ, building, where, by her own lowball estimate, she smells 150 oils, colognes, lipsticks, creams, aftershaves, soaps, powders, and body sprays each day. Coty, a cosmetics and fragrance manufacturer founded in France in 1904, posts about $4 billion in annual profits, 70 percent of it from sales of scented products that range from Chloé perfume to Adidas-branded deodorant. And every one of the thousands developed each year must pass under Terzi’s nose before it enters the U.S. marketplace.

“ A good sense of smell is something you can acquire,” Terzi says. “It’s like learning music.

First you learn the notes. Then you learn the accords.”

20

hue | fall 2010

audience and brand identity, correlative trends in

unused oils that she can choose from to submit

accord can be made with notes of bergamot,

art and design, even the intended color of the juice,

to marketing for time-sensitive projects.

grapefruit, and orange, for example.” Fragrances

which is how the industry refers to a fragrance’s

are typically described as three successive groups

market-ready preparation—but never prescribing

database on Coty’s internal website, each fra-

of notes: top, middle, dry.

specific aromas. “That is sacrilege,” Terzi says.

grance’s entry listing its initial purpose, house

In her lab, Terzi stores dozens of tiny vials,

“Perfumers are artists. We don’t want to intrude

of origin, date of creation, consumer test score,

each labeled with the raw material or single-note

on their palette at all.” Coty sends its brief to as

and use level—the amount of oil to be used when

scent it contains. In some instances, she has

many as four fragrance houses, which create

mixing the solution. It also includes an open field,

several variations of a note. There is a vanilla

candidates, in the form of undiluted oils, for

where Terzi suggests potential applications and

formulated for colorless products (vanilla normally

consideration. Several weeks later, when the

discusses the concept, and a rundown of the

darkens solutions), French vanilla, vanilla from

candidates arrive, they are tested by a toxicologist

top, middle, and dry notes. Writing this last bit is

Madagascar, and so on. She keeps these for

and microbiologist for safety, by consumers for

Terzi’s favorite part of the job. She enjoys the

reference and study, the better to fine-tune her

appeal, and by Terzi and Welsh for olfactory

challenge of crafting a succinct, memorable

The library’s catalogue exists as a searchable

Terzi smells products after they’ve been stored

spent time developing colors for Faber-Castell’s

perception and description of fragrances.

stability. If the product is to be released under a

description: “I get to sit and smell and daydream.”

in the containers they will be sold in, to test

makeup pencils. It wasn’t until 2001, after she

During testing, if Terzi suspects a fragrance is

celebrity’s name—some of Coty’s bestsellers are

In her spare time, she freelances for Brandchannel.

whether any of the packaging’s components, like

and her husband moved to New Jersey for his

unstable—if it loses potency too quickly or develops

fragrances made for designers like Marc Jacobs,

com, writing about the industry’s trends and

the pump’s plastic straw and spray head, alter the

career, that she first began working in fragrances,

an off-note, most commonly a whiff of vinegar,

actresses like Halle Berry, and performers like

branding. “English is the best language in the

formula’s scent. She smells products after they

as a specialty-bath-product developer at Avon.

rancidity, or metal—she will solicit the opinion

Jennifer Lopez and, beginning in 2012, Lady Gaga—

world,” she says. “It’s so malleable.”

have been exposed to extreme heat and light, to

of her director, Laurie Welsh. Each new formula

the viable candidates are submitted to him or her,

be sure that they will remain stable even if

aromas with a perfumer, to train her nose and

represents substantial investments in research,

for feedback and for final say. “They are highly

glass bottles of oils, are stored in two refrigerators

shipped or stored in less-than-ideal conditions.

familiarize her with fragrance development and

development, and testing, so, Welsh says, “We

involved in the development process,” Terzi says.

in Terzi’s office, where they share space with more

Sometimes, she will smell a product for a full

the field’s terminology, which runs the gamut from

never reject on one nose. I have the unique

than 2,000 quarter-ounce samples of every Coty

week, taking it from the sterility of the lab—where

the scientific to the fanciful—since English is short

privilege of smelling only the bad stuff.”

Often, the reason a candidate is set aside has

fragrance on the U.S. market, kept on hand for

it is customarily sampled on strips of blotting

on olfactory terms, aromas are often described in

nothing to do with its quality. Sometimes it

further testing should any consumer or production

paper—to her home, where she wears it on her

terms of color, taste, or even touch. Once a week

manufacturers in business, Coty develops none

scores high in consumer testing but the celebrity

problems arise. Every year, she reviews the

wrists or neck and observes its interactions with

for four years, Terzi would wake up predawn and

of its fragrances in house. “Perfumery is very

preferred another. “Angel by Thierry Mugler has

selection to make sure it covers a broad range and

her body’s pheromones. When smelling several

commute to Manhattan to spend an hour at the

specialized,” says Leslie Smith, vice president

a praline note that was polarizing,” Terzi says.

to pull anything more than four years old. “It’s not

products in quick succession, Terzi will pause

perfumer’s laboratory, smelling scents and

for research and development. “You have to build

“But Thierry insisted on it. It reminded him of

that the older ones have gone bad, but the market-

between samples to sniff her sleeve—the olfactory

describing them, before returning to New Jersey

a whole infrastructure for it.” Perfumers also need

his childhood. And it ended up selling phenom-

ers will not like to see that a candidate is from

equivalent of a palate cleanser. On especially

for her workday. “He didn’t want me to name the

to maintain large, costly ingredient inventories.

enally.” Sometimes the intended product is

2005. The trends have moved on.”

demanding days, when a sleeve-sniff is not enough,

fragrances’ raw materials,” she says. “I would have

Even if Coty were to invest in an in-house

canceled for business reasons, which strands

“I’ll run up and down the stairs,” she says. “You

to think up adjectives. So if I was smelling cedar

operation, it would be difficult, if not impossible,

even the chosen fragrance.

Terzi’s library. About 100 more have aged into

hyperventilate a bit and your nose clears up.”

wood, I wouldn’t say ‘cedar wood,’ I’d say ‘pencil

to match the depth of talent the company can

obsolescence, unavoidable losses in an industry

shavings.’” One exercise, Terzi’s favorite, the per-

access by working with independent fragrance

these orphaned candidates, especially since Coty

governed by ever-changing moods and tastes.

Wherever I go, I’m crushing and smelling leaves,

fumer called Battleship, after the popular board

houses. “If we had a perfumery team,” Smith says,

periodically creates and rolls out a product within

But they didn’t go unloved. Terzi recalls one in

smelling the fruits and vegetables.” But she was a

game. She and a fellow student would each be given

“it’d be between five and ten perfumers, whereas

a contracted timeframe, maybe six months instead

particular, “a beautiful, sparkling, clean, abstract

few years into her career before she found a

a set of the same ten fragrances. One would be

we now have access to maybe 100.”

of the usual year, and testing a new fragrance can

floral” that she submitted for several projects

professional outlet for her passion. In Brazil,

randomly labeled 1 through 10, the other A through

eat up three months or more. So in 2005, he asked

before its sell-date passed.

develops, it creates a brief, a document outlining

Terzi to create and maintain an internal library,

what Coty is looking for—the product’s target

a collection of the fragrance houses’ best-testing

“For my own delight.”

Terzi calls herself “a fragrance aficionada .…

There, Terzi’s bosses arranged for her to study

where Terzi was born and raised, she studied

J. After each had smelled her set, they would try

pharmaceutical science and biochemistry and

to match the fragrances by comparing notes.

Joanne Chan

Terzi in her Morris Plains, NJ, office. Opposite: Terzi samples a Harajuku Lovers solid perfume; pumps, or half-ounce bottles, of fragrance oils.

together to create a new odor identity. A citrus

Despite being one of the largest fragrance

Instead, for each new scent the company

Invariably, this process results in leftovers.

To Leslie Smith, it seemed a waste to discard

The library’s archives, roughly 120 half-ounce

To date, Coty has made use of 40 entries from

“I still have a pump of it in the fridge,” she says.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

21

The two sides of Robert Verdi, Jewelry Design ’88, envisioned by Robert Mendolia , Photography ’03 and Fashion Design ’86 B y A le x J oseph

Tastemaker and stylist Robert Verdi has two sides. One’s nice; the other … not so much.

In person, he’s a doll. He lounges in socks in his casual Hell’s

Kitchen offices, petting his one-eyed dog Winky, discussing his role as a judge on She’s Got the Look, TV Land’s model competition for women over 35, and describing a space he designed for the Kips Bay Show House. He’s a great stylist. Comedian and friend Kathy Griffin says Verdi does things for her that no one else can, like “put me on the best-dressed list. Get me positive mentions in the magazines for once.

Get me amazing one-of-a-kind couture pieces that fit my body at an incredible price. I believe there is a gay mafia,” she adds. “I believe he is a member.” When he shows off his fashion closet, full of everything from Richard Prince-styled bags to Versace pants (fave item: Dior jackets), Verdi also points out the hundreds of pieces set aside for donation to Housing Works, an organization that fights homelessness and AIDS. In a certain light, he’s almost angelic.

22

But then there’s his other side.

hue | fall 2010

The two sides of Robert Verdi, Jewelry Design ’88, envisioned by Robert Mendolia , Photography ’03 and Fashion Design ’86 B y A le x J oseph

Tastemaker and stylist Robert Verdi has two sides. One’s nice; the other … not so much.

In person, he’s a doll. He lounges in socks in his casual Hell’s

Kitchen offices, petting his one-eyed dog Winky, discussing his role as a judge on She’s Got the Look, TV Land’s model competition for women over 35, and describing a space he designed for the Kips Bay Show House. He’s a great stylist. Comedian and friend Kathy Griffin says Verdi does things for her that no one else can, like “put me on the best-dressed list. Get me positive mentions in the magazines for once.

Get me amazing one-of-a-kind couture pieces that fit my body at an incredible price. I believe there is a gay mafia,” she adds. “I believe he is a member.” When he shows off his fashion closet, full of everything from Richard Prince-styled bags to Versace pants (fave item: Dior jackets), Verdi also points out the hundreds of pieces set aside for donation to Housing Works, an organization that fights homelessness and AIDS. In a certain light, he’s almost angelic.

22

But then there’s his other side.

hue | fall 2010

On The Robert Verdi Show, a faux-reality program broadcast last year on Logo (and still streaming from the network’s site), Verdi’s id ran wild. Like a berserk Lucy Ricardo, he forced his sweet-seeming staff, whom he referred to as “bitches,” to launch dozens of terrible projects, all prominently featuring Verdi—a mall shaped like a giant “V,” a TV network of Verdi-centric programming, an invention called “Youth in Eyes” (sunglasses that squirt lotion on your face). Though the concepts weren’t real, the VPs he pitched them to were, and watching them, you wondered if they understood that Verdi was ridiculing his own narcissism. At one point, he forced a young intern who didn’t want to sign a release form to wear a paper bag over her head. Evil.

Hue decided to photograph Verdi’s two sides. With a tip from Photography faculty member Deborah Klesenski, we sought

out Robert Mendolia ’03, who regularly shoots for Bloomingdale’s and macys.com, and is making a name for himself in men’s fashion editorial. One feature based on men’s cologne for the international publication reFRESH used digitally manipulated images and illustration. It was a hit. For a follow-up, he crafted images of male models to give them articulated robot limbs; the results were published in three different places—the Canadian publication Zink, the Australian Cream, and Bello, which appears online.

Mendolia loved the Hue project.

Photographs by Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts have a signature look, he says, but he wants to avoid that: “I always want to be able to come up with something new, not dated.”

He adds that Verdi “was extremely laid-back and easy to work with.”

Shooting in the FIT studios was like coming home again; he already had a Fashion Design degree when, in

the early ’00s, he returned to study photography. Starting a second career was hard, he says, but “the funny thing was, I actually had a great time at FIT. And a lot of those students and I are still friends.”

Among those friends are, in fact, the digital technician on this shoot, Sean Waltrous ’02, and photo assistant Michael Stewart ’10.

Featuring designs by alumni and recent graduates, these pages are a full showcase of FIT talent.

Looking at the image on this spread, it’s comforting to know the real Verdi is a cuddly kitten.

Well, maybe not entirely. Asked what he’d be wearing if they met in the afterlife, Griffin said, “Louis Vuitton’s skin à la the killer in The Silence of the Lambs. Ok, that’s a little dark. Let’s just go with he’d be wearing something ahead of the f***ing curve, or he’d fire everyone else in hell.” Gulp.

Digital tech: Sean Waltrous ’02; Photo assistant: Michael Stewart ’10; Stylist: René Garza; “Angel” image: cable sweater by Andrew Buckler; pants by Anthony Caputo, Menswear ’91, design director for Li & Fung; “Evil”: top by Carlos Campos, who studied Fashion Design at FIT; wool pants by Jo Hwang, Menswear ’10.

On The Robert Verdi Show, a faux-reality program broadcast last year on Logo (and still streaming from the network’s site), Verdi’s id ran wild. Like a berserk Lucy Ricardo, he forced his sweet-seeming staff, whom he referred to as “bitches,” to launch dozens of terrible projects, all prominently featuring Verdi—a mall shaped like a giant “V,” a TV network of Verdi-centric programming, an invention called “Youth in Eyes” (sunglasses that squirt lotion on your face). Though the concepts weren’t real, the VPs he pitched them to were, and watching them, you wondered if they understood that Verdi was ridiculing his own narcissism. At one point, he forced a young intern who didn’t want to sign a release form to wear a paper bag over her head. Evil.

Hue decided to photograph Verdi’s two sides. With a tip from Photography faculty member Deborah Klesenski, we sought

out Robert Mendolia ’03, who regularly shoots for Bloomingdale’s and macys.com, and is making a name for himself in men’s fashion editorial. One feature based on men’s cologne for the international publication reFRESH used digitally manipulated images and illustration. It was a hit. For a follow-up, he crafted images of male models to give them articulated robot limbs; the results were published in three different places—the Canadian publication Zink, the Australian Cream, and Bello, which appears online.

Mendolia loved the Hue project.

Photographs by Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts have a signature look, he says, but he wants to avoid that: “I always want to be able to come up with something new, not dated.”

He adds that Verdi “was extremely laid-back and easy to work with.”

Shooting in the FIT studios was like coming home again; he already had a Fashion Design degree when, in

the early ’00s, he returned to study photography. Starting a second career was hard, he says, but “the funny thing was, I actually had a great time at FIT. And a lot of those students and I are still friends.”

Among those friends are, in fact, the digital technician on this shoot, Sean Waltrous ’02, and photo assistant Michael Stewart ’10.

Featuring designs by alumni and recent graduates, these pages are a full showcase of FIT talent.

Looking at the image on this spread, it’s comforting to know the real Verdi is a cuddly kitten.

Well, maybe not entirely. Asked what he’d be wearing if they met in the afterlife, Griffin said, “Louis Vuitton’s skin à la the killer in The Silence of the Lambs. Ok, that’s a little dark. Let’s just go with he’d be wearing something ahead of the f***ing curve, or he’d fire everyone else in hell.” Gulp.

Digital tech: Sean Waltrous ’02; Photo assistant: Michael Stewart ’10; Stylist: René Garza; “Angel” image: cable sweater by Andrew Buckler; pants by Anthony Caputo, Menswear ’91, design director for Li & Fung; “Evil”: top by Carlos Campos, who studied Fashion Design at FIT; wool pants by Jo Hwang, Menswear ’10.

Saying Yes to Rugs

floored

Meet the winner of FIT’s Axminster carpet competition

Katalin Laszlo, Textile/Surface Design ’05, designs exquisite rugs for Safavieh

by Alex Joseph

“ It’s all color,

Nick Parisse, Photography and the Digital Image ’09

pattern, and texture,” Katalin Laszlo says of her work as designer and project manager for Safavieh, a rug manufacturer and importer. “A big chunk of my job” is working with Jamie Drake, Martha Stewart, and other designers to make sure the final products match the original concepts. “Most of them are very hands-on,” Laszlo says, though some more than others. “I’m on a design team that is involved from the beginning of design development all the way through to every finished piece.”

Each project is different. Drake, for example, provides inspirational ideas, such as fabrics, colors, or images from books. Laszlo and her team interpret this direction, request samples of the designs from Safavieh’s mills overseas, then tweak the piece with Drake’s assistance. Thomas O’Brien, on the other hand, sends a binder of specifics for each rug. Martha Stewart’s color sense is quite different from Drake’s. He’s famous for his ebullient palette; hers is more subdued. “Stewart is a lot less likely to use red,” Laszlo says, though she is quick to add that there are some reds in Stewart’s Safavieh collection. Laszlo is particularly proud of the Stewart collaboration, which she has overseen since its launch in 2006.

Working with overseas factories is part of the challenge. “The CAD is really just a direction,” she says. One Stewart design was sent to Tibet, Nepal, and India, and each vendor interpreted it differently. The quality and variety of wool, vegetable versus synthetic dyes, and type of finish are factors Laszlo considers when determining where to produce. “India can do beautiful finishes,” she says.

“They can give a piece a distressed look, but some customers don’t understand that aesthetic. They complain that the rug is more faded on one side than the other.”

Safavieh Couture designer rugs are high end, and thus made in Nepal. Safavieh also manufactures in China and Pakistan, but almost all designers prefer the look and feel of the rugs from Nepal, which Laszlo says is known for “quality, detail, and great workmanship.” Prices for finished rugs—the company operates ten stores in the U.S. and showrooms in New York, Atlanta, and Las Vegas—vary widely. Handmade rugs designed by Drake, Stewart, or David Easton can run $60 per square foot retail, though Stewart and Thom Filicia also create handtufted pieces, which start at $15 per foot.

Originally from Romania, Laszlo came to FIT after her sister, who lived in New York, scouted design schools for her. After taking a rug design class with Deborah Hernandez, adjunct instructor of Textile/ Surface Design, Laszlo knew what she wanted to do.

Safavieh is her first job out of college; she found the listing through FIT’s career services. Now, whenever she goes back to her apartment, she thinks of her passion when she steps on a hand-knotted Tibetan rug.

Did she design it herself? Laszlo smiles a little. “I was involved in its design,” she says.

Vanessa De Sousa started her education at a liberal arts college, but she says, “I felt a void without art.”

She came to FIT for Textile/Surface Design. “But I never thought carpets would be something I enjoyed until I tried it.” Last fall, she won first place and $1,000 in FIT’s Axminster carpet design competition for her trio of thematically linked styles.

The challenge was to create designs for signature, small-, and large-scale rugs, using “global unity” as a motif. De Sousa ’10 thought of a friend who was serving in the Peace Corps in Mozambique, and started researching African imagery. Woven rugs, tapestries, sculptures, and masks featured in her exploration, and resulted in the geometric patterns in her signature rug. An early version of her small-scale rug had teal in it.

“I wanted to get the color right,” she says, because as Adjunct Instructor Deborah Hernandez reminded her, “Color sells.” (At Hernandez’s suggestion, she took out the teal.) The large rug needed to have roundels—the Axminster trademark. De Sousa thought of elephants. “They’re a symbol of global unity and power,” she says. So she drew a ring of them, their trunks touching. The judges were wowed.

Laszlo, above, developed the hand-tufted peony rug, opposite, for Neiman Marcus. It was inspired by Chinese fabric and made in China.

26

hue | fall 2010

De Sousa’s large- (top) and small-scale carpet designs.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

27

Saying Yes to Rugs

floored

Meet the winner of FIT’s Axminster carpet competition

Katalin Laszlo, Textile/Surface Design ’05, designs exquisite rugs for Safavieh

by Alex Joseph

“ It’s all color,

Nick Parisse, Photography and the Digital Image ’09

pattern, and texture,” Katalin Laszlo says of her work as designer and project manager for Safavieh, a rug manufacturer and importer. “A big chunk of my job” is working with Jamie Drake, Martha Stewart, and other designers to make sure the final products match the original concepts. “Most of them are very hands-on,” Laszlo says, though some more than others. “I’m on a design team that is involved from the beginning of design development all the way through to every finished piece.”

Each project is different. Drake, for example, provides inspirational ideas, such as fabrics, colors, or images from books. Laszlo and her team interpret this direction, request samples of the designs from Safavieh’s mills overseas, then tweak the piece with Drake’s assistance. Thomas O’Brien, on the other hand, sends a binder of specifics for each rug. Martha Stewart’s color sense is quite different from Drake’s. He’s famous for his ebullient palette; hers is more subdued. “Stewart is a lot less likely to use red,” Laszlo says, though she is quick to add that there are some reds in Stewart’s Safavieh collection. Laszlo is particularly proud of the Stewart collaboration, which she has overseen since its launch in 2006.

Working with overseas factories is part of the challenge. “The CAD is really just a direction,” she says. One Stewart design was sent to Tibet, Nepal, and India, and each vendor interpreted it differently. The quality and variety of wool, vegetable versus synthetic dyes, and type of finish are factors Laszlo considers when determining where to produce. “India can do beautiful finishes,” she says.

“They can give a piece a distressed look, but some customers don’t understand that aesthetic. They complain that the rug is more faded on one side than the other.”

Safavieh Couture designer rugs are high end, and thus made in Nepal. Safavieh also manufactures in China and Pakistan, but almost all designers prefer the look and feel of the rugs from Nepal, which Laszlo says is known for “quality, detail, and great workmanship.” Prices for finished rugs—the company operates ten stores in the U.S. and showrooms in New York, Atlanta, and Las Vegas—vary widely. Handmade rugs designed by Drake, Stewart, or David Easton can run $60 per square foot retail, though Stewart and Thom Filicia also create handtufted pieces, which start at $15 per foot.

Originally from Romania, Laszlo came to FIT after her sister, who lived in New York, scouted design schools for her. After taking a rug design class with Deborah Hernandez, adjunct instructor of Textile/ Surface Design, Laszlo knew what she wanted to do.

Safavieh is her first job out of college; she found the listing through FIT’s career services. Now, whenever she goes back to her apartment, she thinks of her passion when she steps on a hand-knotted Tibetan rug.

Did she design it herself? Laszlo smiles a little. “I was involved in its design,” she says.

Vanessa De Sousa started her education at a liberal arts college, but she says, “I felt a void without art.”

She came to FIT for Textile/Surface Design. “But I never thought carpets would be something I enjoyed until I tried it.” Last fall, she won first place and $1,000 in FIT’s Axminster carpet design competition for her trio of thematically linked styles.

The challenge was to create designs for signature, small-, and large-scale rugs, using “global unity” as a motif. De Sousa ’10 thought of a friend who was serving in the Peace Corps in Mozambique, and started researching African imagery. Woven rugs, tapestries, sculptures, and masks featured in her exploration, and resulted in the geometric patterns in her signature rug. An early version of her small-scale rug had teal in it.

“I wanted to get the color right,” she says, because as Adjunct Instructor Deborah Hernandez reminded her, “Color sells.” (At Hernandez’s suggestion, she took out the teal.) The large rug needed to have roundels—the Axminster trademark. De Sousa thought of elephants. “They’re a symbol of global unity and power,” she says. So she drew a ring of them, their trunks touching. The judges were wowed.

Laszlo, above, developed the hand-tufted peony rug, opposite, for Neiman Marcus. It was inspired by Chinese fabric and made in China.

26

hue | fall 2010

De Sousa’s large- (top) and small-scale carpet designs.

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

27

1965

A vision in white

1991

The Greenest Link

leslee carlson breene, fashion illustration and advertising

Bernice Auerbach Maxman, apparel design

tracy monat sano, marketing: fashion and related industries,

Stacie wickham Shepp, Fashion Buying and Merchandising ’92

is an award-winning

fashion buying and merchandising ’89,

and fashion buying merchandising ’58

(a School of Continuing and Professional Studies alumnus)

several short stories and four

run Sano Design Services, a CAD service bureau that

novels—Foxfire, Leadville Lady,

delivers digitally printed prototypes

Hearts on the Wind, and the

of garments, patterns, and textiles

forthcoming Starlight Rescue

within 24 hours. The two also recently

(Treble Heart, 2011)—under

founded EzTextiles.com, which

her belt. For inspiration and

offers 25 million production-ready

research, Breene visits old

CAD images.

new media for sustainable brands

pioneer towns in her home Hearts on the Wind (Five Star Expressions, 2008).

Shepp with her husband (and co-worker), Joey.

state of Colorado. joanne coughlin walsh, packaging design, advertis-

1969 nadine cino, apparel design,

ing design ’89,

is founder and owner of

Island Advance, the

system meant to replace disposable cardboard moving

borough’s daily paper. She

boxes. Tyga-Box, whose clients include Citigroup and

creates hand-drawn and Photoshop illustrations for

from the New York Enterprise Report, and has saved an

all of its sections, and has

estimated 2.5 million trees since 1991.

1975

is the senior

graphic artist at the Staten

Tyga-Box, which produces a reusable plastic box and dolly

Chevron, won a 2009 Green Business Best Practice Award

received awards from the Art Directors Club of New

deborah kruger, textile design,

has

retired from the medical billing company she founded to work full time as an artist. Kruger, who lives in Mexico most of the year but maintains a studio in western Massachusetts, works primarily with fiber, oil stick, and wax-based paint.

She has shown her pieces across the U.S. and has a solo exhibition in Mexico this fall.

Halycon 2, 2010, fiber, oil stick, and paint.

1978 sid hoeltzell , photography,

has been a commercial and

Jersey and the Associated

When Bernice Auerbach Maxman got married on July 29, 1956, she wore a dress

Press. Walsh previously

by an up-and-coming designer: herself. “It was eggshell silk organza lined with plain

worked as a product

silk taffeta,” she says. “It had bias-cut sleeves and a full, gathered bodice that came

designer for Target and a

to a point. I’m short so the dress had to make me look taller—which it did.” A creative

graphic artist for publisher

touch made it fit for the dance floor, too: “The seams had string inside; after the

McGraw-Hill.

ceremony, I pulled the string until the back was the same length as the front. It was cool.” Maxman later designed maternity wear for Ed Volin; her dresses sold in B. Altman and Lord & Taylor. She went on for a degree in modern languages (she speaks seven) and a PhD in education from Columbia University’s Teachers College, and she worked as a staff developer for teachers. Her granddaughter recently took FIT’s Saturday Live classes for high school students. Perhaps Maxman will give her the same advice she received at FIT. Maxman says after the wedding, she asked a dean to change her records to her married name. The dean replied, “Why do that?

Marriage is not necessarily forever, but an education is.” Indeed.

fine-art photographer in Miami for 20 years. A former FIT

—Alex Joseph

1993

A visit to the San Francisco Green Festival inspired a full-blown eco-epiphany.

She pursued an MBA in sustainable enterprise at Dominican University, where she found both her calling and her husband, with whom she founded eco-savvy new-media agency Earthsite. Based in Fairfax, CA, the eight-person marketing firm develops websites and media platforms, builds brand, and crafts business plans for sustainable clients like Organic Leather, a purveyor of vegetable-tanned hides, for which she set up wholesaling, produced a runway show, and advised on an accessories line. For the interactive website YourGardenShow.com—a sort of Facebook for the green-thumb set—Earthsite manages press and blogger outreach, coproduces Twitter feeds, and is developing enhancements such as user-generated video blogs, an online

Lately, Shepp has been scrutinizing the impact of social media on the fashion

ence. One trend she’s watching eagerly is the industry’s embrace of environmentalism, the topic of a forthcoming workshop series and runway show she’s mounting in San

completed five magazine internships at FIT before landing

Francisco with FIT faculty member Shireen Musa. “Some great design resources are

positions at Self and Money. She is now a freelance

popping up, like Source4Style, dedicated to sourcing sustainable textiles,” Shepp says.

writer commuting between San Francisco and Texas’s

And take note, budding eco-preneurs: “There’s so much potential—and opportunity—

Big Bend region, covering topics such as personal finance,

for others to kick-start new green fashion initiatives.”

small-business management, urban planning, and travel.

nancy malafatopoulos,

neena reddy, marketing:

helena mchugh, production

1994

fashion buying and

fashion and related

management : textiles,

lynda naipawer portelli, marketing: fashion and related

hue | fall 2010

a bigger purpose—and that’s more aligned with my values.”

vanessa richardson, advertising and communications,

for Royal Caribbean Cruises, and plans to publish a book

This martini photograph for Royal Caribbean won Hoeltzell an ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation.

differently about her career: “I thought maybe there’s something else out there with

world, which she discussed at FIT’s 2010 Sustainable Business and Design Confer-

America, and the Caribbean. He is an artist-in-residence

earned her

manager of a custom corsetry and bridal boutique. But after 9/11, she began to think

1990

industries,

San Francisco Opera, taking a BA in costume design, and toiling as a seamstress and

challenge for gardeners.”

1989 teaches

neur. She spent her 20s designing costumes for theatrical companies including the

map weather patterns so members can track the effects of climate change—a major

Walsh’s New York Associated Press Award-winning Lost layout for the Advance.

1982 merchandising ,

Stacie Shepp took a slightly roundabout route from FIT grad to green entrepre-

TV show, and plant-of-the-day newsletters. “We also hope to add a feature that can

instructor, he has traveled on assignment to Europe, South

about Florida Everglades residents next year.

28

and her husband John

Western-romance writer with

Don Jackson

news from your classmates

design,

is the

—Jennifer Lyn Renzi

2000 heidi bachor, fashion

shaunya hartley, photography,

alana ferjentsik kelen,

marketing and public relations manager at Dauphin,

merchandising management,

is a stylist and writer

fashion merchandising

laptop and travel accessory

a commercial furniture manufacturer. Portelli has held

fashion buying and

currently working on

management,

marketing bands like Pearl

company Casauri with

similar positions with tile and glass manufacturers. In

merchandising ’98 ,

her memoir, Diary of an

stylist at VH1, dressing

Malafatopoulos was named

Jam and Nirvana. She is

her sister Emily in 1999,

2008, she was the keynote speaker at the Society of

marketing analyst for the

Overdressed Black Woman.

the cable channel’s regular

2010 Teacher of the Year by

now a physician advisor at

after nine years with the

Glass and Ceramic Decorators’ annual conference

skin care group at Chattem,

Hartley writes her own

talent and shopping for

the American Association

the University of Pittsburgh

Butterick sewing-pattern

and exposition.

manufacturer of products

lifestyle blog—Shop, Eat

shoots around New York

of Family and Consumer

Medical Center Presbyte-

company. McHugh

like Gold Bond and Selsun

& Sleep—and contributes

City. She also freelances

Sciences for establishing

rian Hospital, where she

designed the first laptop

Blue. Bachor, who earned

to online magazines Honey

for e-commerce websites,

the Trashy Fashion Show,

reviews patient cases and

bag sold at MoMA, and

her MBA in 2008, forecasts

and Cream. She launched

magazines, network news

an annual Earth Day event

works with fellow doctors

introduced an iPad case

operations, analyzes sales,

Vintage Shaun, an online

shows, and celebrity clients.

for which students design

to deliver clinical care in

in November.

and manages promotional

vintage store on Etsy, in

clothing made from refuse.

and out of the hospital.

activities.

October.

patternmaking technology

fashion and interior design

medical degree after

’88 ,

at Fairfield Warde High

spending four years

School in Connecticut.

founded the online

industries, fashion buying and merchandising ’92 ,

is the

is the senior

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

29

1965

A vision in white

1991

The Greenest Link

leslee carlson breene, fashion illustration and advertising

Bernice Auerbach Maxman, apparel design

tracy monat sano, marketing: fashion and related industries,

Stacie wickham Shepp, Fashion Buying and Merchandising ’92

is an award-winning

fashion buying and merchandising ’89,

and fashion buying merchandising ’58

(a School of Continuing and Professional Studies alumnus)

several short stories and four

run Sano Design Services, a CAD service bureau that

novels—Foxfire, Leadville Lady,

delivers digitally printed prototypes

Hearts on the Wind, and the

of garments, patterns, and textiles

forthcoming Starlight Rescue

within 24 hours. The two also recently

(Treble Heart, 2011)—under

founded EzTextiles.com, which

her belt. For inspiration and

offers 25 million production-ready

research, Breene visits old

CAD images.

new media for sustainable brands

pioneer towns in her home Hearts on the Wind (Five Star Expressions, 2008).

Shepp with her husband (and co-worker), Joey.

state of Colorado. joanne coughlin walsh, packaging design, advertis-

1969 nadine cino, apparel design,

ing design ’89,

is founder and owner of

Island Advance, the

system meant to replace disposable cardboard moving

borough’s daily paper. She

boxes. Tyga-Box, whose clients include Citigroup and

creates hand-drawn and Photoshop illustrations for

from the New York Enterprise Report, and has saved an

all of its sections, and has

estimated 2.5 million trees since 1991.

1975

is the senior

graphic artist at the Staten

Tyga-Box, which produces a reusable plastic box and dolly

Chevron, won a 2009 Green Business Best Practice Award

received awards from the Art Directors Club of New

deborah kruger, textile design,

has

retired from the medical billing company she founded to work full time as an artist. Kruger, who lives in Mexico most of the year but maintains a studio in western Massachusetts, works primarily with fiber, oil stick, and wax-based paint.

She has shown her pieces across the U.S. and has a solo exhibition in Mexico this fall.

Halycon 2, 2010, fiber, oil stick, and paint.

1978 sid hoeltzell , photography,

has been a commercial and

Jersey and the Associated

When Bernice Auerbach Maxman got married on July 29, 1956, she wore a dress

Press. Walsh previously

by an up-and-coming designer: herself. “It was eggshell silk organza lined with plain

worked as a product

silk taffeta,” she says. “It had bias-cut sleeves and a full, gathered bodice that came

designer for Target and a

to a point. I’m short so the dress had to make me look taller—which it did.” A creative

graphic artist for publisher

touch made it fit for the dance floor, too: “The seams had string inside; after the

McGraw-Hill.

ceremony, I pulled the string until the back was the same length as the front. It was cool.” Maxman later designed maternity wear for Ed Volin; her dresses sold in B. Altman and Lord & Taylor. She went on for a degree in modern languages (she speaks seven) and a PhD in education from Columbia University’s Teachers College, and she worked as a staff developer for teachers. Her granddaughter recently took FIT’s Saturday Live classes for high school students. Perhaps Maxman will give her the same advice she received at FIT. Maxman says after the wedding, she asked a dean to change her records to her married name. The dean replied, “Why do that?

Marriage is not necessarily forever, but an education is.” Indeed.

fine-art photographer in Miami for 20 years. A former FIT

—Alex Joseph

1993

A visit to the San Francisco Green Festival inspired a full-blown eco-epiphany.

She pursued an MBA in sustainable enterprise at Dominican University, where she found both her calling and her husband, with whom she founded eco-savvy new-media agency Earthsite. Based in Fairfax, CA, the eight-person marketing firm develops websites and media platforms, builds brand, and crafts business plans for sustainable clients like Organic Leather, a purveyor of vegetable-tanned hides, for which she set up wholesaling, produced a runway show, and advised on an accessories line. For the interactive website YourGardenShow.com—a sort of Facebook for the green-thumb set—Earthsite manages press and blogger outreach, coproduces Twitter feeds, and is developing enhancements such as user-generated video blogs, an online

Lately, Shepp has been scrutinizing the impact of social media on the fashion

ence. One trend she’s watching eagerly is the industry’s embrace of environmentalism, the topic of a forthcoming workshop series and runway show she’s mounting in San

completed five magazine internships at FIT before landing

Francisco with FIT faculty member Shireen Musa. “Some great design resources are

positions at Self and Money. She is now a freelance

popping up, like Source4Style, dedicated to sourcing sustainable textiles,” Shepp says.

writer commuting between San Francisco and Texas’s

And take note, budding eco-preneurs: “There’s so much potential—and opportunity—

Big Bend region, covering topics such as personal finance,

for others to kick-start new green fashion initiatives.”

small-business management, urban planning, and travel.

nancy malafatopoulos,

neena reddy, marketing:

helena mchugh, production

1994

fashion buying and

fashion and related

management : textiles,

lynda naipawer portelli, marketing: fashion and related

hue | fall 2010

a bigger purpose—and that’s more aligned with my values.”

vanessa richardson, advertising and communications,

for Royal Caribbean Cruises, and plans to publish a book

This martini photograph for Royal Caribbean won Hoeltzell an ADDY Award from the American Advertising Federation.

differently about her career: “I thought maybe there’s something else out there with

world, which she discussed at FIT’s 2010 Sustainable Business and Design Confer-

America, and the Caribbean. He is an artist-in-residence

earned her

manager of a custom corsetry and bridal boutique. But after 9/11, she began to think

1990

industries,

San Francisco Opera, taking a BA in costume design, and toiling as a seamstress and

challenge for gardeners.”

1989 teaches

neur. She spent her 20s designing costumes for theatrical companies including the

map weather patterns so members can track the effects of climate change—a major

Walsh’s New York Associated Press Award-winning Lost layout for the Advance.

1982 merchandising ,

Stacie Shepp took a slightly roundabout route from FIT grad to green entrepre-

TV show, and plant-of-the-day newsletters. “We also hope to add a feature that can

instructor, he has traveled on assignment to Europe, South

about Florida Everglades residents next year.

28

and her husband John

Western-romance writer with

Don Jackson

news from your classmates

design,

is the

—Jennifer Lyn Renzi

2000 heidi bachor, fashion

shaunya hartley, photography,

alana ferjentsik kelen,

marketing and public relations manager at Dauphin,

merchandising management,

is a stylist and writer

fashion merchandising

laptop and travel accessory

a commercial furniture manufacturer. Portelli has held

fashion buying and

currently working on

management,

marketing bands like Pearl

company Casauri with

similar positions with tile and glass manufacturers. In

merchandising ’98 ,

her memoir, Diary of an

stylist at VH1, dressing

Malafatopoulos was named

Jam and Nirvana. She is

her sister Emily in 1999,

2008, she was the keynote speaker at the Society of

marketing analyst for the

Overdressed Black Woman.

the cable channel’s regular

2010 Teacher of the Year by

now a physician advisor at

after nine years with the

Glass and Ceramic Decorators’ annual conference

skin care group at Chattem,

Hartley writes her own

talent and shopping for

the American Association

the University of Pittsburgh

Butterick sewing-pattern

and exposition.

manufacturer of products

lifestyle blog—Shop, Eat

shoots around New York

of Family and Consumer

Medical Center Presbyte-

company. McHugh

like Gold Bond and Selsun

& Sleep—and contributes

City. She also freelances

Sciences for establishing

rian Hospital, where she

designed the first laptop

Blue. Bachor, who earned

to online magazines Honey

for e-commerce websites,

the Trashy Fashion Show,

reviews patient cases and

bag sold at MoMA, and

her MBA in 2008, forecasts

and Cream. She launched

magazines, network news

an annual Earth Day event

works with fellow doctors

introduced an iPad case

operations, analyzes sales,

Vintage Shaun, an online

shows, and celebrity clients.

for which students design

to deliver clinical care in

in November.

and manages promotional

vintage store on Etsy, in

clothing made from refuse.

and out of the hospital.

activities.

October.

patternmaking technology

fashion and interior design

medical degree after

’88 ,

at Fairfield Warde High

spending four years

School in Connecticut.

founded the online

industries, fashion buying and merchandising ’92 ,

is the

is the senior

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

29

delia mannen, fashion design,

works at Case Western

Cassandra MacGregor, MILLINERY CERTificate

Reserve University’s School of Engineering in Cleveland as the director of student-alumni relations, a job that involves cultivating relationships through event planning and marketing. Mannen is also pursuing a graduate degree

James M. Damian

in positive organizational behavior.

Display and Exhibit Design ’73

michael poncé, illustration,

Everyone needs a source of inspiration, and mine was

news from your classmates

has earned an MFA from the New York Academy

the display artist Gene Moore. Gene changed the game

of Art and conducted

in window design. He started the art of storytelling in

graduate research in

windows. It happened when he did his first window—

anatomy at Oxford Uni-

using furs—for Bergdorf Goodman. Usually, displays were

versity. He now teaches

created during the day, but he decided to work at night,

anatomy and physiology

with curtains drawn, because, he said, “It’s not polite to

at Vista College in New

change in public.” In those days, a good display man Elliott Muñoz

Mexico, where he paints still-lifes and portraits.

Poncé plans to open a Dutch Girl, 2010, oil on panel.

gallery in Las Cruces this fall, with space for visiting artists on sabbatical.

2002 heather kosch, fashion design,

makes wood-based jewelry

for collaborations with designers such as Mary Ping and

2006

down on the floor. He placed beside them a pair of women’s pumps, a string of pearls, a champagne bottle, and two empty glasses lit with pin spots. So what was Gene selling? Romance! He was inviting the customer into

beka nave rendell , advertising and marketing communications,

christine calhoun, fashion

the story. Those furs sold out. And this was 1935—the

is founder and owner of Innove, a Philadelphia-based

merchandising management,

has been featured in Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, and Paper,

event planning company handling everything from

runs CCNails and Cosmet-

height of the Great Depression. I can trace everything

and is sold in New York and Miami stores, on Kosch’s own

locations and menus to attire and floral arrangements.

ics, a company marketing

website, and through online retailer Gaudion Bowerbank.

Innove deals primarily in weddings but also organizes

her own lacquers and

dinner parties and nonprofit events.

nail-care products.

experience, there has to be a “Hello!”—a way to engage

Calhoun recently added

the imagination. At Best Buy, I want the customer to

is the fund

natural stone jewelry to

feel they can stay and play and touch and try. Well

her offerings, and was a

million annual campaign and runs events like the Phone-

featured “Green Entrepre-

before “brand” was a buzzword, Gene understood the

a-thon, which raised over $500,000 this year. She and

neur” in the summer

fiancé Richard Lombardi, Restoration ’05, Fine Arts ’03,

2010 issue of Echoes of

are restoring an 1894 Folk Victorian home in New Jersey.

Empowerment.

2008 stacy herzog , fashion design,

lizanne romero, fashion

bracelets that mix embroidery with vintage

fashion merchandising

merchandising management,

jewelry. The pieces sell on the Frieda &

is the West Coast sales

Nellie website and at stores in New York,

men’s buying for Polo Ralph

representative for Dirty

Los Angeles, and Paris; an exclusive line for

Lauren’s factory-outlet

Laundry and CL by

J. Crew can be found at the retailer’s SoHo

division for seven years.

Laundry, two shoe lines

and East Hampton stores.

In addition to working with

of the Chinese Laundry

colleagues in production

label. She plans to launch

and brand presentation,

her own T-shirt line,

Corbett shops the competi-

Tender Tees, by fall 2011.

hue | fall 2010

As Best Buy’s senior vice president of the Enterprise Design Group, Damian engineered the look and feel of the national chain’s stores.

He frequently collaborated with Moore (1910-98), who worked at Bonwit Teller and, for 39 years, Tiffany & Co., where he became vice president for window display. In 1996, Damian helped The Museum at FIT mount a retrospective of Moore’s work, Moon Over Pearls, for which he also designed the invitation (pictured).

In 2009, the pair launched Frieda & Nellie,

2004

current trends and pricing.

it with whimsy and taste.

met best friend

elicia abercrombie corbett,

tion to stay abreast of

importance of establishing a store’s image, and he did

Sarah Reid during an internship at Natori.

2003 has worked in

on now back to Gene. Whether it’s a window or an in-store

which offers handmade necklaces and

Frieda & Nellie’s Medusa bracelet; Herzog (right) with partner Sarah Reid.

Gene Moore and some of his windows for Tiffany’s.

frieda&nellie

Michelle Talan

Vector bracelet, made of ebony, yellow heart, and zebra wood, from Kosch’s Geometric collection.

in the art of presentation, display, and retail that’s going

manager at The Cooper Union, where she leads a $3

lauren sampson, restoration, fine arts ’03,

30

the price tags showing. Instead, Gene picked the best representative from each category of fur and threw them

After studying at FIT in the early ’00s, Cassandra MacGregor quit her auction-house day job, interned with three different hat-makers, and landed a full-time millinery gig on the Upper East Side. She moved to Dallas three years ago and opened her own studio. Above: Her Ron Zacapa fedora, a limited edition of her Panama Rex fedora commissioned by the liquor brand.

2005

got as much product in the window as possible, with

Julian Louie and for her own eponymous label. Her work

management,

sources of inspiration

Beyond the Reflection

Proper Toppers

2001

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

31

delia mannen, fashion design,

works at Case Western

Cassandra MacGregor, MILLINERY CERTificate

Reserve University’s School of Engineering in Cleveland as the director of student-alumni relations, a job that involves cultivating relationships through event planning and marketing. Mannen is also pursuing a graduate degree

James M. Damian

in positive organizational behavior.

Display and Exhibit Design ’73

michael poncé, illustration,

Everyone needs a source of inspiration, and mine was

news from your classmates

has earned an MFA from the New York Academy

the display artist Gene Moore. Gene changed the game

of Art and conducted

in window design. He started the art of storytelling in

graduate research in

windows. It happened when he did his first window—

anatomy at Oxford Uni-

using furs—for Bergdorf Goodman. Usually, displays were

versity. He now teaches

created during the day, but he decided to work at night,

anatomy and physiology

with curtains drawn, because, he said, “It’s not polite to

at Vista College in New

change in public.” In those days, a good display man Elliott Muñoz

Mexico, where he paints still-lifes and portraits.

Poncé plans to open a Dutch Girl, 2010, oil on panel.

gallery in Las Cruces this fall, with space for visiting artists on sabbatical.

2002 heather kosch, fashion design,

makes wood-based jewelry

for collaborations with designers such as Mary Ping and

2006

down on the floor. He placed beside them a pair of women’s pumps, a string of pearls, a champagne bottle, and two empty glasses lit with pin spots. So what was Gene selling? Romance! He was inviting the customer into

beka nave rendell , advertising and marketing communications,

christine calhoun, fashion

the story. Those furs sold out. And this was 1935—the

is founder and owner of Innove, a Philadelphia-based

merchandising management,

has been featured in Elle, Women’s Wear Daily, and Paper,

event planning company handling everything from

runs CCNails and Cosmet-

height of the Great Depression. I can trace everything

and is sold in New York and Miami stores, on Kosch’s own

locations and menus to attire and floral arrangements.

ics, a company marketing

website, and through online retailer Gaudion Bowerbank.

Innove deals primarily in weddings but also organizes

her own lacquers and

dinner parties and nonprofit events.

nail-care products.

experience, there has to be a “Hello!”—a way to engage

Calhoun recently added

the imagination. At Best Buy, I want the customer to

is the fund

natural stone jewelry to

feel they can stay and play and touch and try. Well

her offerings, and was a

million annual campaign and runs events like the Phone-

featured “Green Entrepre-

before “brand” was a buzzword, Gene understood the

a-thon, which raised over $500,000 this year. She and

neur” in the summer

fiancé Richard Lombardi, Restoration ’05, Fine Arts ’03,

2010 issue of Echoes of

are restoring an 1894 Folk Victorian home in New Jersey.

Empowerment.

2008 stacy herzog , fashion design,

lizanne romero, fashion

bracelets that mix embroidery with vintage

fashion merchandising

merchandising management,

jewelry. The pieces sell on the Frieda &

is the West Coast sales

Nellie website and at stores in New York,

men’s buying for Polo Ralph

representative for Dirty

Los Angeles, and Paris; an exclusive line for

Lauren’s factory-outlet

Laundry and CL by

J. Crew can be found at the retailer’s SoHo

division for seven years.

Laundry, two shoe lines

and East Hampton stores.

In addition to working with

of the Chinese Laundry

colleagues in production

label. She plans to launch

and brand presentation,

her own T-shirt line,

Corbett shops the competi-

Tender Tees, by fall 2011.

hue | fall 2010

As Best Buy’s senior vice president of the Enterprise Design Group, Damian engineered the look and feel of the national chain’s stores.

He frequently collaborated with Moore (1910-98), who worked at Bonwit Teller and, for 39 years, Tiffany & Co., where he became vice president for window display. In 1996, Damian helped The Museum at FIT mount a retrospective of Moore’s work, Moon Over Pearls, for which he also designed the invitation (pictured).

In 2009, the pair launched Frieda & Nellie,

2004

current trends and pricing.

it with whimsy and taste.

met best friend

elicia abercrombie corbett,

tion to stay abreast of

importance of establishing a store’s image, and he did

Sarah Reid during an internship at Natori.

2003 has worked in

on now back to Gene. Whether it’s a window or an in-store

which offers handmade necklaces and

Frieda & Nellie’s Medusa bracelet; Herzog (right) with partner Sarah Reid.

Gene Moore and some of his windows for Tiffany’s.

frieda&nellie

Michelle Talan

Vector bracelet, made of ebony, yellow heart, and zebra wood, from Kosch’s Geometric collection.

in the art of presentation, display, and retail that’s going

manager at The Cooper Union, where she leads a $3

lauren sampson, restoration, fine arts ’03,

30

the price tags showing. Instead, Gene picked the best representative from each category of fur and threw them

After studying at FIT in the early ’00s, Cassandra MacGregor quit her auction-house day job, interned with three different hat-makers, and landed a full-time millinery gig on the Upper East Side. She moved to Dallas three years ago and opened her own studio. Above: Her Ron Zacapa fedora, a limited edition of her Panama Rex fedora commissioned by the liquor brand.

2005

got as much product in the window as possible, with

Julian Louie and for her own eponymous label. Her work

management,

sources of inspiration

Beyond the Reflection

Proper Toppers

2001

www.fitnyc.edu/hue

31

227 West 27 Street New York, NY 10001-5992 return service requested

“ A good sense of smell is something you acquire.

It’s like learning music.”

–Ana Terzi, Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management ’06 See “Nose Job,” pp. 20 –21

Environmental Savings for Hue fall 2010 59 trees preserved/planted 171 lbs waterborne waste not created 25,173 gallons wastewater flow saved 2,785 lbs solid waste not generated 5,484 lbs net greenhouse gases prevented 41,976,400 BTUs energy not consumed Printed by Monroe Litho Inc. Monroe Litho is certified by the Sustainable Green Printing Partnership (SGP), and is an EPA Green Power Partner operating on 100% renewable windpower since 2006.

Printed on Mohawk Options PC100 FSC-certified, 100% post consumer waste reclaimed/recycled fiber, made with 100% renewable energy; manufactured chlorine free; certified ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System.

Please recycle or share this magazine.

32

hue | fall 2010