Hue Winter 2007 by Fashion Institute of Technology

Alumni magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology

volume 1 | issue 1 | winter 2007

Features Man of the cloth The work and influence of textile genius Jack Lenor Larsen

Amazing mace Ceremonial object, or medieval weapon? You decide.

Future perfect For Norma Kamali ’65, it’s all about time.

Color ways Alumna Lisa Herbert brings the Pantone system to the consumer.

the ask Send us a photo and tell us the story.

hue’s news Recent developments related to the college

27/7 Question asked on West 27th: What’s next?

faculty on… What makes a collection?

footprint FIT’s first sustainability conference

artifact High button boot—you sexy thing!

26 connections Relationships that secure FIT’s future 8clde` dX^Xq`e\ f] k_\ =Xj_`fe @ejk`klk\ f] K\Z_efcf^p

Hue is the alumni magazine of the Fashion Institute college of art and design, business and technology. It is published three times a year by the Division of Advancement and External Relations, Seventh Avenue at 27 Street, Room B905, New York City 10001-5992, 212.217.4700. Email: hue@fitnyc.edu

volume 1 | issue 1 | winter 2007

alumni notes Find out what your classmates are up to.

sparks The ocean inspires a Jewelry Design alumna.

22 Paul Whicheloe

mfcld\ ( s `jjl\ ( s n`ek\i )''.

of Technology, a State University of New York

Alumni magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology

I contact One student, seven questions

Quentin Bacon

Find out why in the editor’s letter

¿`j k_\ e\n YcXZb

Harvey Croze. © Cranbrook Archives

Matthew Septimus

Departments

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

Editor Linda Angrilli Managing Editor Alex Joseph

Sitings

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

Please send us a photo from your time at FIT— and the story behind it.

Editorial Assistant Gregory Herbowy

FIT job openings: fitnyc.edu/jobs

Art Direction and Design Empire Design Studio

Gladys Marcus Library: fitnyc.edu/library

You can email scanned or digital images to

The Museum at FIT: fitnyc.edu/museum

hue@fitnyc.edu, or send photos to Hue Magazine.

Email the FIT Alumni Association: vicki_guranowski@fitnyc.edu

Submissions will be considered for publication

Address letters to the editor, Hue Magazine. Hue magazine on the web: fitnyc.edu/hue

Gallery of student work: fitnyc.edu/studentgalleries

in a future issue.

6 Man of the cloth The work and influence of textile genius Jack Lenor Larsen 12 Amazing mace Ceremonial object, or medieval weapon? You decide. 16

Future perfect For Norma Kamali ’65, it’s all about time.

Color ways Alumna Lisa Herbert brings the Pantone system to the consumer.

Departments

the ask Send us a photo and tell us the story.

5 hue’s news Recent developments related to the college 14 27/7 Question asked on West 27th: What’s next? 20

faculty on… What makes a collection?

footprint FIT’s first sustainability conference

artifact High button boot—you sexy thing!

26 connections Relationships that secure FIT’s future 27

8clde` dX^Xq`e\ f] k_\ =Xj_`fe @ejk`klk\ f] K\Z_efcf^p

I contact One student, seven questions

Harvey Croze. © Cranbrook Archives

Features

Matthew Septimus

6 16

28 alumni notes Find out what your classmates are up to. 31 sparks The ocean inspires a Jewelry Design alumna.

Hue is the alumni magazine of the Fashion Institute 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 Advancement and External Relations, Seventh Alumni magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology

Avenue at 27 Street, Room B905, New York City 10001-5992, 212.217.4700. Email: hue@fitnyc.edu

volume 1 | issue 1 | winter 2007

Paul Whicheloe

mfcld\ ( s `jjl\ ( s n`ek\i )''.

Quentin Bacon

Find out why in the editor’s letter

¿`j k_\ e\n YcXZb

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

Editor Linda Angrilli Managing Editor Alex Joseph Editorial Assistant Gregory Herbowy Art Direction and Design Empire Design Studio

Address letters to the editor, Hue Magazine. Hue magazine on the web: fitnyc.edu/hue

Sitings

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

Please send us a photo from your time at FIT— and the story behind it.

Gallery of student work: fitnyc.edu/studentgalleries Gladys Marcus Library: fitnyc.edu/library

You can email scanned or digital images to

The Museum at FIT: fitnyc.edu/museum

hue@fitnyc.edu, or send photos to Hue Magazine.

Email the FIT Alumni Association: vicki_guranowski@fitnyc.edu

Submissions will be considered for publication in a future issue.

If change is good, more change is even better. That was our guiding principle in reimagining FIT’s alumni magazine. Network’s familiar black-and-white format was nine years old, and it was…over. It just didn’t represent the high-profile, sophisticated New York institution FIT has become, and a mere makeover wasn’t enough. Our magazine team created an entirely new publication, from the size to the typography to the name. The most obvious change is color. While every artist and designer knows black and white can be wonderful, I can tell you it was frustrating to cover a museum exhibition called Red with images in shades of gray. We’ll never have to do anything like that again. And best of all, we can show work by alumni, students, and faculty in all its many-hued glory. Speaking of hue, that’s our new name. It’s meant to be suggestive rather than specific, and a little bit poetic, too. We chose it, after much brainstorming (and creative doodling, which you can see in the margins of this page), to reflect the full spectrum of exuberant voices, bold individual styles, and subtle shades of meaning that characterize FIT—a college that is different things to different people. Hue is for and about all these people, with their diverse talents, backgrounds, and viewpoints. One thing everyone agrees on: FIT is a creative community. Hue will capture that quality in every issue. We’ll continue to feature notable alumni, students, and faculty, and let you know what’s going on at the college. But we’ll also go beyond FIT’s doorstep to find stories we think will interest you. We’ll try to surprise and inform you with great writing, beautiful and provocative images, and superb graphic design. (We’re too excited to be modest.) One purpose of an alumni magazine is to help build a community among people whose common thread is their college. We hope Hue will strengthen existing connections and make new ones. We want to begin an ongoing conversation, but we can’t do it without you, so we’ll give you opportunities, especially through our page on FIT’s website, fitnyc.edu/hue, to respond to what you see in these pages and tell us what inspires you. (To start the dialogue, see pages 3 and 31). And because we believe it’s our responsibility to be eco-friendly, green will be an important color in Hue, even when you don’t see it. That’s why you’re holding in your hands paper that is FSC certified, made of 100-percent post-consumer fiber recycled by a chlorine-free process, and printed using 100percent wind power. We’ll tell you more about this in an upcoming issue. We’ll also report regularly on sustainable practices for design and business, and cover alumni who’ve gone green. So Hue is here. For us, it’s like that moment when Dorothy landed in Oz: suddenly the world is in Technicolor, and we’re on the yellow brick road in our ruby slippers. We invite you to join us on the adventure.

President Joyce F. Brown has appointed Joanne Arbuckle dean of the School of Art and Design. Arbuckle had been acting dean since 2005, leading the effort to revise the art and design curriculum to support the college’s strategic plan. A member of the Fashion Design-Apparel Department since 1986, she developed curricula in children’s wear and established FIT’s first advisory board in that specialty. She is a Fashion Design alumna, class of ’74. Arbuckle is known as a student advocate and outstanding teacher, and received a SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2001-02. As a fashion designer specializing in lingerie and children’s wear, she has held senior positions in many design firms. After receiving her AAS from FIT, she earned a baccalaureate from Empire State College and a master’s in higher education administration from New York University.

On May 31, the State University of New York Board of Trustees appointed Dr. John B. Clark interim chancellor. He succeeds John R. Ryan, who stepped down as chancellor on June 1. Clark has served as interim president of several SUNY colleges—Alfred, Brockport, Plattsburgh, and the College of Optometry—and as acting vice chancellor of enrollment and university life at SUNY System Administration. A search for a permanent appointment is expected to begin soon.

Rita and Bruce Roberts Room Dedicated In recognition of a $75,000 gift to FIT from Rita and Bruce Roberts, a meeting and reception room in the Marvin Feldman Center has been dedicated in honor of the couple, who are longtime supporters of the college. The ceremony took place on June 21 in the Robert Lagary Board Room. Bruce Roberts serves on the EFFI board of directors, and was named chair of the nominating committee and a member of the executive committee in 1998.

Art Market Students Hear from Experts on Business of Art

2007 George T. Dorsch Awards Announced

On two occasions in spring 2007, noted experts in the business of art came to FIT to address students in the Art Market: Principles and Practices program. Gaye Melton and Glyn Northington, marketing executives from Target Corp. in Minneapolis, spoke on corporate sponsorship of the arts. A panel of financial experts—Paul Provost of Christie’s art auction house, Suzanne Gyorgy of Citigroup Private Bank’s Art Advisory Services, and Hope Tate of Fine Art Capital, a firm that lends money to finance art acquisitions— discussed the benefits and draw-backs of art as an investment. The talks were part of the Public, Corporate, and Service Professions in the Arts course.

The History of Art and Civilization Department has announced the 2007 recipients of the George T. Dorsch Endowed Scholarship and Fellowship. The scholarship, for a current or recent FIT student who has demonstrated academic excellence in History of Art, was given to Marisa De Marco, Fine Arts ’05, who will use it to direct an after-school arts program for girls. The fellowship, for a current History of Art adjunct faculty member, went to Shana Lindsay, to research themes of sacrifice in contemporary art. Each award totals over $20,000. The awards were established with funds bequeathed by Dorsch, who died in 2000. He taught at FIT for 40 years, and was one of the department’s founding members.

First Class: Illustration Exhibition The first graduating class in the Illustration MA program displayed their capstone projects at The Museum at FIT from June 5 to July 28, 2007. The exhibition, First Class: Stories & Pictures, showed work by the sixteen class members, who each told a story in a series of images. Launched in fall 2005, the program provides advanced study for working illustrators, enabling them to take advantage of opportunities in new media and developing technologies.

www.nathanielgold.com

Letter from the Editor

SUNY Interim Chancellor Appointed

what’s happening on campus

Alumni magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology

Arbuckle Named Art and Design Dean

Linda Angrilli editor

Two images from the Illustration exhibition

Please use our email address, hue@fitnyc.edu, to let us know what you think—about the magazine, your career,

bove: Workforce by Duane Smith, graphite A with oil wash, 18 by 24 inches.

your college memories, and anything else you’d like to share.

Left: Down the Rabbit Hole by Ginidir Marshall, digital photograph. Text by Lewis Carroll, from Alice’s Adventures Under Ground.

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

Art Market Students Hear from Experts on Business of Art

2007 George T. Dorsch Awards Announced

www.nathanielgold.com

Letter from the Editor

SUNY Interim Chancellor Appointed

what’s happening on campus

Alumni magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology

Arbuckle Named Art and Design Dean

Linda Angrilli editor

Two images from the Illustration exhibition

Please use our email address, hue@fitnyc.edu, to let us know what you think—about the magazine, your career,

bove: Workforce by Duane Smith, graphite A with oil wash, 18 by 24 inches.

your college memories, and anything else you’d like to share.

Left: Down the Rabbit Hole by Ginidir Marshall, digital photograph. Text by Lewis Carroll, from Alice’s Adventures Under Ground.

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

Luminaries: An occasional feature on people with extraordinarily distinguished careers

Wolf Trap Theater Curtain, mohair and nylon, 1971. Hand-woven in Swaziland, this outdoor fabric is resistant to soil and weather. In 1971, it was the largest Swazi export.

Why is he called America’s most influential textile designer?

m a n of the cloth by Alex Joseph

in the kitchen of his park avenue apartment, jack lenor larsen points to a the glaze ran a little in the firing, that it feels good in the hand. that is perceptible craft. we might not be aware of it, but there is pleasure in such.”

Richard Goodbody. Courtesy of Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

green and brown ceramic cup. he says, “sensing that this was once mud, that

Luminaries: An occasional feature on people with extraordinarily distinguished careers

Wolf Trap Theater Curtain, mohair and nylon, 1971. Hand-woven in Swaziland, this outdoor fabric is resistant to soil and weather. In 1971, it was the largest Swazi export.

Why is he called America’s most influential textile designer?

m a n of the cloth by Alex Joseph

Richard Goodbody. Courtesy of Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

green and brown ceramic cup. he says, “sensing that this was once mud, that

<< Nimbus, Saran polyethylene mono-

Courtesy of Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

filaments; woven, heat-shrunk,1991. This casement fabric was inspired by an industrial material used to insulate bomb-demolition squad suits.

year Larsen graduated with an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and set up his studio in New York. Larsen understood that the new building’s austere structure lacked the ceramic-cup element—the mark of a human hand. For Lever House, he created a casement (a sheer drapery fabric) woven of linen and Lurex. Not only was this 1952 design beautiful, it filtered light artfully, and its innovative mix of metallic and natural fibers proved durable. Most important, its textured surface provided a perfect complement to the right angles and sheer surfaces of the glass tower. In the ’50s, articles about Larsen’s designs appeared regularly in The New York Times. His company developed a following, and producing distinctive designs in larger quantities was

recapture the artisanal qualities lost in the Industrial Revolution. Larsen invented new methods to approximate the irregular spacing of the fibers in hand-woven materials. Sometimes a loom’s shuttle would be left empty to change the spacing of the wefts. “Later, to achieve this effect more economically, [a weaver in the studio] filed off occasional teeth of the pick wheel that controlled weft spacing,” he writes. Still, he says the greater loss of the Industrial Revolution was not hand-weaving but hand-spinning, which produces yarns with organic variations of texture and color. Perhaps in reaction, he developed fabrics with distinctive textures using natural fibers such as goat- or horsehair. Though Larsen became known in the ’50s as the “natural fibers man,” he is quick to point out that he is equally adept with manmade materials. I asked Lotus Stack, curator of textiles at the Minneapolis Museum of Art (where the firm’s archives are kept), what made Larsen remarkable. She said, “Jack is so creative. How many people would think to make a casement out of Saran Wrap?” That fabric, Interplay (1962), looked miraculously like hand-woven straw. Furthermore, it was resistant to fire, light, heat, and soil, and could be cleaned simply by rinsing with water. The firm produced it for 20 years. Larsen’s innovations were thoughtful as well as practical; to customize commissions, he modified the light in his studio to match the light a fabric would be used in. His quilted silk hangings for the bank on the main floor of the Sears Tower in Chicago muffled what he calls the “brutal sound” of the cavernous marble spaces.

of all the things in a house , fabric is the best means of personalizing it . in a mass culture , reinforcing personal identity is the chief challenge . Larsen, often called “the dean of American textile designers,” refers to himself as a weaver. His autobiography is entitled A Weaver’s Memoir, and he has spent ample time at the loom. Still, “weaver” might be taken metaphorically. In his 56-year career, he has brought together fabric-making techniques from around the world; mixed natural materials and ancient practices with ultramodern, highly engineered ones; and placed crafts and fine art definitively in the same spectrum. Arguably, his greatest contribution has been to incorporate a handcrafted aesthetic into fabrics requiring standardized, mass-production methods. “One of the challenges of our time is postindustrial craft,” he told me, “how to achieve craft quality in things not handmade.” In May 2006, after FIT presented Larsen with an honorary doctorate (his seventh), I visited him at his apartment. He is something

hue | winter 2007

like a rock star in the textile realm, and both Issey Miyake and Matilda McQuaid, head of the textiles department at the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, revere him. Karen Gentile, chair of Textile/Surface Design at FIT, cites the influence of his subtle elegance on the industry, and noted designer Suzanne Tick ’82 calls him “the Fortuny of the textile world.” But the man who answered my knock was a genial 79-year-old in an unassuming outfit of black linen pants and a T-shirt. The Seattle-born designer has a sonorous voice and, in conversation, his ironic tone makes him sound amazed: Why do the ideas that occur to him not occur to everyone else? He led me through a small, bright living room full of striking objects— screens, woven baskets, and a diverse selection of fabrics. In 2004, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York mounted a touring Larsen exhibition, Creator and Collector, which displayed the designer’s work in the context of pieces he has acquired from around the world. In the show’s catalogue, a photograph of his fabric Nimbus (1991), a gleaming production of translucent, woven polyethylene, appears opposite a shimmering Japanese silk scarf.

“In your grandmother’s time,” Larsen said as we sipped tea, “they were refining everything: flour, sugar—and fabrics. It was thought that the best thing a fabric could be was flawless. Natural fiber had been treated like Wonder Bread, with all the character taken out of it.” Larsen’s work may be best understood within the context of modern architecture—particularly the glass-box skyscraper style exemplified by Lever House, for which he created one of his first important textile designs. Construction of this quintessential modern tower began in 1951, the

its greatest challenge. In addition, the fabrics had to transcend trends and address specific manufacturing demands. Larsen said, “Our designs often were produced for 20 years or more. People have an old sample; they order it, and if we accept the order, they expect it to come in looking like the sample, and on time. That’s not easy!” Among the firm’s notable commissions were a home collection for Macy’s and towels for JP Stevens; they also conceptualized fabrics for the upholstery division of the United States Rubber Company. As Larsen relates in A Weaver’s Memoir, his company strove to

Problem solving, Larsen explained to me, was part of his creative process. “I work as a craftsman. That is, I start with—something, either function or material or technique. Preferably one that’s new to me. And then I work organically, dynamically. As I go, I work with it. I don’t think about what it’s going to end up being. And I dote on limitations. The more there are, the easier it is to find my way around them.” Interplay, the first warp-knit Saran slit film casement fabric, was only one of Larsen’s many firsts. Though printed velvets had been attempted before, he brought a new intensity to their palette in the ’50s by modifying the fabric’s pile to allow better dye penetration. His use of vibrant color had been noted for years, but these textiles made him famous. Their swirling shapes and ebullient colors remain Larsen’s most frequently cited contribution, and certainly influenced the psychedelic looks of the ’60s. Though the later generation may have been inspired by LSD, Larsen’s use of color was influenced by brilliant Thai silks and various hues spotted in his world travels. (His love of gardens was also a factor. The Creator and Collector catalogue quotes him: “My quest from the ’60s has been to bring the effulgence

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

<< Nimbus, Saran polyethylene mono-

Courtesy of Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

filaments; woven, heat-shrunk,1991. This casement fabric was inspired by an industrial material used to insulate bomb-demolition squad suits.

hue | winter 2007

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

of country gardens indoors, into cities.”) But Larsen was never a globetrotting tourist; he went abroad to work and develop new weaving techniques and aesthetics. By 1978, there were Larsen showrooms in 18 countries, and 80 production centers around the world. What the designer couldn’t find, he taught local craftsmen to make for him. In his memoir, he describes showing regional Siamese weavers how to switch from plain to twill weave, add polyester sewing thread, and make traditional ikat fabric in bolts long and heavy enough to fulfill corporate commissions. China, Mexico, New Zealand, Colombia, Haiti, Morocco, and Japan were among the countries that eventually produced Larsen textiles. One noted cross-culture collaboration was the curtain for the Wolf Trap Theater in Washington, DC. The fabric was woven in Swaziland by the English weaver Coral Stephens. (It should be noted that Larsen did not design alone; his firm employed established artists and weavers. Desiree Koslin, who teaches textile history in FIT’s graduate school and worked as a

hue | winter 2007

All Larsen textile designs are owned by Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

Irving Solero

challenge, to turn mass production into diversification. To give people a means to find their own style,” he told me. “To build diversified housing is very difficult, but of all the things in a house, fabric should be the best means of personalizing it. So I feel we need the broadest range of textiles—every style and pattern—good, bad, old, new. That is much more important than taste, because in a mass culture, reinforcing personal identity is the chief challenge.” By the end of our interview, I thought I understood Larsen’s contribution to the textile field—but I wasn’t sure what it meant. Why is it so important to surround ourselves with perceptible craft? What makes a handmade object special? When I was leaving, Larsen asked to examine my hat, a trilby by Paul Smith. He ran his fingers across the intricately woven straw. “Keep this for your grandchildren,” he told me, “so they can see what something handmade looks like.” I took my hat back and rode the elevator to the street. At a crosswalk, I stopped and touched the brim. Alone on a shelf, the hat would serve as an elegant example of craft. On my head, it made me who I was. The light turned, and I breathed in. For just a moment, I experienced myself as an organic woven structure, composed of an infinite number of elements. It was a lovely spring day.

<< <<

Samarkand, velvet and cotton; hand screen-printed, 1967. One of Larsen’s popular printed velvets, this fabric was inspired by the spring flowering in the Asiatic steppes.

Irving Solero

hours working out an extremely intricate design, but it was the company’s romantic, colored fabrics that often sold best. Still, Larsen forged ahead with his experiments. When The New York Times referred to him as “America’s most influential home furnishings textile designer,” it was for more than his innovations. He collaborated with architect Louis Kahn and created fabrics for Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater. (The house’s owner, Edgar Kaufmann, Jr., curated the Good Design shows at the Museum of Modern Art and was a personal friend.) Larsen exhibitions were eventually held at, among other places, FIT, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Palais du Louvre. He also authored or co-authored ten books on textile techniques, from Elements of Weaving to Interlacing to Beyond Craft: The Art Fabric. Though the firm was purchased by Cowtan & Tout in 1998, Larsen continues to consult for other textile companies, both here and abroad. Koslin is currently developing a book with him on tapestry. “Everyone has a different idea of what tapestry is,” Larsen told me, “so I’m out to set the world straight.” Matilda McQuaid called his books seminal. “He’s a very good writer, and he’s also a maker. That’s a pretty unusual combination.” His writing, she said, represented a significant contribution to the field. “He’s elevated textiles to an art form.” I asked Larsen, who was a founding board member of the American Craft Museum (now the Museum of Arts and Design) and who curated exhibitions there and at MoMA, to describe the difference between art and craft. “Visual art is based on craft,” he said. “But craft media are all potentially art, and always have been. We designers also think of design as an art form. So perhaps art is the largest umbrella.” Several designers, curators, and scholars told me Larsen had anticipated developments in the industry, so I asked him what he thought about outsourcing. Human labor, he replied, can largely be eliminated from fabric making. “I realized 50 years ago, when America stopped letting masses of immigrants come in to sew, that something was going to change. Making garments without sewing would be the way of the future. The nylon stocking, for example, is seamless.” It surprised me that the champion of craft aesthetics would predict complete automation. Of course, some of Larsen’s work wasn’t made by hand; it only appeared that way. Could an object that merely looked handmade be equivalent to an authentic human creation? I thought of a display I’d seen at MoMA of Issey Miyake’s A-POC (A Piece of Cloth), which might be what Larsen had in mind. A-POC garments are produced to computer specifications and created by an industrial “printer.” The results look knitted, but an unsettling aura surrounds the process. In spite of some whimsical design details, I couldn’t get over the fact that the pieces were computer-generated. If this display prefigured something sinister, a kind of brave new world for textile design, Larsen didn’t seem particularly bothered by it. This is the sort of paradox he loves to contemplate: “That is the

This upholstery fabric for Braniff Airlines, shown on mocked-up seats, was featured in a Larsen exhibition at the Louvre in 1979.

Labyrinth, worsted cotton; warpfaced leno, 1981. This durable, lightweight fabric was often used as upholstery on private aircraft interiors.

Irving Solero

weaver for the company for five years, said Larsen was the driving creative force behind each design’s development.) The firm’s most famous work, Magnum (1972), machine-embroidered yarns over gleaming Mylar, was made to resemble Indian mirrored fabrics. An enormous curtain of it still hangs in Symphony Hall in Phoenix, AZ. Studying Happiness (1967) in The Museum at FIT’s textile collection, I could see why Larsen is sometimes called a modernist. Though the design was inspired by a Ming Dynasty robe, Chinese motifs hadn’t been plopped piecemeal into the design. It was the opposite of the “Chippendale pediment” that architect Philip Johnson incorporated into the apex of the AT&T building (considered a paradigmatic postmodern touch). While respecting the original source, Larsen had creatively transformed it into something new. Issey Miyake praised that quality in an email: “The indigenous textiles and handcrafts that Larsen collects become reinterpreted thanks to his exceptional talents and craftsmanship.” At FIT’s museum, I also saw Labyrinth (1981). Up close, its unusual warp-face weave means that long, vulnerable-looking vertical yarns are exposed. But from a short distance away, the warp yarns merge together to form a hovering scrim over the composition. The result is oddly vertiginous, as visually ambiguous as an optical illusion. I marveled at the mathematical ability it must have taken to assemble it on the loom. Koslin worked on Labyrinth. She said the weavers would spend

Happiness, rayon, cotton, mohair; hand screen-printed, 1967. A hallmark of Larsen’s studio, this fabric was used for drapery, upholstery, and a jacquard rug pattern.

Richard Goodbody. Courtesy of Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

Dorothy Beskind. Courtesy of Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

Jack Lenor Larsen.

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

hue | winter 2007

All Larsen textile designs are owned by Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

Irving Solero

<< <<

Samarkand, velvet and cotton; hand screen-printed, 1967. One of Larsen’s popular printed velvets, this fabric was inspired by the spring flowering in the Asiatic steppes.

Irving Solero

This upholstery fabric for Braniff Airlines, shown on mocked-up seats, was featured in a Larsen exhibition at the Louvre in 1979.

Labyrinth, worsted cotton; warpfaced leno, 1981. This durable, lightweight fabric was often used as upholstery on private aircraft interiors.

Irving Solero

Happiness, rayon, cotton, mohair; hand screen-printed, 1967. A hallmark of Larsen’s studio, this fabric was used for drapery, upholstery, and a jacquard rug pattern.

Richard Goodbody. Courtesy of Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

Dorothy Beskind. Courtesy of Cowtan & Tout, Inc.

Jack Lenor Larsen.

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

The Apple

An emblem of New York City, the apple crowns FIT’s mace, symbolizing our place as an institution both in and of New York.

hue | winter 2007

The Name

Fashion Institute of Technology is spelled out in half-inch-high letters cut by computer-controlled waterjet, in recognition of technology as part of FIT’s mission.

The Leaves

The leaves are laurel, a traditional symbol of honor, achievement, and success. The laurel wreath represents victory.

The Torch

The mace is in the form of a torch, a symbol of knowledge, and a reference to the Statue of Liberty. It represents light and wisdom.

The Staff

The staff is of cherry-wood and threaded with bands made of brass, each engraved with the name of an FIT major.

Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design

Visual Art Management

Textile/Surface Design

Textile Development and Marketing

Production Management: Fashion and Related Industries

Photography and the Digital Image

Packaging Design

Menswear

Jewelry Design

International Trade and Marketing for the Fashion Industries

Interior Design

Illustration

Graphic Design

Global Fashion Management

Fine Arts

Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice

Fashion Merchandising Management

Fashion Design

Fabric Styling

Exhibition Design

Direct and Interactive Marketing

Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management

Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing

Computer Animation and Interactive Media

Communication Design

Accessories Design

photographs by Matthew Septimus

Art Market: Principles and Practices

by Linda Angrilli

Advertising and Marketing Communications

and now a ceremonial object symbolizing the authority of a State or an Institution, the Mace has found an honored place in college commencement exercises. here, the Mace of FIT

Advertising Design

Once a fearsome weapon,

was used for a few years. But everyone agreed that a custom-designed, handcrafted mace was called for. A couture mace, you might say. The search for an artist who creates wonderful metal objects began and ended at FIT—with Wendy Yothers, a member of the Jewelry Design faculty and noted silversmith whose work is in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Corning Museum of Glass. After researching maces in general and FIT history in particular, she designed and crafted a nine-pound, 40-inch mace, its polished brass surface studded with symbols of FIT, New York City and State, and education. It was funded by the FIT Student Association. The mace made its debut in this year’s commencement procession, on May 22. It was carried by Susan Rietman, professor of Textile/Surface Design—the longest-serving Art and Design faculty member, with 41 years at FIT. As mace bearer, she was second in the line of faculty and graduates entering Radio City, after the grand marshal—the longest-serving member of the teaching faculty. (This year, it was 50-year veteran Alfred V. Sloan, professor of Fashion Merchandising Management.) And so, the gleaming object took its place in the pageantry of commencement, its bloody past forgotten. After the ceremony, the mace was returned to its case, and the new graduates left the hall with their brains exactly where they belonged. Who’s to say they were not inspired by that once-fearsome weapon, now a shining symbol of FIT, to march bravely into their next battle: the job market, perhaps, or a few more years of school.

Home Products Development

f you h a d been a wa r r ior in medieva l times, your weapon might have been a mace, which you would have used in battle to brain your enemies. Its long staff would extend your reach and help you get a nice momentum going; the heavy ball at the end, set with spikes, would pierce your opponent’s armor and make sure he had no further need for the contents of his skull. All in all, the mace was perfectly designed for its admittedly unpleasant function. But civilization progressed (and invented more efficient methods of killing), and by the 14th century, the mace had been tamed. Its spikes were replaced by heraldic symbols, and it became a ceremonial object, a symbol of authority displayed in royal and religious processions and on formal occasions of state. And so it is today. The U.S. House of Representatives, for instance, has had a mace since its first Federal session in 1789. It’s one of the oldest symbols of the U.S. Government, though the original has been replaced several times. If there’s anyplace where a long—really long—tradition is appreciated, it’s a college commencement. Take the cap and gown, which date back to the 12th-century European clergy. At 64, FIT is relatively young, but like most colleges, we are fond of tradition, and like them, we have our own mace in our commencement procession. While the mace tradition is old, FIT’s mace was new this year. After the previous one was mysteriously broken, an “off the rack” mace

The Majors

Each major has a place on the mace’s staff, in recognition of FIT’s educational mission. The engraved bands can be changed, added, or removed as the curricula evolve.

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

The Apple

An emblem of New York City, the apple crowns FIT’s mace, symbolizing our place as an institution both in and of New York.

hue | winter 2007

The Name

Fashion Institute of Technology is spelled out in half-inch-high letters cut by computer-controlled waterjet, in recognition of technology as part of FIT’s mission.

The Leaves

The leaves are laurel, a traditional symbol of honor, achievement, and success. The laurel wreath represents victory.

The Torch

The mace is in the form of a torch, a symbol of knowledge, and a reference to the Statue of Liberty. It represents light and wisdom.

The Staff

The staff is of cherry-wood and threaded with bands made of brass, each engraved with the name of an FIT major.

Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design

Visual Art Management

Textile/Surface Design

Textile Development and Marketing

Production Management: Fashion and Related Industries

Photography and the Digital Image

Packaging Design

Menswear

Jewelry Design

International Trade and Marketing for the Fashion Industries

Interior Design

Illustration

Graphic Design

Global Fashion Management

Fine Arts

Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice

Fashion Merchandising Management

Fashion Design

Fabric Styling

Exhibition Design

Direct and Interactive Marketing

Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management

Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing

Computer Animation and Interactive Media

Communication Design

Accessories Design

photographs by Matthew Septimus

Art Market: Principles and Practices

by Linda Angrilli

Advertising and Marketing Communications

and now a ceremonial object symbolizing the authority of a State or an Institution, the Mace has found an honored place in college commencement exercises. here, the Mace of FIT

Advertising Design

Once a fearsome weapon,

Home Products Development

The Majors

Each major has a place on the mace’s staff, in recognition of FIT’s educational mission. The engraved bands can be changed, added, or removed as the curricula evolve.

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

one question, many answers

We asked one question on campus and at fit events around town, to take the community’s pulse, as it were:

what ’s nex t ?

More online courses; students love them and teachers love them.

—irene buchman, coordinator for the presidential scholars program

For me, Computer Animation. I’m taking the prerequisites for the major right now. —Mustafa Allsop, Illustration ’07

Inner peace. —Monica Williamson, office manager, Educational Opportunity Programs

I’m having an exhibition of about 65 pieces at The Museum at FIT from November 10 to December 15—if I live to get it done. —Steven Stipelman, associate professor, Fashion Design-Art

Digital enabling—digitizing applications, and automating processes that are currently manual. — Van Buren Winston, Jr., assistant vice president for Software Services and Information Access

—Ellie Hernandez, Fashion Merchandising Management ’08

Time travel.

Flooding.

I’m thinking about global warming.

—Chris Helm, program manager of the FIT Enterprise Center

My Goth show, that’s going to be in fall of ’08. I’m totally obsessed with it.

—Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT

Being serious.

A student is coming to see me in eight minutes. She’s the manager of The Center— a multipurpose room where students can learn about henna tattoos, take a workshop on what a vegan is, and much more. So she has a lot to learn.

to provide access to students and employees with disabilities .

—Liz Holly Mortensen, disability services and ADA coordinator

All the cool kids lose their cool. — rebecca moreira , international trade and marketing for the fashion industries ‘08

Lunch! Let’s get

Fasting, for the month of Ramadan.

—Jairani Mangai, security officer

some shoes!

—Alexandra Goldfarb, International Trade and Marketing for the Fashion Industries ’08

I want my own tattoo shop. — Keysha Ramos, Illustration ’09

I want my own tattoo magazine. —Toni Garcia, Communication Design ’11

i’m graduating in a year, so what’s next for me is to get my artwork out there. —Samantha Steinberg, Fine Arts ’08

Urban Studio Unbound (usunbound.org). It’s an outgrowth of the Urban Studio club, bringing alumni and students together to work on public art projects. —Richard Pitts, professor of Fine Arts

Oh, I’m so superstitious! I never talk about anything before the unveiling.

—Alber Elbaz, artistic director, Lanvin

—Michael Ricci, Communication Design ’09 The end of the world. Honestly.

Keyboard-free, touchscreen computers. They’ll be Macs. We’re already used to touchscreens on ATMs, and Apple came out with the iPhone and the iPod, which have them, so they’re getting us used to touchscreens on personal devices. And voice-recognition capability already exists, so keyboards will be obsolete.

I’m starting to freak out a little bit. —Marcin Wlodarczyk, technologist, Fine Arts

A return to traditional, tailored, structured menswear—the look of the late ’50s, early ’60s.

access ownership. that means everyone at the college has a responsibility

—Sharmeen Ahmed, program advisor, Educational Opportunity Programs

—Joseph Becker, Graphic Design ’08

—Philip Milio, professor–Student Life counselor

Designer rain boots. Because of global warming, it’s going to rain all the time.

—Steve Whalen, publications and communications coordinator, and Advertising and Marketing Communications ’04

Rent is going to become impossible to afford in NYC with an entry-level position in the fashion industry. —Denise Steidel, International Trade and Marketing ’08

get a job .

— danielle b utcher, fashion merchandising management ’07

Chips in your arm with your Social Security number. You won’t need an ID. They’ll know everything about you. —Norman Fairweather, security officer

Virtual life will completely overtake real life. Everyone will have an avatar; they’ll be born, they’ll get married, they’ll grow old and die—all online. And no one will know the difference. I already feel pretty unreal. —Phyllis Speys, Advertising Design ’86

It’s our mission to grow our evening and weekend programs. so, more students. more, more, more. —Michelle Nagel, director, Evening, Weekend, and Precollege Programs

—Keith Tritto, Menswear ’08

hue | winter 2007

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

one question, many answers

We asked one question on campus and at fit events around town, to take the community’s pulse, as it were:

what ’s nex t ?

More online courses; students love them and teachers love them.

—irene buchman, coordinator for the presidential scholars program

For me, Computer Animation. I’m taking the prerequisites for the major right now. —Mustafa Allsop, Illustration ’07

Inner peace. —Monica Williamson, office manager, Educational Opportunity Programs

I’m having an exhibition of about 65 pieces at The Museum at FIT from November 10 to December 15—if I live to get it done. —Steven Stipelman, associate professor, Fashion Design-Art

Digital enabling—digitizing applications, and automating processes that are currently manual. — Van Buren Winston, Jr., assistant vice president for Software Services and Information Access

—Ellie Hernandez, Fashion Merchandising Management ’08

Time travel.

Flooding.

I’m thinking about global warming.

—Chris Helm, program manager of the FIT Enterprise Center

My Goth show, that’s going to be in fall of ’08. I’m totally obsessed with it.

—Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT

Being serious.

to provide access to students and employees with disabilities .

—Liz Holly Mortensen, disability services and ADA coordinator

All the cool kids lose their cool. — rebecca moreira , international trade and marketing for the fashion industries ‘08

Lunch! Let’s get

Fasting, for the month of Ramadan.

—Jairani Mangai, security officer

some shoes!

—Alexandra Goldfarb, International Trade and Marketing for the Fashion Industries ’08

I want my own tattoo shop. — Keysha Ramos, Illustration ’09

I want my own tattoo magazine. —Toni Garcia, Communication Design ’11

i’m graduating in a year, so what’s next for me is to get my artwork out there. —Samantha Steinberg, Fine Arts ’08

Urban Studio Unbound (usunbound.org). It’s an outgrowth of the Urban Studio club, bringing alumni and students together to work on public art projects. —Richard Pitts, professor of Fine Arts

Oh, I’m so superstitious! I never talk about anything before the unveiling.

—Alber Elbaz, artistic director, Lanvin

—Michael Ricci, Communication Design ’09 The end of the world. Honestly.

I’m starting to freak out a little bit. —Marcin Wlodarczyk, technologist, Fine Arts

A return to traditional, tailored, structured menswear—the look of the late ’50s, early ’60s.

access ownership. that means everyone at the college has a responsibility

—Sharmeen Ahmed, program advisor, Educational Opportunity Programs

—Joseph Becker, Graphic Design ’08

—Philip Milio, professor–Student Life counselor

Designer rain boots. Because of global warming, it’s going to rain all the time.

—Steve Whalen, publications and communications coordinator, and Advertising and Marketing Communications ’04

Rent is going to become impossible to afford in NYC with an entry-level position in the fashion industry. —Denise Steidel, International Trade and Marketing ’08

get a job .

— danielle b utcher, fashion merchandising management ’07

Chips in your arm with your Social Security number. You won’t need an ID. They’ll know everything about you. —Norman Fairweather, security officer

It’s our mission to grow our evening and weekend programs. so, more students. more, more, more. —Michelle Nagel, director, Evening, Weekend, and Precollege Programs

—Keith Tritto, Menswear ’08

hue | winter 2007

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

P hotographs by Q uentin Baco n

I wanted Norma Kamali to tell me about her stuff. The original concept for this article was to go her studio and have this iconic designer of American sportswear talk about her favorite possessions—souvenirs of the past, gadgets, and snapshots. The idea was for readers to learn about Kamali by looking at her things.

There was, as it turned out, only one problem.

She doesn’t have any things.

Well, hardly any. About 15 years ago, she gave up all rituals of accumulation

and began to concentrate on letting go. “One day, I just looked around me and I said, ‘I’ve got to get out of here!’ I had a warehouse full of stuff, and I learned to let go of all of it. Everybody thought I’d lost my mind, but I’m happy to say, it’s great.” At the same time, she stopped smoking and gave up eating meat.

Sitting in the all-white, futuristic boutique of her headquarters on busy West

56th Street while a recording of soothing ambient sounds plays, Kamali adds that seeking inspiration in objects can be a trap for designers. “If you have a possession that inspires you and you look at it for 20 years, you’re not going to grow. To survive in this business, you have to design in the context of the times you live in.”

Fortunately, Kamali has always been ahead of her time, so many of her

signature pieces—the sleeping-bag coat, the jersey suit, the parachute jumpsuits, the high-cut swimwear—remain in production. So my planned excursion into the past turned into a stroll through the present with a peek at history and a glimpse of the future. Watch out: According to Kamali, that future includes the return of… shoulder pads.

For Norma Kamali, Fashion Illustration ’65, the best things in fashion are eternal.

FUTure PERFECT

by Alex Joseph

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

P hotographs by Q uentin Baco n

There was, as it turned out, only one problem.

She doesn’t have any things.

Well, hardly any. About 15 years ago, she gave up all rituals of accumulation

Sitting in the all-white, futuristic boutique of her headquarters on busy West

Fortunately, Kamali has always been ahead of her time, so many of her

For Norma Kamali, Fashion Illustration ’65, the best things in fashion are eternal.

FUTure PERFECT

by Alex Joseph

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

Future Perfect

<< This page, clockwise from left. Drawing of Norma Kamali by Antonio, Illustration ’64.

Jersey dress for Spiegal current collection. Kamali is also doing sportswear for Everlast.

High-heeled sneakers, c. 1985.

Kamali imports olive oil to sell in her Wellness Boutique.

Parachute dress, current collection.

Julie Christie and Oskar Werner in Kamali’s

Kamali and friends on Kings Road, London, 1966

favorite movie.

“ I know I can be held responsible for the ugliness of those big ’80s shoulders. One girl in my workroom actually created the Velcro shoulder pad. We used to make sculptures out of them.”

Exercise routine: I’m very physical. I love running and power walking in Central Park, but I also do Pilates and Gyrokinesis. They’re timeless moves, great for increasing flexibility, strengthening your core, spine, and muscles.

One inspiring person: My mother could see magic in simple things. She did cake displays for the windows of Schrafft’s. She literally had oil paints out all the time. She could cook a meal, crochet, sew, and build enormous dollhouses, so I always thought I had to be doing three or four things at the same time. Life-changing experience: An illustration class taught by Ana Ishikawa at FIT was the best thing that ever happened to me. She brought in different illustrators to talk to us. One day, she brought Antonio, who was the year ahead of me and already working for The New York Times. We became friends. He was super talented, a really good guy, the best. He had that energy of the ’70s, when it was easier to get excited about everything.

<< This page, clockwise from top. Antonio drawing of Kamali swimwear.

hue | winter 2007

Origin of the parachute jumpsuit: [The performance artist] Victor Hugo was a very dear friend of Halston’s, and he also knew me. One day he took me to Halston’s brownstone. He told me to sit on the floor in the living room and close my eyes. Then, from the second floor, he dropped a parachute on my head. ‘I know you’ll do something amazing with that,’ he said.

The sleeping-bag coat: My boyfriend at the time was very much a hippie—which was a side of me, too. In the middle of a cold night, when we were camping and I had to leave the tent, I’d think, ‘I wish I could just wrap my sleeping bag around me.’ So I cut up my bag and made the pattern. Why she brought back shoulder pads in the ’70s In the late ’70s, the squared shoulder was the look—not for political reasons, but because it was stronger aesthetically. I love the contrast of the strong shoulder with loose sweatshirt material. I wasn’t imitating Adrian. Adrian was Adrian; what I was doing was a fun thing.

Favorite color: None, really. Color comes and goes, but I’m a very black-andwhite person. Uh-oh: I believe there’s a shoulder pad silhouette that’s due now. It looks fresh again. I did it in active wear recently and people told me, ‘I want to kill you.’ On the ’30s and ’40s: The classic American concept of beauty and style were put in place. [Vogue illustrators] Eric and RBW drew the gestures and attitudes of the time. Everyone held a cigarette then, the way everyone holds a cell phone now.

Spirituality: I believe in astrology and the evolution of the spirit, and that we can re-morph into another lifetime. Favorite movie: I watch Fahrenheit 451 every two years. It’s so modern. Truffaut made it from the Ray Bradbury novel, about a future in which people burn books and watch giant TVs. I knew when I saw it in 1966 that I was seeing the future.

Most memorable award: Awards are tricky. I don’t know if you deserve them in your lifetime. But the one that changed my life was from Washington Irving High School, where I went. I’ve helped them set up a design studio there. It’s a great place for kids to learn about fashion, but the studio’s not as important to me as working with parents and teachers. Jersey girl: I started working with synthetic jersey early on. It’s easy to wear and drape. I made dresses that could be worn a million ways. I do a Spiegel line now with designs that don’t change, because the year is not reflected in how they look. That they’re affordable makes them even better.

How to buy a swimsuit: Stand in front of a mirror absolutely naked. Get to know what your body is turning into, and look to enhance it. Focus on the complement to your body, not a picture of some model in a magazine. Her Wellness Café, opened in her boutique in 2007: Everything in it comes from the idea of nurturing, and it’s all good for you: lavender tea, honey drops, and shortbread and cupcakes made with olive oil.

Olive oil: Olive oil has been produced for thousands of years. It has spiritual and healing properties. I went from orchard to orchard in the olive belt in Europe, going to tastings, doing research. The world has changed and changed, but the simplicity of olive oil is timeless. How to survive in the industry: Be very aware of social, political, economic, and environmental influences. If you don’t read the newspaper and know what’s going on, you’re not relating to your time. And fashion is always a barometer of its time.

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

Future Perfect

<< This page, clockwise from left. Drawing of Norma Kamali by Antonio, Illustration ’64.

Jersey dress for Spiegal current collection. Kamali is also doing sportswear for Everlast.

High-heeled sneakers, c. 1985.

Kamali imports olive oil to sell in her Wellness Boutique.

Parachute dress, current collection.

Julie Christie and Oskar Werner in Kamali’s

Kamali and friends on Kings Road, London, 1966

favorite movie.

“ I know I can be held responsible for the ugliness of those big ’80s shoulders. One girl in my workroom actually created the Velcro shoulder pad. We used to make sculptures out of them.”

<< This page, clockwise from top. Antonio drawing of Kamali swimwear.

hue | winter 2007

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

At first, students think about a collection in only one way: I like this, I don’t like that. They have to learn there’s more to it. In June, I took a group of first-year students, all Menswear Club members, to LA to see different lines, including Dries Van Noten, Paul Stuart, Jeffrey from Project Runway, and Ben Sherman. They ranged from street wear to young men’s to high end. I asked the students, ‘What’s the color range, the price point, the finishing details? This jacket has full detailing, a nice lining, and grommets, so the price point is here. The other one is crazy and wonderful, just to get your juices going, but there are only three on the rack. Why is that? A collection needs little ancillary items, too.’ They had never thought about how pieces work together in a line, that it takes a concept to sustain it over six looks or 12 or 50. Now they understand that for a portfolio you need more than pretty pictures. What makes a good designer isn’t just the ability to design great stuff, but the ability to edit what is there.

hue | winter 2007

Kit Frye was an eighth-semester student in Fashion Design last April 19, when FIT held its first conference on eco-friendly practices for industry. Frye was one of 350 students and faculty who joined industry leaders at the one-day event, called “An Introduction to Sustainable Business and Design.” It examined how to meet today’s needs “without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs tomorrow.” President Joyce F. Brown declared, “Green is the new black,” and executives from Johnson & Johnson, Timberland, and EnviroTextiles spoke about their companies’ efforts to create products that support the environment. A panel of faculty and students talked about reducing “ecological footprints.” And in the most exciting facet of the event, several dozen students displayed environmentally friendly projects in fashion, interior design, packaging, and other fields. Frye had two projects on display: a “sustainable design journal” she created as a resource guide for the newly eco-conscious designer, and a wideleg trouser outfit of all-natural, organic fabric. The conference, she says, “directed [her] career path.” After graduating in June, she moved to San Diego, where she and her sister are creating a line of sustainable-design clothing. Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design student Julia Durango showed an eco-tourism project consisting of models for resorts in four different climates; the tropical resort, for instance, had windows that “work with the sun” to minimize the need for air conditioning. (Durango noted, however, the irony involved in “flying to the green resorts in our 757s.”) The conference was the fruit of a year’s planning by FIT’s Sustainability Group, an informal association of faculty, staff, and students founded in 2006. The event’s primary organizers were Georgia Kalivas, adjunct assistant professor of Textile Development and Marketing, and Arthur Kopelman, professor of Science. Kalivas said the conference “energized all those who attended to take steps on their own personal sustainable journey.” She says the group plans to make this an annual event, “where we can set goals [to] advance at FIT each year.” —Judith Mahoney Pasternak

chosen by:

Clare Sauro, assistant curator of accessories, The Museum at FIT object:

Black and gray leather high button boots designer:

Jack Jacobus date:

c. 1898 country of origin:

Austria source:

Gift from the Victoria and Albert Museum

Designed by Jack Jacobus in Austria, these boots are elegantly crafted in fine leather with exquisite stitching, and would have been worn by a wealthy woman. The three-inch heel and dramatic, close-fitting curve of the calf and ankle suggest that she would have been young and extremely fashionable. These boots represent a turning point in fashion, when the restrictive dress of the Victorian period gave way to the more relaxed styles of the early 20th century. As women began to lead more public lives, respectable ladies welcomed the opportunity to dress up and window shop along the boulevards. This “fashionable promenade” helped popularize the high button boot, which could be glimpsed beneath a modest long skirt as the wearer stepped from a carriage or crossed a street. The high button boot, now seen as quaint and emblematic of Victorian dress, was actually quite seductive and daring. Its graceful curves echo the sinuous lines of Art Nouveau, and emphasize the shape of the leg. In the boot shown here, the sensual aspect is further enhanced by its scarlet silk satin lining, which would be known only to the wearer.

Irving Solero

FIT conference explores sustainability

High button boot steps toward a sustainable future

Mark-Evan Blackman, chair of the Menswear Department

Matthew Septimus

insights from the classroom and beyond

Green Horizons

a captivating object from FIT’s collections

What makes a collection?

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

hue | winter 2007

chosen by:

Clare Sauro, assistant curator of accessories, The Museum at FIT object:

Black and gray leather high button boots designer:

Jack Jacobus date:

c. 1898 country of origin:

Austria source:

Gift from the Victoria and Albert Museum

Irving Solero

FIT conference explores sustainability

High button boot steps toward a sustainable future

Mark-Evan Blackman, chair of the Menswear Department

Matthew Septimus

insights from the classroom and beyond

Green Horizons

a captivating object from FIT’s collections

What makes a collection?

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

photogr aphs by paul whicheloe

lisa herbert’s family business is the global color authority pantone. she’s taking it to another level Lisa Herbert in Pantone’s press room in Carlstadt, NJ, where the company’s color chips are printed.

pantone didn’t invent color. but for graphic designers and printers around the world, the company known for the pantone matching system might as well have done just that. back in the ’60s, pms enabled them, for the first time, to communicate color precisely and use it accurately and consistently. it was a revolutionary development. “it changed the industry as much as the introduction of the mac,” says a graphic designer who belongs to the generation that has never known life without pantone.

Today, Lisa Herbert, Fashion Buying and Merchandising ’79, is Pantone’s executive vice president of fashion and home. She’s bringing the company’s expertise and reputation as the design world’s leading color authority directly to the consumer. FIT’s Alumni Association honored her with the Alumni Star Salute Award last January. Herbert’s father Lawrence bought Pantone, the small printing company where he had been working, in 1963. Lawrence’s PMS system provided formulas for 500 ink colors, giving each a number that could be specified to printers, guaranteeing advertising agencies, packagers, and publishers the exact shade they wanted for their products. The benefits were more than aesthetic. For instance, before Pantone standardized Kodak’s yellow packaging color in the 1970s, customers would always choose the brighter box, thinking the film inside was fresher.

PMS colors became the industry standard, and Pantone became a multimillion-dollar global authority and leading forecaster for color. Lisa Herbert joined the family business in the early ’80s, handling marketing and communications. With her brother Richard, now the firm’s president, she developed their first Textile Color System in 1984. It’s a standardized system of colors for fabric, making it more relevant to fashion. The system was updated periodically to incorporate new trends and color requirements from the cosmetics and home and interiors industries. In 2000, she introduced Pantone’s first color forecasting products. Herbert soon began offering color tools appropriate for interiors. They are now used by such industry leaders as Gensler, Peter Marino, and Charlotte Moss. “In 2007, we launched our SMART System designed to address the increasing use of digital color matching in today’s marketplace. It has been

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

photogr aphs by paul whicheloe

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

All rapped up The power of pink

The Susan B. Komen Foundation is known for its pink ribbons and the Passionately Pink for the Cure program that promote efforts to prevent and cure breast cancer. The foundation produces a wide range of educational materials and products, including pins, T-shirts, mugs, and even a mouse pad. Pantone has plans to work with the foundation to standardize the color across all these materials.

hue | winter 2007

brand, especially if he’s an entrepreneur with an expanding business empire. Hence, Jay-Z Blue, first seen on a limited-edition GMC Yukon Denali SUV early this year. Jay-Z is also planning a new line of sodas. Guess what color will be on the can.

coffEe by CK

adopted by prominent retailers and designers, including Michael Kors and Marchesa,” Herbert says. (Pantone was bought by X-Rite, the global leader of color measurement and management hardware and software, earlier this year. Lisa will continue to oversee Pantone’s fashion, home, and interiors business while expanding consumer licensing.) Herbert explains that it’s essential to match colors across various media, including paint, paper, and textiles; precisely the same shade must appear on a brand’s logo, packaging, delivery trucks, employee uniforms, and now, digital media, too. She says, “When companies started branding themselves, consistent, reproducible color became critical to maintaining the brand’s integrity and image.” Pantone has standardized and formulated colors ranging from Barbie Pink to MoMA Red to UPS Brown, among many others. One signature color registered with Pantone, and now trademarked, is Tiffany’s famous robin’s-egg blue (or PMS 1837— for the year Tiffany & Co. was founded). It captures the store’s prestige so perfectly that the box itself is a status symbol. With Pantone’s own brand established as the global gold standard for color, Lisa Herbert’s current mission is to reach

(and Pantone-registered) color to enhance his

Richly colored Pantone paints can accurately coordinate with fabrics, furnishings, and carpets.

Calvin Klein has a Pantone chip taped to the wall next to his coffee maker. Whoever makes his coffee can match it to that shade—and be sure it has exactly the amount of milk he likes.

The Pantone Flight Stool by Barber Osgerby comes in 48 colors.

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE…

Pantone’s made-on-demand fabrics, in about 2,000 colors, are rinsed and dyed at the company’s headquarters.

another key market—consumers. “It’s a natural progression,” she says. “Color can be mystifying to many shoppers. We want to give them the confidence and tools to use color in new and exciting ways.” One such tool is the Shopping Color Guide, similar to Pantone’s professional guides, but geared to the colors often found in consumer products. It works like the paint chips and fabric swatches already familiar to shoppers—but you know the colors will be exact. “It’s your portable color memory,” Herbert says. “You don’t have to take along a blouse to match a pair of shoes or a pillow to pick out draperies. You just toss the guide in your handbag and go shop.” The company also offers color-driven products, including, logically enough, a line of Pantone-matched paints, developed with Fine Paints of Europe. “It’s great news for any designer wanting to coordinate paints accurately with fabrics, furnishings, and carpet,” she says. Herbert seems to envision a world, if not a universe, colored by Pantone. In fact, Pantone Universe was the company’s first foray into consumer products, launched in 2000. It’s a seasonal collection of stationery and accessories in colors she describes as anything from sophisticated and elegant to dramatic and impulsive. Now there’s tableware produced with New York-based Fishs Eddy and even furniture—the limited-edition Pantone Flight Stool by the London design firm Barber Osgerby. Pantone is unveiling a 20-color cashmere sweater collection at Uniqlo in SoHo this fall, and introducing a new housewares line in the spring. The company currently has partnerships with 12 firms in countries including the United Kingdom and Japan. Herbert says, “The Japanese market is ripe for new ideas in all aspects of design—fashion, industrial design, packaging. People are open to new brands. Japan is a wonderful test lab for new products.” Pantone is a hip, trendy brand there, with the company’s name appearing prominently in displays of such products as Play! Color! cell phones, which come in 20 different shades. (The most popular are indigo blue and pearl pink.) As a major force in color forecasting, Pantone looms large in the minds of fashion designers. Back in August, WWD surveyed New York designers on the top Pantone colors for spring 2008. Number one was Snorkel Blue, or Pantone 19-4049, chosen by 16.2 percent, including Zac Posen and Tracy Reese. Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of Pantone’s Color Institute, says that overall, blue is the most popular color with consumers, and describes 19-4049 as deep, sophisticated, and energizing. It works well with yellow, white, and spring prints. But if you try to picture Snorkel Blue, it won’t match the way Zac Posen sees it. For that, you’ll have to check your Pantone Color Guide. Or wait until spring. Then you’ll see it everywhere.

Today, even a hip-hop star needs a signature

Some countries, including the U.S., specify Pantone colors for their flags. The official specifications for the Stars and Stripes, as determined by the United States Flag Foundation in conjunction with the United States General Services Administration, are Red: Pantone 199C and Blue: Pantone 288C.

Play! Color! phones are hugely popular in trend-conscious Japan

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

All rapped up The power of pink

hue | winter 2007

coffEe by CK

(and Pantone-registered) color to enhance his

Richly colored Pantone paints can accurately coordinate with fabrics, furnishings, and carpets.

Calvin Klein has a Pantone chip taped to the wall next to his coffee maker. Whoever makes his coffee can match it to that shade—and be sure it has exactly the amount of milk he likes.

The Pantone Flight Stool by Barber Osgerby comes in 48 colors.

OH SAY CAN YOU SEE…

Pantone’s made-on-demand fabrics, in about 2,000 colors, are rinsed and dyed at the company’s headquarters.

Today, even a hip-hop star needs a signature

Play! Color! phones are hugely popular in trend-conscious Japan

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

Intimate relationship:

<< In the past academic year, ten intimate apparel students received Underfashion Club scholarships ranging from $15,000 to $3,500. Kaitlin Wilbur, top, received $15,000, and Brandon Grimm $10,000.

hue | winter 2007

Alan Garcia

The Couture Council of The Museum at FIT honored designer Alber Elbaz of Lanvin with its second annual Award for Artistry of Fashion at a luncheon in the Rainbow Room on September 5. At the beginning of his career, Elbaz said in a speech, “I came to New York with two suitcases. One with clothes, the other with dreams…. Why does two yards of fabric cost thousands of dollars? Maybe it’s because, at Lanvin, we add a bit of a dream.” Simon Doonan, creative director of Barneys, served as emcee. Numerous fashion notables attended, including Arnold Scaasi, Linda Evangelista, Iman, last year’s honoree Ralph Rucci, Fashion Design ’80, and actors Demi Moore and Chloë Sevigny. The event grossed about $322,000 to support the museum’s exhibitions, collections, and activities.

Gilbert W. Harrison, chairman and CEO of Financo, Inc., has been named co-chairman of the Educational Foundation for the Fashion Industries (EFFI), the industry support body of FIT. He will serve with John J. Pomerantz, EFFI’s chairman since 1999 and trustee emeritus of FIT’s Board of Trustees. Harrison has served on the EFFI board for 11 years. He was named to the Finance Committee in 2002, and previously served on the working committee for FIT’s first capital campaign. Since founding Financo, an investment banking company, in 1971, Harrison has orchestrated hundreds of merger, acquisition, and divestiture deals for clients in the retail, apparel, footwear, and cosmetics industries, including Limited Brands’ acquisition of La Senza Corp., Phillips-Van Heusen’s acquisition of Superba, and Alticor’s acquisition of Laura Mercier from Neiman Marcus Group. Harrison is a board member and treasurer of Southampton Hospital Foundation and a member of the board of advisors and executive committee of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection of the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation in Venice. He has a BS in economics from the Wharton School and a JD from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

Where did you grow up?

You returned to China to teach middleschool kids English two summers ago. What was that like?

Your first internship was at People magazine. What did you learn?

Your summer internship was at the Engage Group in London.

That’s complicated. My father works for the UN Development Programme. I’m Filipino, but I was born in Thailand. We moved to New York City when I was six months old. We also lived in South Korea and Beijing, and for three years in Fiji; but I went to high school in Westchester County. I taught in Xiaoshan; it’s an affluent suburb. They have KFC and McDonald’s. Because it was an English class, I got to help them choose English names. One teacher just gave them a copy of In Touch magazine to pick names from. A boy kept pointing to Donald Trump. The teacher asked, ‘You want to be called Donald?’ No. ‘Trump?’ No. ‘Fired?’ So the kid was named ‘Fired.’ Another kid was named ‘Dinner.’ I tried to give them regular names. That I don’t want my life to be ruled by Brad and Angelina. I was working for the assistant to the VP of communications, but she was on vacation when Brangelina’s baby, Shiloh, was born. I got to fill in while she was away. Dealing with interview requests from the media and editing press releases was crazy. But I loved the people at People. There’s less ads on TV, and they rely a lot more on wit. Here it’s more bathroom humor. And their print ads have more copy because people actually read it.

How is marketing different there? You work part time at the

A lot of guys buy the girls’ jeans if they want them really tight.

Levi’s store on 14th Street. What’s the skinny on jeans now? What kind do you wear? Matthew Septimus

Gilbert Harrison named effi co-chair

Advertising and Marketing Communications ’08

www.nathanielgold.com

Couture Council honors Elbaz

Alber Elbaz

An international childhood favorite ad campaign and the skinny on jeans Lorenzo Ciniglio

The Underfashion Club was founded in 1958 with a special mission: to ensure the future of the intimate apparel industry by supporting the education of talented students and attracting them to careers in the field. The organization fulfills these goals, in part, through its relationship with FIT. Colette Wong, associate professor and assistant chair of FIT’s Fashion Design Department, and the club’s liaison to the college, says the group has been funding various FIT scholarships since 1984, but for the past five years has focused its efforts on providing scholarships and paid summer internships for intimate apparel students. The funds awarded to these students have increased each year. The club, with members in all facets of the industry, ranging from foundations to day wear to sleep wear, enables students to intern in such areas as design, merchandising, sourcing, and public relations— and interns are frequently offered jobs after graduation. In recent years, FIT students have had internships at companies including Vanity Fair Intimates, Warnaco, and Chantelle Lingerie. Barry Ross, the club’s president, says the group raised close to $100,000 last year to benefit FIT students, and hopes to raise even more this year.

a student in first person

forging relations for FIT’s future

Underfashion Club and FIT

As an AMC major, what’s your favorite ad campaign?

Right now I’m wearing 511 Skinny Fit. They have a little stretch to them, so they’re comfortable. I’m a skinny guy, but I don’t like anything tight. But at least I’m not swimming in these, like I do in most jeans. I’d have to go with MasterCard, the ‘Priceless’ campaign. Each time you see an ad, it’s something new. It’s not just pushing a card; it makes the card a part of making memories, which is what a credit card is supposed to let you do.

Intimate relationship:

<< In the past academic year, ten intimate apparel students received Underfashion Club scholarships ranging from $15,000 to $3,500. Kaitlin Wilbur, top, received $15,000, and Brandon Grimm $10,000.

hue | winter 2007

Alan Garcia

Where did you grow up?

You returned to China to teach middleschool kids English two summers ago. What was that like?

Your first internship was at People magazine. What did you learn?

Your summer internship was at the Engage Group in London.

How is marketing different there? You work part time at the

A lot of guys buy the girls’ jeans if they want them really tight.

Levi’s store on 14th Street. What’s the skinny on jeans now? What kind do you wear? Matthew Septimus

Gilbert Harrison named effi co-chair

Advertising and Marketing Communications ’08

www.nathanielgold.com

Couture Council honors Elbaz

Alber Elbaz

An international childhood favorite ad campaign and the skinny on jeans Lorenzo Ciniglio

a student in first person

forging relations for FIT’s future

Underfashion Club and FIT

As an AMC major, what’s your favorite ad campaign?

1975 illustration ,

1987

Coney Island 2007

jan bilancia guarino, fashion

MIKE PETERS, PHOTOGRAPHY ’79

is a Long Island–based muralist, whose Arlene McLoughlin Mural Studios execute commercial and residential murals, Venetian plaster finishes, furniture decoration, and more. McLoughlin also teaches plaster fresco and faux finishing techniques at the Art League of Long Island. arlene skoros mcloughlin , fashion design ,

runs a Long

Island graphic design studio, Guarino Graphics, creating logos, direct mail

>> d oug

to-business greeting cards,

locations and photographing the features himself—everything from fashion to food to

emailed greetings). She is

portraiture. VOX aside, Young’s portfolio is thick with catalogue and magazine work,

increasingly devoted to her

including Chadwick’s, Lands’ End, Men’s Vogue, and Orvis.

watercolors, which she uses

A fashion shot by Doug Young ’87, from the spring ’07 VOX.

on greeting cards and sells as individual artworks.

1989

it’s all about the fit marlo weinstein lorenz ,

Irene Mak, Product Design: Apparel and Accessories ’82

advertising and communicNicki O’Connell

news from your classmates

is art director of VOX, a high-end lifestyle magazine based in

Easthampton, NY. When he’s not directing shoots, he’s scouting Long Island’s hidden-gem

and “eStickies” (customized

Tattoos and Hat Pears & Cherries, a watercolor by Jan Guarino ’75.

Makeup Fix

look for people who aren’t going to mug for the peters , photography ’79 , of his work. “I don’t take a lot of time to get the picture. I don’t crop the frame [when printing]. It’s street photography.”

camera,” says mike

1977 sheryl alperin sapriel , fashion buying and merchandising ,

For the past seven years, Peters has been a staff

galleries. Above are two images from his most recent project: a chronicle of Brooklyn’s Coney Island in what may prove to be its last summer before developers move in, shuttering the famed Astroland amusement park and at the neighborhood’s freewheeling Mermaid Parade. “It

mericans are getting bigger,” says irene

fashion and related

accessories ’82 .

industries ’89 , has two lines

of technical design at Martin + Osa, she oversees the team responsible for

of decorative pillows and throw blankets: Thro, for mass- and mid-market, and Marlo Lorenz, for high-end. Her pieces sell at such stores as Bed Bath & Beyond, Dillard’s, The Great Indoors, Horchow, Neiman Marcus, and more. Lorenz’s business is headquartered in Islip, NY, with a showroom in New York City. The “Sophia” pillow, by Marlo Lorenz ’89.

photographer for New Jersey’s Montclair State University,

was me and about 110,000 other photographers,” Peters

1992

Pennsylvania-based Fabric

concurrently pursuing his more spontaneous personal

jokes. “There were probably as many photographers as

rachelle pfortmiller moley, fashion design

Stock Exchange (now online)

work, which is regularly shown at area museums and

there were participants and spectators.”

midsize companies looking

1980

1981

to buy at a low minimum

ann marie muolo fusco , fashion design ,

was costume designer, production designer, and producer for the 2005 film After Roberto. Shot on location in Genoa and Venice, Italy, the movie was a true family affair—her husband Louis was writer, director, and star; son Marc edited, codirected, and costarred. The film has screened at festivals in California, Florida, Canada, and Italy.

becky stewart- gross , fashion buying and merchandising ,

and below wholesale prices. Sapriel’s clients have included Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, and Anna Sui. The Fabric Stock Exchange celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

has published her second book, Sleeping with Your Business Partner (Capital 2007). Written with her husband, it

Mak knows a lot

(children’s wear specialization), is a Lee Jeans trend manager, working in girls’ and women’s wear. Several times a year, she leaves Lee’s Kansas headquarters to visit New York City, Los Angeles, and Miami, seeking out trends relevant to the mid-tier market. Prior to Lee, Moley did trend, color, and design work in Los Angeles for Ocean Pacific, Bugle Boy, and Guess.

since. Educated at the High School of Fashion Industries

about making

and FIT, Mak is 25 years into a varied career that included

clothes, and

for Macy’s. She landed at American Eagle Outfitters (AE)

lingerie design for her own label and product development as a technical designer in 2003, and rose to vice president. She kept the title when she moved to Martin + Osa, a new AE brand, early this year.

Martin + Osa offers classic sportswear and outerwear for active outdoor types age 25 to 45—older than AE’s teen and collegiate market. Mak says making larger sizes isn’t a matter of simply making average-size patterns bigger. Proportions must be altered, too. That’s why she stopped relying on the usual fit models while at AE, and began holding focus groups that included people who spanned the size spectrum. They would try on and rate the clothes for fit and comfort, and Mak’s team would make adjustments. Mak also relies on Fast Fit, a software program that enables the team to email a

the Stewart-Grosses run the Wisconsin-based Building

1994

Bridges, which offers corporate seminars on leadership

robert douglas , advertising

bridgette raes , fashion

with technological

development and sales training. Becky has a PhD in

and communications ,

is managing account director at Wilen Group, a Long Island marketing agency. He joined Wilen after ten years at Young & Rubicam, where he started as an FIT intern. Douglas oversees all advertising and marketing accounts, pitching campaigns to clients like Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and TruFoods, owner of Arthur Treacher’s Fish & Chips and Pudgie’s Famous Chicken.

design ,

will publish her first book, The Style Rx: Dressing the Body You Have to Create the Body You Want (Perigee) in January 2008. In it, Raes discusses how women can find clothes to complement their body type. The book is an outgrowth of her Bridgette Raes Style Group, which works one-on-one with clients to revamp their personal style.

innovations, there are

own, six-year-old nonprofit, Success in Style, in Ellicott City, MD. The organization offers free fashion consultations, makeovers, and professional wardrobes to women in need. Kendall received a 2006 Volvo for Life Award for her work, and she was featured in the September 2007 issue of Family Circle.

linda edkins wyatt, textile design , wrote an article about using her panic attacks to create art

in the May/June 2007 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. When an attack comes on, Wyatt scribbles in a drawing pad, later incorporating the lines into her art. Two of Wyatt’s mixed-media

hue | winter 2007

to keep me busy.” The tactic was a success, and fashion has been keeping her busy ever

360-degree virtual model to their overseas manufacturers showing how the garments

juggles raising nine kids with running her

currently writing text and providing art for another upcoming book, from Interweave Press.

Mak knows a lot about making clothes, and making them fit. “I learned to sew at seven or eight,” she says. “My mother, who worked in Chinatown factories, wanted

without sacrificing their personal relationship. Together,

1979

works will be published, in summer 2008, in 1,000 Artist Journal Pages (Rockport). She’s

making sure the brand’s clothes fit their customers.

discusses how couples can succeed as business partners

human relationships from Michigan State University.

jeannette dunn kendall , patternmaking technology,

It’s Mak’s job to take note of such trends. As vice president

making them fit.

is a textile broker whose

excess fabric to small and

mak , product design : apparel and

ations ’87 ; marketing :

changing the boardwalk forever. The photos were shot

helps companies sell their

young , photography,

Blue Moon Media Group

pieces, stationery, business-

Swirl, mixed media, by Linda Edkins Wyatt ’79.

must be made. But even

challenges. “We’re constantly chasing trends— whether clothes are fitting closer to the body, longer, shorter,” Mak says. “It’s a moving target.”

Five-pocket bedford corduroys and full-zip jacket, from Martin + Osa’s holiday ’07 collection.

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

1975 illustration ,

1987

Coney Island 2007

jan bilancia guarino, fashion

MIKE PETERS, PHOTOGRAPHY ’79

runs a Long

Island graphic design studio, Guarino Graphics, creating logos, direct mail

>> d oug

to-business greeting cards,

locations and photographing the features himself—everything from fashion to food to

emailed greetings). She is

portraiture. VOX aside, Young’s portfolio is thick with catalogue and magazine work,

increasingly devoted to her

including Chadwick’s, Lands’ End, Men’s Vogue, and Orvis.

watercolors, which she uses

A fashion shot by Doug Young ’87, from the spring ’07 VOX.

on greeting cards and sells as individual artworks.

1989

it’s all about the fit marlo weinstein lorenz ,

Irene Mak, Product Design: Apparel and Accessories ’82

advertising and communicNicki O’Connell

news from your classmates

is art director of VOX, a high-end lifestyle magazine based in

Easthampton, NY. When he’s not directing shoots, he’s scouting Long Island’s hidden-gem

and “eStickies” (customized

Tattoos and Hat Pears & Cherries, a watercolor by Jan Guarino ’75.

Makeup Fix

camera,” says mike

1977 sheryl alperin sapriel , fashion buying and merchandising ,

For the past seven years, Peters has been a staff

mericans are getting bigger,” says irene

fashion and related

accessories ’82 .

industries ’89 , has two lines

of technical design at Martin + Osa, she oversees the team responsible for

photographer for New Jersey’s Montclair State University,

was me and about 110,000 other photographers,” Peters

1992

Pennsylvania-based Fabric

concurrently pursuing his more spontaneous personal

jokes. “There were probably as many photographers as

rachelle pfortmiller moley, fashion design

Stock Exchange (now online)

work, which is regularly shown at area museums and

there were participants and spectators.”

midsize companies looking

1980

1981

to buy at a low minimum

ann marie muolo fusco , fashion design ,

becky stewart- gross , fashion buying and merchandising ,

and below wholesale prices. Sapriel’s clients have included Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, and Anna Sui. The Fabric Stock Exchange celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.

has published her second book, Sleeping with Your Business Partner (Capital 2007). Written with her husband, it

Mak knows a lot

since. Educated at the High School of Fashion Industries

about making

and FIT, Mak is 25 years into a varied career that included

clothes, and

for Macy’s. She landed at American Eagle Outfitters (AE)

the Stewart-Grosses run the Wisconsin-based Building

1994

Bridges, which offers corporate seminars on leadership

robert douglas , advertising

bridgette raes , fashion

with technological

development and sales training. Becky has a PhD in

and communications ,

design ,

innovations, there are

linda edkins wyatt, textile design , wrote an article about using her panic attacks to create art

in the May/June 2007 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors. When an attack comes on, Wyatt scribbles in a drawing pad, later incorporating the lines into her art. Two of Wyatt’s mixed-media

hue | winter 2007

to keep me busy.” The tactic was a success, and fashion has been keeping her busy ever

360-degree virtual model to their overseas manufacturers showing how the garments

juggles raising nine kids with running her

currently writing text and providing art for another upcoming book, from Interweave Press.

Mak knows a lot about making clothes, and making them fit. “I learned to sew at seven or eight,” she says. “My mother, who worked in Chinatown factories, wanted

without sacrificing their personal relationship. Together,

1979

works will be published, in summer 2008, in 1,000 Artist Journal Pages (Rockport). She’s

making sure the brand’s clothes fit their customers.

discusses how couples can succeed as business partners

human relationships from Michigan State University.

jeannette dunn kendall , patternmaking technology,

It’s Mak’s job to take note of such trends. As vice president

making them fit.

is a textile broker whose

excess fabric to small and

mak , product design : apparel and

ations ’87 ; marketing :

changing the boardwalk forever. The photos were shot

helps companies sell their

young , photography,

Blue Moon Media Group

pieces, stationery, business-

Swirl, mixed media, by Linda Edkins Wyatt ’79.

must be made. But even

challenges. “We’re constantly chasing trends— whether clothes are fitting closer to the body, longer, shorter,” Mak says. “It’s a moving target.”

Five-pocket bedford corduroys and full-zip jacket, from Martin + Osa’s holiday ’07 collection.

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

2002

craig smith , fashion buying

nelson cupeles , advertising

owns Rugged Outfitters, a tenyear-old, New Jersey– based retailer of workrelated apparel like Carhartt, Dickies, Red Wing, and Timberland. The company has ten staffers in two 10,000square-foot stores, in Bergenfield and Park Ridge, and sells nationwide via its website. Prior to striking out on his own, Smith worked at Calvin Klein and Rocawear.

design ,

Matt Calardo

Lincoln Center’s Taste of Summer ’06, organized in part by Tina Maddaloni ’96.

1996

2000

tina maddaloni , fashion buying and merchandising ’93 ;

elise chan , fashion buying

is associate director of special events at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, one of a team of three responsible for all events for the center’s 9,000-plus donors. She’s helped arrange post-performance dinners, galas with 1,000 guests, and, in 1998, a 300-person surprise party for Josie Robertson—whose financier husband had secretly given $25 million in her honor—at which the center’s plaza was dedicated to her.

and merchandising ’98 ;

marketing : fashion and related industries ’96 ,

1997

1999 erin wolfe schiffman ,

is a production coordinator at Barneys New York, overseeing print projects for the retailer’s billboards, mailers, and magazine and newspaper ads, which run nationwide. Much of the work is quality control— checking sizing, color, and other specs.

management,

Felt hat for fall, by Leigh Magar ’95. leigh magar , millinery

runs Magar Hatworks, her ten-yearold custom-headwear business, from a storefront in Charleston, SC’s hip Upper King Design District. Magar constructs all her hats using wooden hat forms, and recently acquired nearly 200 of them— including a Victorian-era form and a matador’s hat form—from a retired psychology professor and friend, who’d left them to her in his will. Magar’s hats can also be found in New York City, at Barneys (men’s and women’s) and in SoHo’s Hat Shop (women’s only). certificate ,

hue | winter 2007

A princess line wedding gown by Pablo Bailon ’97 pablo bailon , fashion

opened Pablo Bailon Couture, his Utica, NY, bridal shop, in June 2007. The event was marked with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony, with the city’s mayor in attendance. Before moving upstate, Bailon worked in New York City for bridal designers Amsale Aberra (Fashion Design ’82) and Junko Yoshioka (of Bonaparte, NY). A native Ecuadorian, he hopes to reach out to the Latin American market. design ,

big waves Little waves

When I was five or six, my parents always yelled at me for playing with Yupadee Kobkul-Boonsiri my food. I’d arrange it on the plate by Jewelry Design ’97 shape, texture, and color, or peel an orange a different way every time. Looking back, that was my first experience working with space and composition. As a designer, many things capture you at different moments, but some things always capture you. The ocean is a timeless, endless inspiration for me. Big waves, little waves, waves hitting the rocks. All the teeny tiny bubbles. It’s nature interacting. I don’t copy it; I borrow from it. I want my jewelry to be interactive, not just decoration. But the food on my plate was my first design experience. So parents, don’t yell at your kids. It might be the beginning of something.

direct marketing ’00 ,

fashion merchandising

co-founded Schiffman Creative, a Manhattan-based print and multimedia graphic design firm, with her husband, Phillip, a graphic designer. Established in 2006, the company includes among its clients Disney, mtv, nascar, and Wrigley. Schiffman works the business development side, while also contributing to creative conception. She was previously a marketing manager with Calvin Klein.

is assistant art director at Flying, a Hachette Filipacchi monthly for professional and amateur pilots. Cupeles has been with Hachette since 2000, when he joined as an assistant production artist—a job found through FIT’s Career Services. He designs the magazine’s front and back sections, occasionally creating his own illustrations.

maria deceglie - borella , advertising and communica tions ’97; international trade and marketing for the fashion industries ’00,

is owner/operator of a fiveyear-old boutique, Bellie & Katrina, in Hoboken, NJ. She offers modish clothes for expectant mothers and children from infancy through size 6.

Packaging by Schiffman Creative, co-owned by Erin Schiffman ’99.

Flying layout (detail), by Nelson Cupeles ’02.

2006 angel bellon , advertising and marketing communications ,

is a trend analyst at Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, a marketing consultancy, where he researches cultural and business trends to help reposition brands, define their future opportunities, and identify potential product innovations. Bellon also started graduate school this fall, to pursue an MA in media studies and, eventually, a PhD in sociology.

amanda vonson , fashion merchandising management,

is co-owner, with her mother, Debbi, of Magpie, a vintage clothing and antique furniture shop in Carbondale, PA. Amanda focuses on apparel, scouting estate sales and using connections forged in New York City, while at FIT and as an intern for designer Cynthia Steffe. A recent find: an all-Lucite, coffin-shaped purse. Magpie also sells online.

What inspires you? Email the editors at hue@fitnyc.edu Getty Images

news from your classmates

and merchandising ,

sources of inspiration

1995

Yupadee is chief designer and art director for Grunberger Jewelers in Connecticut. The recipient of many awards, the Thailand native was a finalist for the 2007 Rising Star Award from the Fashion Group International. She teaches Jewelry Design at FIT. yupadeedesigns.com

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

2002

craig smith , fashion buying

nelson cupeles , advertising

design ,

Matt Calardo

Lincoln Center’s Taste of Summer ’06, organized in part by Tina Maddaloni ’96.

1996

2000

tina maddaloni , fashion buying and merchandising ’93 ;

elise chan , fashion buying

and merchandising ’98 ;

marketing : fashion and related industries ’96 ,

1997

1999 erin wolfe schiffman ,

management,

Felt hat for fall, by Leigh Magar ’95. leigh magar , millinery

hue | winter 2007

A princess line wedding gown by Pablo Bailon ’97 pablo bailon , fashion

big waves Little waves

direct marketing ’00 ,

fashion merchandising

maria deceglie - borella , advertising and communica tions ’97; international trade and marketing for the fashion industries ’00,

is owner/operator of a fiveyear-old boutique, Bellie & Katrina, in Hoboken, NJ. She offers modish clothes for expectant mothers and children from infancy through size 6.

Packaging by Schiffman Creative, co-owned by Erin Schiffman ’99.

Flying layout (detail), by Nelson Cupeles ’02.

2006 angel bellon , advertising and marketing communications ,

amanda vonson , fashion merchandising management,

What inspires you? Email the editors at hue@fitnyc.edu Getty Images

news from your classmates

and merchandising ,

sources of inspiration

1995

www.ﬁtnyc.edu/hue

Environmental Savings for Hue Issue 1 (25,000 copies)

334.62 trees preserved/planted 275.57 lbs waterborne waste not created 40,538 gallons wastewater flow saved 4,485 lbs solid waste not generated 13,298.79 lbs net greenhouse gases prevented 67,598,800 BTUs energy not consumed Printed by Monroe Litho Inc. Monroe Litho is certified as a Chain-of-Custody Â supplier by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Â and as an EPA Green Power Partner operating on 100% renewable, nonpolluting windpower. Printed on Monadnock Astrolite PC 100 FSC-certified, 100% post consumer waste reclaimed/recycled, made with 100% renewable energy; manufactured carbon neutral and chlorine free; certified ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System.

y golonhceT fo etutitsnI noihsaF eht fo enizagam inmulA

Please recycle or share this magazine.

Division of Advancement and External Relations Seventh Avenue at 27 Street New York, NY 10001-5992 return service requested

Presorted First-class Mail U.S. Postage PAID New York, NY Permit No. 472