StatuS update: graduated

The Class of ’13 celebrates, in person and online

By Alex Joseph, MA ’13

“This is awesome,” Fern Mallis said, addressing graduates at FIT’s 68th commencement on May 23. “How many of you are posting to Facebook right now?” From the audience’s response, the answer was more than a few. The creator of Fashion Week in New York City, Mallis knows awesome when she sees it. She’s also aware that today, pretty much all events take place on two parallel planes: the real and the virtual.

Reader, I was there, mostly in the first plane, wearing my blue robe like the other 1,700 graduates at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. I too felt a lump in my throat as I hugged a family member. This year, I completed FIT’s MA in Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice, and I can now verify how sweet it is to celebrate at a commencement that is truly your own.

But like nearly everyone else—whether graduating with an AAS, BFA, BS, MA, MFA, or MPS from any of the college’s 46 degree programs— I love shaping my experience into status updates, tweets, and Instagram images. My Facebook friends and Twitter followers live all over the world, but I felt their presence as they “liked” my photos and retweeted my observations. When Mallis, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award from President Joyce F. Brown, said, “Today, your phone can take you wherever you want to go,” I thought of professional organizations that can see my Facebook page. (Their members might be impressed with the Christian Louboutins I wore in the FIT commencement tradition of faboo footwear.) I also thought of my sister, who watched via live streaming and commented, “Woo-hoo!”

No one suggested that the real world is obsolete. Mallis, who spoke at the morning ceremony, for Business and Technology and Liberal Arts graduates—offered tips for job interviews, one of which was, “Listen, and think. Make sure your phone is turned off.” (The rest can be found at blog.fitnyc.edu/alumni.) President Brown’s sober address, citing the prevalence of war, hurricanes, and violence, brought listeners down to earth for a poignant moment. She praised the graduates’ “glorious potential,” and urged them to “live lives that are constructive, creative, and cooperative” and to “choose their better angels.” Elizabeth T. Peek, chair of FIT’s Board of Trustees, told them technology isn’t everything: “Turn off your phone once in a while, and look at a river.”

At the afternoon ceremony, for the schools of Art and Design and Graduate Studies, noted accessories designer Rebecca Minkoff, who studied at FIT, gave an eminently tweetable speech. Part of it concerned her company’s use of social media, so it was appropriate that she had the most retweeted sentiment under hashtag #FITGrad: “Give it your all, and you will go far. Trust yourself.” Dennis Basso ’73, well-known fashion designer and popular QVC personality, brought down the house with the story of how he came to FIT on his first day wearing platforms, bell bottoms, and “a ’fro out to here— I thought I was The End.” The audience thought so, too.

At moments like that, it didn’t matter which corner of the globe you were observing from: You were there, and it mattered, and it felt terrific.

Clockwise from top left: happy graduates; Robin Burns-McNeill, vice chair, FIT board of trustees; Beverly S. Mack, FIT trustee; H. Carl McCall, chairman, SUNY board of trustees; Mallis; Brown; Peek; Richard A. Anderman, FIT trustee; Jeffrey Tweedy, Menswear Design and Marketing, president of Sean John; great mortarboard!; Stephanie Roy, Art History and Museum Professions ’13; Alex Joseph MA ’13, author of this piece; Minkoff; and Basso.