The Magazine of the Fashion Institute of Technology SUMMER/FALL 2019 NUMBER 3 | 3 NUMBER | VOLUME 12 On the Cover

Take a second look at our cover image: it’s embroi- dered! When the School of Art and Design received The Magazine of the Fashion a state-of-the-art digital embroidery machine as Institute of Technology part of a major 25-machine donation from Brother International Corporation, we had to test it out. We Hue is for alumni and friends of FIT, a college of art and design, business and sent a photo to the Brother team (at right), and they technology. It is published three times made the magic happen. The final result, stitched a year by the Division of Communications on the Brother PR1050X, has 29 colors and 155,183 and External Relations, 227 West stitches, and it took five hours of continuous sewing 27th Street, Room B905, New York, to create. Bet your granny can’t do that! NY 10001-5992, (212) 217-4700. The embroidery machine will be used mainly by Fashion Design students looking for innovative Above: Melissa Heinz, a senior project manager in Brother’s embellishments. The detail (below left) shows the Home Appliance Division, and Cindy Hogan, digital embroidery expert and Brother brand ambassador, created stitches up close. the embroidery for our cover. Below: The machine at work. Vice President for Communications Our cover model is Anna Forde, International and External Relations Trade and Marketing, wearing her commencement Loretta Lawrence Keane robe and an ecstatic expression. Hue found Forde Assistant Vice President on Instagram via the hashtag for Communications #fitgrad. The photo captured a Carol Leven significant instant, she writes. Editor “The joy I felt when I waved Linda Angrilli my diploma in the air in Managing Editor the middle of Manhat- Alex Joseph MA ’15 tan…. It’s probably the Sta Writer best moment I had this Jonathan Vatner year: ‘Hello world! Here Editorial Assistant I come!’” She landed Laura Hatmaker a job as a customer Photography Coordinator service and e-commerce Smiljana Peros associate at the global Website Production Julianna Rose Dow skincare company AHAVA: Dead Sea Laboratories. Art Direction and Design Cover photo: Alessandro Casagli. Gary Tooth/Empire Design Studio Hue online: hue.fitnyc.edu Email: hue@fitnyc.edu Get Dressed With FIT Hot O the Presses FIT Newsroom: news.fitnyc.edu

Like the FIT Alumni page on Facebook Dressed: The History of Fashion, a Hue Sta› Writer Jonathan and follow @FITAlumni on Twitter and popular podcast hosted by Fashion Vatner’s Carnegie Hill was Instagram. Use #FITAlumni when posting. and Textile Studies alumnae April published by Thomas Dunne Email the OŸce of Alumni Engagement Calahan ’10 and Cassidy Zachary ’13, Books on August 20. The novel and Giving at alumnirelations@fitnyc.edu explores the rich and complex history follows the members of a co-op and let us know what you’ve been up to. behind the clothes we wear. Recent board and the sta› in a wealthy episodes investigate the history New York City building. Town of penny loafers and the genius of  Country named it a summer Printed by Maar Printing Service on Charles James. The hosts also “must-read,” Booklist gave it a Rolland Enviro Print. This paper is: Ancient Forest Friendly interviewed Michele Tolini Finamore ’98, starred review, and People called Made with 100 percent post-consumer whose exhibition about gender and fashion at Boston’s Museum of it “entertaining and profound.” waste fiber Fine Arts is featured in this issue. Vatner will read from the novel Processed Chlorine Free at the Barnes and Noble at FIT Produced using biogas energy on September 17 at 5 p.m. Environmental savings as compared Connect With Us on Instagram to paper using 100 percent virgin fiber: This image of James McNamara, 136 trees preserved 131,195 gallons of water saved the alumnus who sewed the original 13,422 lbs of waste not generated Gay Pride flag, was one of the year’s 44,099 lbs of CO2 not generated most popular posts on @FITAlumni, 113 MMBTUs of energy not consumed the Instagram account of the O¥ ce 57 lbs of nitrous oxide gas prevented of Alumni Engagement and Giving. Please recycle or share this magazine. Follow it to see posts about alumni accomplishments, campus events, and other major news. (We also recom- mend @FITNYC, the college’s o¥ cial account, and @MuseumatFIT, the museum’s page.) Features Departments

8 Uncommon Design 24 Conserving a Chanel 4 Hue’s News FIT’s new MFA in Fashion Design graduates Saving a couture garment from 25 Counter Culture its first class of creative rebels “inherent vice” 32 Alumni Notes 14 Vital Threads 26 You Better Work! Alumni turn fiber into fine art Zaldy ’90 is the designer behind 35 What Inspires You? RuPaul’s fab looks 20 Take Five An unscientific sampling of the 30 Fashion Out of Bounds class of 2019 Style that transcends the gender binary Above: Utkarsh Shukla’s gossamer pieces blend historical Indian dress and Western tailoring, addressing a fraught combination of cultural identities. Shukla was a member of the Fashion Design MFA program’s first graduating class. Photo by Shukla. Story on page ’. hue’s news Using Biodesign, Students Invent Sustainable Textiles Anna Blume Elastin is a protein that allows for stretch This bannerstone, made of banded slate and recovery in skin, connective tissue, and in a knobbed lunate shape, was found in blood vessels. It’s also present in high concen- Elbridge, New York, and dates to ƒ,„„„ BCE. tration in the (inedible) adductor muscles of (AMNH †ƒ/†„ˆ) oysters. Team EcoLastane ground up those muscles and, using a common enzyme, creat- WHAT’S A ed strands of elastin. Unfortunately, it wasn’t BANNERSTONE? very strong. Next, they purified the elastin Bannerstones are complex carved and using sodium hydroxide and were able to polished stones created by Native isolate a small amount, which they will use Americans during the Archaic period to create a durable spandex-like fiber. (8000–1000 BC). The holes drilled Team Flora Fur was troubled by the envi- through their centers led early–20th ronmental costs of faux fur, which is gener- century archaeologists to believe that ally made from petroleum products and is they were meant to be placed on sta›s therefore not biodegradable. as banners or emblems, hence their

Valery Rizzo “The fact that it’s not biodegradable is the name, but more recent scholarship Students Isabella Bruski and Noah Silva of Flora Fur with Stella last argument used against faux fur by the casts doubt on that hypothesis. History McCartney Sustainability Manager Debra Guo. fur industry,” Advertising and Marketing of Art Professor Anna Blume and Communications student Isabella Bruski Joseph Anderson, assistant professor What if our world’s most pressing environmental crises could be solved said. “We wanted to create a faux fur that and Digital Initiatives librarian, have by looking to nature? The Biodesign Challenge, now in its fourth year, biodegrades.” created an open-source website at is an intercollegiate competition founded by Daniel Grushkin, bannerstone.fitnyc.edu to aid in the co-founder of the community laboratory Genspace. Its purpose is to study of these remarkable and mysteri- encourage undergraduate research into biologically inspired fibers “What’s unique about ous objects. The site contains photog- and other materials. An FIT team won the first Biodesign Challenge, Flora Fur is they’re using raphy and information for 61 banner- in 2016; that team, now a company called AlgiKnit, recently final - this common, weedy plant stones in the archives of the American ized a round of venture capital funding totaling $2.2 million. Museum of Natural History. On June 20 and 21 in New York, student teams from 34 colleges to make a luxury item.” and universities around the world, including Harvard and the Univer- —Evelyn Rynkiewicz, Assistant Professor, sity of Pennsylvania, presented concepts and research that could pave Science and Math Department the way to a more sustainable future. Two FIT teams presented their work. Team EcoLastane, They experimented with using the flu¨ which is developing a biodegradable alternative to spandex, was from milkweed seeds, combined with flax a finalist for the top prize and a competitor for the ORTA Prize for fibers, to create a sustainable fur-like textile. Bioinspired Textile Processes. Team Flora Fur took home the Stella As an added benefit, planting milkweed to McCartney Prize for Sustainable Fashion for its petroleum-free vegan produce this fiber would provide food for fur made from milkweed flu¨ and other natural materials. monarch butterflies, which feed on it as Team EcoLastane came up with the idea for a sustainable span- caterpillars. dex alternative in an interdisciplinary course called Designing with “What’s unique about Flora Fur is they’re Kim Byung Min Emerging Materials. The course, team-taught by Susanne Goetz, using this common, weedy plant to make a associate professor of Textile/Surface Design, and Theanne Schiros, luxury item,” said Assistant Professor Evelyn FIT in Korea Graduates assistant professor of Science and Math, teaches students materials Rynkiewicz, an ecologist in the Science and First Class science and encourages them to undertake original research to devel- Math Department, and advisor for the Biode- FIT at SUNY Korea’s first commence- op new materials. When Fashion Design student Monica Palucci sign Challenge. “They call it a weed because ment took place June 20 on the learned that any fabric containing spandex is not recyclable, and that it can grow anywhere—which is a good thing state-of-the-art campus in Songdo, the fiber is present in 80 percent of clothing, she and her team members in this case.” South Korea. Thirty-five FIT students looked to nature for an alternative. “FIT sits at the center of fashion innova- graduated with an AAS degree in “I’m doing a minor in Ethics and Sustainability, and some of tion in New York City—the nerve center of Fashion Design or Fashion Business the classes are really depressing,” Palucci said. The Designing the fashion world,” Grushkin said. “I would Management; more than half are with Emerging Materials class “is really hopeful—there are so expect nothing less than major innovations entering bachelor’s programs at FIT’s many possibilities.” in biomaterials coming from the school.” New York and Milan campuses.

QUICK READ FIT was a hosting partner in this year’s World Werewool, the student team that presented their Jewelry Design alumna Ivy Ross, VP and head of Conference on Women’s Studies, April 25 to 27 in genetically engineered fiber at the 2018 Biodesign design for hardware products at Google, was number Bangkok. Melissa Tombro, professor of English Challenge Summit, is competing in the Biomimicry nine on Fast Company’s 2019 list of the Most Creative and Communication Studies, helped plan the Launchpad, an accelerator program for nature- People in Business. conference, now in its fifth year. inspired innovation and entrepreneurship. The winning team gets $100,000.

4 Summer/Fall 2019 hue’s news Advice from the ™š›œ FIT AND MIT JOIN FORCES Commencement Speakers TO CREATE INNOVATIVE TEXTILES For the second consecutive year, students from MIT and FIT teamed up for two weeks in late June to create product concepts using advanced “All that you go through to bring fibers. The workshops, which took place on both campuses, were held forth what is yours alone is your collaboratively with Advanced Functional Fabrics of America (AFFOA), a statement. You have to hold onto Cambridge, Massachusetts–based nonprofit enabling a transformation that. Never give that up.” of traditional fibers, yarns, and textiles into sophisticated, integrated, —David Yurman and networked devices and systems. Athletic footwear and apparel manufacturer New Balance, the workshop’s industrial partner, challenged the 12 students to develop concepts for high-tech sneakers. Team Natural Futurism imagined a biodegradable lifestyle shoe using natural materials, including bacterial cellulose and fungus, and advanced fiber concepts to avoid use of chemical dyes. Team CoMIT to Safety Before ProFIT aimed to reduce run- ning injuries from overtraining by means of technology like a silent alarm and LED display. The goal is to help runners at all levels to eliminate distraction, know their physical limits, and be able to call for help. “It is critical for design students to work in a team environment Joe Carrotta ’1¢ engaging in the latest technologies,” said Joanne Arbuckle, deputy to At FIT’s 2019 commencement exercises, held at Radio City Music Hall on the president for Industry Partnerships and Collaborative Programs May 22, renowned jewelry designer David Yurman addressed the graduates at FIT. “This interaction will support the invention of products that will of the schools of Art and Design and Liberal Arts at the morning ceremony, define our future.” and apparel icon Tommy Hilfiger spoke to the Jay and Patty Baker School of Andy Liu, assistant professor of Fashion Design at FIT, worked with Business and Technology in the afternoon. Yurman and Stephen Burrows ’66 MIT postdocs to design a curriculum that taught fiber fabrication, 3D received honorary degrees, and Hilfiger was given the President’s Award for printing with light, and biosensing. Lifetime Achievement. Commencement is a time for established leaders to “Collaboration and teamwork are DNA-level attributes of the New share advice with graduates about to embark on their career journeys. Here’s Balance workplace,” said Chris Wawrousek, senior creative design lead some of what the speakers said. in the New Balance Innovation Studio. “The program allowed us to see some of the emerging research in the field of technical textiles. In some “Your instincts will never let cases, these technologies are still very nascent but give us a window you down. Always trust that into future developments.” feeling, that voice, that tells you what is right.” —Tommy Hilfiger

“Make it your mission in the years ahead to practice green values in your homes, in your communities, in all those companies we’re sending you

out to lead.” Cininglio Lorenzo Team CoMIT to Safety Before ProFIT explored intuitive textiles, as well as tech

—President Joyce F. Brown Joe Carrotta ’1¢ elements such as a silent alarm and LED display.

Fashion and Textile Studies student Faith Cooper, Fashion Design student Roderick Reyes won the Advertising and Marketing Communications faculty Art History and Museum Professions ’14, participated 2019 Levi’s x Arts Thread Design Competition from member John Elliott and his team from communica- in the prestigious Museum Education Practicum, an among 300 submissions from 26 countries. His prize tions firm Publicis came in second in the world in the intensive training program at the Studio Museum in was a summer internship with Levi’s in San Francisco. 2019 Alexa Cup, a competition to create a new “Alexa Harlem this spring. Skill” for the voice-activated Amazon virtual assis- tant. Their idea: a content platform for Barbie.

hue.fitnyc.edu 5 hue’s news

ASSIGNMENT RANKINGS PLACE FIT AT THE TOP, AGAIN A Signage Proposal for the FIT has been named among the Best Fashion Schools in the World in the Business of Fash- Natural History Museum ion’s 2019 global fashion school assessment. This year, BoF replaced the numerical rankings The client: New York’s American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) of previous years with “Badges of Excellence” The class: Exhibition Graphics 1 is for second-semester students in FIT’s MA in Exhibition and recognizing strengths in four key areas: Best Experience Design program Overall, Best in Global Influence, Best in The brief: Few AMNH visitors use the large, cavernous rotunda entry and stairwell that leads from the Learning Experience, and Best in Long-Term lower level to the fourth floor. Instead, they use the elevators. AMNH wants to change that. The space Value. FIT’s undergraduate fashion and has the potential to display additional exhibition content and reduce congestion. Activating the stair- business programs received all four badges, well has long been a dream project for AMNH designers, said Christina Lyons, chair of the department, and the master’s program in Global Fashion who taught the class. “For a graphic designer, it’s a great opportunity.” Management received Best Overall and Best in Global Influence. Turn the stairwell from a space into a “place,” via innovative wayfinding and experi- The assignment: Two other rankings recognized FIT’s stellar ential graphics that align with the institution’s aesthetic and mission. (“Placemaking,” Lyons explained, return on investment (ROI). Value Colleges, is an industry term for making spaces meaningful.) an independent online guide for prospective Additional learning: During the semester, industry professionals visited the class, including an authority students, ranked FIT’s Bachelor of Fine Arts in on fabrication, materials, and installation; a visitor experience expert; and a designer and creative Graphic Design as the sixth best value among director who has addressed similar challenges. Many of the students won scholarships to the 2019 accredited programs in the field nationwide. International Sign Association’s annual expo in Las Vegas, where they saw cutting-edge technologies, And College Consensus, a rankings aggrega- materials, and applications, some of which they used in their AMNH proposal. tor, placed FIT’s two online programs at number 19 for ROI among all online colleges, THE DESIGN PROCESS based on cost of the degree and expected salary after graduation. Step ‘: Meet with AMNH director of graphic design, Step ’: Present concepts to the client, then Catharine Weese, left. Interview AMNH designers create prototypes of design components and test about their needs, goals, and dreams for the project. them on site. The concepts were a series of subtle content cues, such as carefully organized “fun Wolf Circus Wins Design Step –: Survey the site. Measure the space and facts,” that directed visitors up or down the stairs. document existing graphics, colors, typography, One student proposed a shadow-and-light show Entrepreneurs Prize architectural details, materials, and circulation for the staircase leading to the elephant exhibit. On June 5, FIT wrapped its seventh annual routes. Design Entrepreneurs program. Twelve designer finalists presented business plans to a panel of industry executives including Tommy Hilfiger and Dee Ocleppo Hilfiger; Morris Gold- farb, CEO of G-III; Adrienne Lazarus, CEO of Bandier; Thomas Ott, Saks O› Fifth and Gilt chief merchant; and Henri Zirpolo, Rag & Bone senior designer. Fiona Morrison of Wolf Circus took home the $100,000 grand prize to grow her business, a line of sustainable demi-fine jewelry created and run by women. Nora Gardner and her brand of women’s suiting won the Israel Goldgrub Award of $50,000.

Step —: Conduct audience studies that involve onsite observations and interviews with visitors, sta¦, and AMNH volunteer docents. Create “persona studies” to draw conclusions about visitors’ needs and desires.

Step “: Get final feedback on the proposal from the client. Lyons said, “The comments encompassed many practical considerations—such as budget, maintenance, approval processes, and schedule.” Wolf Circus

6 Summer/Fall 2019 hue’s news JENNIFER LEE’S Valerie’s Journey SUSTAINABILITY MISSION The incredible story behind Isotoner gloves Jennifer Lee, assistant professor of Fashion Business Management, teaches Financial Assortment and Planning, as well as Computer-Aided Product Development. Her own research brings together sustainability and wearable technology to design

Smiljana Peros high-tech cycling jackets. Why design cycling jackets? Cycling is one of the most rapidly growing fitness activities for people concerned with their health and the environ- ment. But there are limited wearable technology products WRITING available for cyclists. OUTSIDE What is innovative about this one? Courtesy of FIT Special Collections OF THE LINES Fuchs, a Holocaust survivor, launched creative concepts for Aris. It’s made of mulberry paper, a leather substitute devel- At FIT, many assignments oped in Korea that can be washed and ironed. It has a are multimodal, blending Sometimes the habits we develop to distract ourselves are heating pad connected to a sensor. If the rider’s body writing with design, tech- more important than we realize. Valerie Fuchs’ small, intricate temperature goes up or down, the device turns on and nology, or performance. pencil sketches are a perfect example. Her son Thomas Fuchs o›. The design was inspired by the cycling jackets created recently donated her meticulous drawings, along with other as a result of the British rational dress reform of the 1890s, Multimodal Composing: artifacts related to her career, to FIT’s Special Collections. when women started getting rid of corsets in favor of more Strategies for Twenty- Only they weren’t created under ordinary circumstances. She practical and comfortable clothing. I always incorporate First-Century Writing drew them while hiding from the Nazis during World War II. the history of fashion into my designs. Consultations (Utah State University Press, 2019), Valerie was born in 1916 in what is now Martin, Slovakia. You’re organizing a sustainability pop-up from co-edited by Brian Fallon, She grew up attending fashion shows with her father, a depart- November 14 to 22. What can we expect? associate professor and ment store owner. “He had the eye,” Thomas said. “My mother It will be an interdisciplinary, collegewide, student-run director of the Writing inherited a lot of his talent.” She married Ladislav, a dentist, in sustainability project located in the Art and Design and Speaking Studio, the late ’30s, but restrictions on Jews were already beginning. Gallery and sponsored by the FBM Department. We want provides strategies for Eventually, a local politician gave Ladislav a basket of to engage as many people as possible. We will have a writing-center directors apples concealing a gun and urged him to go into hiding. The vintage clothing swap, and students will create upcycled and consultants working Fuchses first found refuge in a basement, and then a Christian clothing from damaged and unwanted clothing donated family hid them in their attic. They waited there for a year— by nonprofits and fashion companies. Happy Socks, a with students whose texts and Valerie sketched. sustainable company, donated product, and we will have are visual, technological, A few years after the war ended, the Fuchses, along with lip balm made of wax from FIT’s beehive. Mimi Prober ’12 creative, and performative. and Jussara Lee ’90 are getting involved, too. Students “There are a lot of books one-year-old Thomas, moved to New York City. Unable to be a from the Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design and articles that cover dentist in the U.S., Ladislav worked in a thermometer factory, Department are going to establish the physical store as multimodality and new while Valerie took in a class assignment. Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing media in writing studies,” freelance textile design will provide an olfactory experience in a pop-up sustain- Fallon said, “but nothing work. In the early ’60s, able fragrance lab. Textile Development and Marketing that specifically targeted she got a job at Aris Glove will present naturally dyed fabric collections through a how tutors might apply Company as its exclusive 360-degree augmented reality experience. this knowledge in practice.” designer and helped push several innovations forward. These included ROOFTOP ROSES an early version of a Fuchs polished her sketching The FIT Foundation, along with Lara Eurdolian, shaping bodysuit and a skills in hiding. International Trade and Marketing ’05, founder of special, stretchy stitch. Pretty Connected, a multiplatform style and beauty “She was doing isometric exercises and martial arts,” Thomas brand; and Jennifer Grove, Fashion Merchandising recalled. “Isometrics is like resistance training, and the stitch Management ’95, founder and CEO of floral donation had resistance. So she said, ‘Why don’t we call this Isotoner?’” company Repeat Roses, hosted an elegant alumni Eventually, Aris was renamed Isotoner. gathering on the Lagary Board Room Terrace on July 17. Valerie worked at the company for 16 years before joining Alumni guests were invited because of their work in her family’s business—Allied Brass, a bathroom fixture com- sustainability and innovation. Repeat Roses set up a pany. And she extended her skills to designing the products Blossoms Bar, a table of flowers that would otherwise with Thomas. He sold Allied Brass in 2005 and Valerie died have gone to the landfill, and guests created bouquets in 2013 at 97 years old, but she made a clear impact while with personalized messages that were later delivered with the company. “My mother and I cultivated a culture of to VillageCare, an adult day center for those with innovation,” Thomas said. “She was a real Renaissance

Chris McCloskey Chris chronic illnesses including HIV/AIDS. woman.” —VANESSA MACHIR

hue.fitnyc.edu 7 8 Summer/Fall 2019 Uncommon Design The Fashion Design MFA program graduates its first class. Meet a few of its members

BY LINDA ANGRILLI

The first class graduated from FIT’s new Fashion Design MFA program in spring 2019, sending 15 highly original minds into the world to change fashion. The program seeks unconventional students with diverse backgrounds, and encourages fresh approaches to fashion, design, craft, and technology. Each semester has a theme— Play, Focus, Edit, Conclude—as the students, guided by faculty and mentors, take their thesis from concept to collection. Professor Jonathan Kyle Farmer, who developed and heads the program, disapproves of the breakneck pace of the fashion system, because it hampers creativity and results in a glut of clothes created without meaning or intent. This unique program slows the design process down to allow the deep exploration of an idea and thoughtful development of a collection that expresses the designer’s personal vision. The students took intense, often emotional journeys through the four-semester thesis process. They ended up with work that reflected and evoked profound feelings, addressed social and personal issues, ranged from practical to ethereal, and looked beautiful, unexpected, vital, and sometimes eccentric. “It’s not going to happen overnight, but I expect these students to change the industry, not just be part of the machine,” Farmer says. “It’s about integrity, not celebrity endorsements. It’s about doing and producing things in new ways.”

Collection: My Mobile Canvas As you can tell from his name, gra¥ti artist and self-proclaimed dreamer Lenny Vuitton (aka John Lenahan) is inspired by dismantling and recreating, remixing common iconography as his own. A colorful, high-energy celebration of street culture, the designs blend and juxta- pose styles, challenging expectations about culture, race, gender, art, and fashion. Originally a painter, Lenny Vuitton now puts his designs on the body, so the art moves from place to place, creating experiences that are seen beyond gallery walls. Painting on clothing with brushes or spray cans, he creates what he calls his “mobile canvas.” “When I put art on clothes, it’s like spray painting on a train car and sending it o› into the world for the public to see.”

LENNY VUITTON hue.fitnyc.edu 9 Collection: Eli: Accessible Design for an Inclusive World

Above all, Eliza Fisher insists, her collection is a collaboration. She worked closely with FIT students in the special needs community—Kerry Gibbons, Lucille Reynolds, Kiran Usmani, and Miriam Wexler—to investigate the needs of people with sensory processing impairments, and to design desirable, attractive clothing options that work for a range of sensory requirements. She also reviewed medical information and advocacy sites and spoke with occupational therapists. People with sensory processing disorder can experience sensory input as overstimulating and overwhelming. On the other hand, certain kinds of sensory input, such as pressure, can impart feelings of safety and calm. Eliza’s collection of what she calls “sensory friendly garments” includes features such as raised surfaces that are nice to touch—such as printed silicone, which also adds weight—and inflatables, evoking a calming sensation through compression, like a weighted blanket. “I loved the slight compression and tactile detailing,” Lucille says. “As someone who has trouble focusing, it helped calm me and focus my attention.” Compression garments exist in the market, but “stylish” is not a word that comes to mind. By designing in collaboration with the special needs community, Eliza created clothes that don’t sacrifice aesthetics for function. Her collection respects neurological di›erences, while o›ering choices that anyone can be proud to wear.

Clockwise from top: Miriam Wexler, Kerry Gibbons, Lucille Reynolds, and Kiran Usmani, FIT students in the special needs community, worked with Eliza to create her collection, chose their outfits, and determined the composition of their photos.

10 Summer/Fall 2019 MEGAN KRAUSE, PHOTOGRAPHY ’ (LEFT); LOISE EISENHART, PHOTOGRAPHY ’ (ABOVE) Collection: Amended Identity Having grown up in India and lived in many places around the world, Utkarsh Shukla explores gender, sexuality, and nationality from a multicultural perspective. His work draws a parallel between “abuse within a sexual premise” and “cultural abuse of India under the British Raj.” Through fashion, he examines questions of culture clash, “conscious cultural degradation,” and the “ask of compliance” in these experiences. Utkarsh earned a bachelor’s degree in fashion design from the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi, winning the most innovative graduate collection award; he also has an AAS in Fashion Design from FIT. While in India, he worked with the Varanasi weaving community that practices the traditional art of brocade. His MFA work blends historical Indian dress and Western tailoring, reflecting a combined cultural identity.

APRIL BLUM, PHOTOGRAPHY ’ hue.fitnyc.edu 11 Collection: New Americana In a class of nontraditional fashion designers, YunRay Chung is perhaps the most unconven- tional. He calls himself a fashion researcher, concept developer, and performance artist, and his work encompasses performance pieces,

Above: YunRay Chung, right, and Celine Lin in I Love objects, films, and interactive installations. You but I Have to Leave, his performance piece about Born in Taiwan, YunRay uses deconstructed changing identity. Below: In Leave a Mark on I, YunRay secondhand garments to explore how a person’s crouches for an hour, covered in sticky paint, then tries to “stand and break through.” cultural identity changes, especially through immigration. In one performance, he kneels face down on the floor for an hour, praying, while a blend of glue and paint is poured over him; then he stands, spattered and disheveled, and tries to walk. In another, Ray and a second performer stand facing each other, then embrace, exchang- ing garments along with identities. The unfamiliar clothes are sometimes confusing, not unlike a new identity. The work is evocative and moving, but is it fashion? This question led YunRay and Farmer to conversations about what it means to be a fashion designer. Farmer, open to expansive interpreta- tions as long as they’re pursued with integrity, told his student, “Let’s find out what you are.”

12 Summer/Fall 2019 STEVEN MOLINA CONTRERAS, PHOTOGRAPHY ’ Collection: Living with Loss After a loss, moments of grief can come upon us unexpectedly, something Anastasia Edwards-Morel learned three years ago, after the deaths of her 14-year-old cousin and her grandfather. She wondered if she could create a garment that would provide comfort. A variety of therapies use touch and compression for emotional and physical relief, and a weighted sensation is known to reduce anxiety. “I’m drawing on these existing technologies, but taking it a step further,” she says. Instead of weights, her garments rely on magnets pushing against each other to create compression. And she incorporated silicone robotics, with silicone pieces that inflate to provide a sense of pressure and release. As a designer, not a scientist or mathematician, she needed help with the technology. She worked with the electrical engineering department at Colum- bia University, using “collaborative brainpower” to successfully blend fashion and function. She says of her garment, “It’s a nice cashmere sweater. You want to wear it. But there’s something more: it’s a sweater that can hug you.” Working at the intersection of fashion design, electrical engineering, and biotextile research, Edwards-Morel is able to create the products she imagines. “A beautiful world exists between designers and scientists.”

hue.fitnyc.edu 13 “Working with our hands is what makes us human,” Hallie Meltzer, Textile/Surface Design ’08, says. And it is often this opportunity to feel and create textures every day that draws people to the practice of fiber art. “Touching fibers with your hands can be a very meditative process. It’s very centering,” Nomi Kleinman, chair of the by Vanessa Machir Vanessa by Textile/Surface Design Department, says. With so many di¨erent materials and processes to choose from, fiber art also o¨ers endless possibilities for experimen- tation and innovation. “It’s an incredibly flexible medium,” Ruth Jeyaveeran ’07, assistant professor of Textile/Surface Design, says. Many fiber artists are excited to combine tradi- tional techniques with technology—like digital embroidery or smart fabrics—which Kleinman calls “a lovely marriage.” But fiber art didn’t gain respect in the art world until the 1960s and ’70s, with the work of Bauhaus artist Anni Albers and textile icon Sheila Hicks paving the way. The practice has historically struggled to get the same level of recognition as painting and photography because it’s “traditionally been rele- gated to women’s work and the fringe,” Jeyaveeran says. Take in the creations of five alumni fiber artists She acknowledges, however, that things are changing. “In the last 10 years or so, traditional craft mediums like fiber art have started to become recognized by the art world,” she says. Recent exhibitions in New York featured the work of textile artist Diedrick Brackens, at the New Museum, and the late sculptor Mrinalini Mukherjee (who often used dyed and woven hemp rope), at the Met Breuer. Meltzer attributes this resurgence of interest to “a desire to get back to something tactile” in an increasingly digital world. People are recognizing the importance of the very human, multisensory experience that has long attracted artists to fiber art. But this can lead to a problem in museums and galleries, Kleinman says: “People try to touch the art.”

The Seven Seas by Ruth Jeyaveeran; merino wool, mohair/silk yarn, and rayon thread; 27 by 29 inches; 2018.

14 Summer/Fall 2019 ay “felt” to Ruth Jeyaveeran ’07, assistant professor of Textile/ Surface Design, and she’ll talk about microscopes and Mongolia. Materials like felt are part of everyday life, she says, but people don’t usually understand where they come from. Felt is perhaps the most ancient of textiles. Mongolians have used it to make yurts for thousands of years. Felt is made by compressing fibers and exposing them to heat, friction, and moisture. If you magnify wool fibers, Jeyaveeran explains, they look scaly. When you add hot water and agitate the fibers, the scales open up and bond naturally. Jeyaveeran makes the felt she uses in her own work, enjoying the contrast between the “cool, low-tech” material and the advanced technology she often employs. She worked as a book illustrator (and wrote a few books herself). “I ended up using a lot of textiles as illustrations,” she says. A textile designer saw her work and suggested she go back to school and focus on the practice. After graduating from FIT, she designed home fabrics, apparel, and accessories for companies like Kate Spade and West Elm. Recently, she’s been experimenting with laser cutting and digital embroidery on felt in her series of art pieces “After the Flood,” which highlights the consequences of climate change. It’s been included in exhibitions at Gallery MC, Site: Brooklyn, and more. The Seven Seas (at left) depicts the formula for carbonic acid, which is formed when carbon dioxide dissolves in the ocean, and can harm marine life. “I like the contrast between the rigid formula and the fluid, felted piece.” This tension between science and nature, tradition and modernity, Jeyaveeran says, is “the whole crux of textiles.”

hue.fitnyc.edu 15 essica Vitucci ’16 has loved making portraits since high school, but when a teacher gave her a frame loom, she departed from the tradi- tional route of painting or drawing. Making textiles “felt less limited,” she says. “It could be fashion. It could be for the home, it could be fiber art.” After FIT, she landed her dream job as a rug designer at ABC Carpet & Home. But, as with most design gigs, the work was based on trend research, not personal inspiration. “When I came home, I didn’t want to put things on repeat anymore,” she says. She returned to portraiture, using textiles as a medium. For works like Michelette, shown here, she takes a photo of the subject, makes a drawing, traces the drawing onto fabric, and then embroiders it with yarn. Sometimes she prefers to highlight the process itself, showing the backs of her pieces. “I think they come out just as beautiful, if not more, than the front,” she says. “The order in which the thread goes is really special.” Last year, she temporarily relocated to Rhode Island. “I was able to put more time toward my process and get out of the rush of New York,” she says. While there, she worked with fiber artist Anastasia Azure and showed in the juried exhibition Twisting Fibers: An Art for All Reasons. Now back in New York, she’s designing for the rug company Well Woven and pushing her portraiture forward even more. “I’m still in the early stages of exploring it,” she says.

“It healed me. The repetitive motion ... quieted my mind.” —Cynthia Alberto

Michelette by Jessica Vitucci; cotton, wool, silk, and linen; From the Techno Love series by Cynthia Alberto, mercerized 16 by 20 inches; 2018. cotton threads and recycled neon ropes, 70 by 40 inches, 2017.

16 Summer/Fall 2019 hen Cynthia Alberto ’02 was younger, her family The studio aims to instill a sense of well-being and community would go home to the Philippines and bring back in its students. Weaving can strengthen motor skills and concen- textiles. “I never really paid attention,” she laughs. tration, while building self-esteem. “It’s personal expression, and Years later, however, weaving textiles became pivotal you get the satisfaction of completing a project,” Alberto says. in her life. “It healed me,” says Alberto, who took “Plus, these groups are talking with each other, interacting. ... It’s solace in the craft after going through a divorce. “The repetitive social healing.” motion ... quieted my mind.” Alberto, who was one of the first-ever artists in residence at With a degree in computer science, Alberto worked on Wall the Museum of Arts and Design, integrates the idea of community Street in computer programming and in sales at The Village Voice, in her own work. The series Techno Love (pictured here), made up while making art in her free time. She often incorporated sewing of 30 woven cocoons, was inspired by the feeling of connecting with into her pieces and wanted to transform her paintings into textiles. a community through music. With this in mind, she went back to school at FIT, then worked with And she still thinks about the textiles she ignored in her youth. Tibetan rug evangelist Stephanie Odegard. Though she has collaborated (both independently and through her In 2007, she opened her Brooklyn studio, The Weaving Hand studio) with noted fashion brands like Proenza Schouler, EDUN, and (which also sells weaving supplies). It teaches traditional and Turnbull & Asser, she also works with an international community of modern techniques and sustainable practices through in-house weavers to preserve ancient traditions. Sometimes this commitment classes for all ages, public events at spaces like Pioneer Works drives Alberto to rifle through her family’s closets. “Now I ask them, and Ace Hotel, and outreach programs for the underserved. ‘Where are [those textiles]? Do you still have them?’”

HEIDI BOHNENKAMP hue.fitnyc.edu 17 seated figure covered with skin made of swatches. Crocheted ra¥ a pieces. A mixed-media American flag. All of these are part of the portfolio of Hallie Meltzer ’08. “I’ve never been married to one specific technique,” she says. “I want to see how many di› erent things I can do.” Coming from a family of knitters and makers, she says, “textiles had been with me my whole life.” She started her career working as a costume designer but created fiber art on the side. She quickly realized the profession’s erratic work schedule, low pay, and high burnout rate were not for her—so she switched her focus and went to FIT to study textile design. “I love the tactility of it,” she says. “I love feeling with my eyes.” She’s also a senior designer for Rich- loom’s Platinum Division, which makes fabrics for the home. Her more recent pieces have been inspired by a major aspect of her job: designing with a computer. “I’m trying to bridge the digital and the tactile,” she says. For the work featured here, which has been shown at Gallery FIT and the Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, she took a black-and-white image of her husband and embroidered it on denim. “I used binary code for stitching each shade of gray,” she says, referencing the computer code that transmits data via a system of ones and zeros. A stitch repre- sents a one and a space represents a zero, so she created gradation by reducing the number of stitches. Though recent works like this have been figural, she’s ready to explore something di› erent. “I’ve been trying to get myself to abstract more,” she says.

“I’m trying to bridge the digital and the tactile.” —Hallie Meltzer

Portrait of Max on His Jeans by Hallie Meltzer, recycled denim stitched with loom waste, 41 by 36 inches, 2018.

18 Summer/Fall 2019 Birdman by Ruben Marroquin; linen, cotton, “I increasingly started searching bamboo, and metallic yarns, and assembled for volume, a sculptural aspect.” objects; 50 by 50 by 7 inches, 2018. —Ruben Marroquin

or Ruben Marroquin ’19, his rocking chair is not for a portfolio review, and then started incorporating the just a source of inspiration—he wants to put it material into more personal pieces. He would make arma- in a piece. Marroquin wraps everyday objects tures out of bamboo and cover them with yarn. To create in yarn, and nothing’s o›-limits. “I had a Buddha even more volume, he used the yarn to wrap found objects statue in my room once,” he says. “I wrapped it.” into the pieces. Marroquin originally focused on fine art and painting, He employed a similar technique, using aluminum but the three-dimensional aspect of textiles attracted him frames, to create the art featured here, which was commis- to fiber art. “I increasingly started searching for volume, sioned by noted Los Angeles–based interior designer Kelly a sculptural aspect,” he says. Wearstler. When she saw Marroquin’s work on Tumblr, she Growing up in Venezuela and traveling around Latin requested pieces in muted tones, which now reside in the America also played a part. “I was drawn to traditional home of comedian Sebastian Maniscalco. Venezuelan techniques, like basket weaving and huts built Marroquin continues to create personal work and with palm leaves,” he says. He moved to New York in 2004 collaborate with Wearstler, but “one of my big passions is and received an AAS in Textile/Surface Design from FIT in teaching,” he says. He’s held weaving workshops at nearly 2009. After a break, he finished his BFA in 2019. two dozen schools in Connecticut, at senior centers, and While at FIT, he developed his sculptural wrapping tech- at FIT as an artist in residence in spring 2019. “It’s rewarding nique. He was working with bamboo to make Japanese kites to see how much people enjoy it,” he says.

hue.fitnyc.edu 19 TAKE

TAKE

MEET FIVE GRADUATES FROM THE CLASS OF 2019

by Jonathan Vatner

Photographs by Smiljana Peros FIVE CHRISTIANE COUBERTIER MAJORS¦ Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design BFA, Interior Design AAS

JOB: Design coordinator at BMF, an agency that produces experiential events for Marriott, Dell, Uniqlo, Pantone, and others. She was an intern on the strategy team at BMF this spring, developing concepts for events. When her supervisors discovered that she was proficient in Photoshop and the 3D modeling program SketchUp, they moved her to the design team, which is in charge of fleshing out event concepts into floorplans and product specifications, down to the glassware. She was hired at the end of her internship.

“Everything we did in school is exactly what we do in my job. It’s kind of crazy how very well prepared I was.”

MAX HECHTMAN MAJOR¦ Film and Media

SELECT FILMOGRAPHY¦ FIT Hives: Sustainability—The Secret to Survival (2016) explains the importance of bees to our food supply, as well as to cosmetics and fine art. Stories of Strength and Hope: Preventing Youth Suicide (2018) describes the warning signs of suicide and its portrayal in the media, particularly the Netflix series 13 Reasons Why and the Broadway musical Dear Evan Hansen. Both of Hechtman’s documentaries screened at numerous film festivals; FIT Hives won an Eco Sustainable Award from the Fashion Film Festival Chicago, and Stories of Strength and Hope won best Best Documentary at the Long Island International Film Expo. Abigail (2019), his senior thesis film, touches on end-of-life issues.

WHAT’S NEXT¦ Hechtman hopes to find work as a production assistant, film editor, cinematographer, writer, and/or producer, while pursuing more documentary and narrative projects that focus on mental health and other social issues.

“The Film and Media program is for anyone who wants to change the world through the art of film.”

hue.fitnyc.edu 21 “Diversity is everywhere at FIT. It’s definitely a melting pot, but I call it a salad, too, because you can see all the di« erent cultures.” —MARTY SULLIVAN II

ZAINAB KOLI MAJOR¦ Fashion Business Management

ORGANIZATIONS FOUNDED¦ NY MSA (Muslim Students Association) Showdown, a statewide undergraduate competition in 13 subjects, from social justice to stand-up comedy; FIT’s Muslim Student Union

FAVORITE CLASS¦ Writing as Activism, taught by Melissa Tombro, professor of English and Communication Studies. In it, students can stage a protest as a class project. After the mosque shooting in New Zealand in March, a vigil at City College in New York helped Koli process her complicated emotions, and she wished a similar observance could take place at FIT. She organized a vigil that drew 150 members of the FIT community. Her final project for the class collected emails, photographs, and text threads about the shooting and the vigil into a moving multimedia essay.

“I’m a Muslim, and social justice is a big part of the religion. It’s about going out of your way to stand up for people who are oppressed, even outside your community.”

22 Summer/Fall 2019 ANALISE MEHMET MAJORS¦ Exhibition and Experience Design MA, Interior Design BFA ’17

CAPSTONE PROJECT¦ For her master’s capstone, Mehmet imagined an experience that would empower millennial audiences to move past their anxiety about global warming and take action. Based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the installation would take place on a beach with three areas, each devoted to a threatened environment (air, water, land). In each zone, visitors would begin by relaxing—in a hammock, say. Next, they would read a display of disturbing quotes and facts about the ways the environment is changing. Finally, in the “reward” section, they could create social media posts for a display at the exhibit. They would also encounter a touch screen LED table that would load up their mobile devices with ideas for small things they can do to make a di› erence— reminders about local elections and locations of nearby farmers’ markets, for example. The Society for Experiential Graphic Designs selected her “The news makes proposal for presentation at its annual conference [climate change] seem so in June. overwhelming that we can’t CAREER GOALS¦ To work on projects that raise do anything about it.” awareness about the environment for young audiences.

MARTY SULLIVAN II MAJOR¦ Advertising and Marketing Communications

ROLES ON CAMPUS¦ President, Black Student Union; director of student organizations in the FIT Student Government Association; resident assistant

GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT AT FIT¦ As president of the Black Student Union, he invited students of diverse races, ethnicities, and sexual and gender identities to partici- pate in conversations about race and events celebrating black culture. This welcoming stance earned the club two leadership awards from the Department of Student Life: the Diversity and Inclusion Award and Club of the Year.

hue.fitnyc.edu 23 CONSERVING A CHANEL A student saved a garment from its own worst enemy: itself

By Alex Joseph

The dress needed help. A 90-year-old, meticulous work that FIT’s conservation The garment was also a›ected by Art Deco–inspired masterpiece of program students had done on a Callot “inherent vice,” meaning its own materials beaded silk crepe by celebrated coutu- Soeurs ensemble and a Poiret cape, were causing it to self-destruct. The riere Gabrielle Chanel, it was practically I thought it might be worth seeing if the heavy beads tore the fragile fabric. falling apart. The fabric was so brittle dress could be conserved in such a way Over many months, Viviano attached it was shattering, and beads spilled from that it might one day even be exhibited.” the deteriorating dress to a sheer yet it at the slightest touch. Hamish Bowles, When the outfit arrived at FIT, it made sturdy support fabric of silk crepeline international editor at large for Vogue, an impression on Bethany Viviano ’18, and re-enforced the entire hem of the glimpsed the piece, he says, “in a small then a student specializing in conserva- piece with a whip stitch. First, the new box at a vintage fair in London and tion (and known for her hand skills) in material had to be dyed to match the instantly recognized it as an element the Fashion and Textile Studies: History, original, which took two months and over of a Chanel.” A little deeper in the box Theory, Museum Practice MA program. 100 dye recipes. She also learned about lay what appeared to be a separate “It looked like it was worn quite a bit,” bead making. tier of the dress, seemingly designed to she says. Viviano took on this project Her exhaustive e›orts paid o›: “I was attach below the waist. A month later, for her thesis. delighted with the transformational by coincidence, Bowles found a similar With no label, the outfit required results,” Bowles said. Viviano has turned version of the outfit, which added to authentication. Viviano scoured online her passion into a vocation: She now the puzzle. “I wasn’t sure that the archives, magazines, and other sources works as a conservator at the noted [first] dress was redeemable,” he says, from the New York Public Library, and Textile Conservation Workshop in South “but having seen the thoughtful and sketches of Chanel garments from the Salem, New York. Max Meyer Collection of drawings, held Conserving the in FIT’s Special Collections within the Chanel dress took Gladys Marcus Library. She found a °šš hours. “For second match for the dress—totally being so simple, it’s intact and labeled—at the Museo de la exquisitely made,” Viviano said. Mode in Santiago, Chile, and through comparisons and sleuthing, authenti- cated the piece and dated it to late 1926 or early ’27. She studied the outfit for a year and a half before beginning the conservation treatment. Viviano soon discovered the sorts of details that make couture couture and make treatment di¥cult. For example, the crepe had an idiosyncratic weave structure—twin “Z” twist yarns combined with twin “S” twists in both warp and weft directions; usually “S” and “Z” twists alternate. “I’ve never seen that before and I never met anybody who’d seen it before,” she says. The unique weave gave the garment more texture BEFORE and made it slinkier.

24 Summer/Fall 2019 PHOTOS BY SMILJANA PEROS AND BETHANY VIVIANO counter culture Tiny Treasures, Infinite Pleasures In her gift shop, Ona Cohn ’·¸ welcomes in the world

Left: Viviano used a magnifier to attach the dress to silk crepeline fabric. Conservation— maintaining an object in its current state for study or exhibition—is di«erent from resto- ration, which aims to return an object to its initial appearance, and is controversial in the museum world. All conservation work must be reversible. “The dress looks restored,” Viviano says, “but nothing has been done to the original garment.” The support fabric is sheer, so you can see the dress’s construction enough to study. Conservators employ entomology pins—the smallest pins on the market—for delicate tasks.

In Ona, the Tarrytown, New York, gift shop run by Ona Cohn, unique treasures all but burst from every corner of the 700-square-foot space. Adults and children alike marvel at animals sculpted by Kenyan artists from recycled flip-flop rubber, glassware from Swaziland, and clever shark and octopus finger puppets. Ceramics and jewelry from local artists share shelf space with fair-trade pieces, such as carvings and baskets from Rwanda. Ona is a third act for Cohn, who spent decades as a lingerie designer and dressmaker. Years ago, she helped out an acquaintance who owned a gift boutique, and found she had a knack for it: she quintupled the store’s sales over the holiday season alone. “People have told me I have a good eye,” says Cohn, who launched in 2016. On a late October weekday, the shop bustles with activity from the moment it opens. Cohn is ready. Visitors who arrive today might not return until the new year, so she has savvily stocked the place with Above: Viviano, here in the an array of Christmas items. newly renovated Fashion Cohn knows that shoppers can easily buy and Textile Studies program almost anything online, so when they come lab, researched whether in, they’re often also seeking something more this piece was part of the than a transaction. She delivers: the space is outfit. “I pretty much infused with joy and whimsy. And Cohn is a systematically proved that it wasn’t,” she says. Its friendly face and a warm conversationalist. construction (less fine “I’m someone who remembers people’s names than the dress) provided and a detail or two about a conversation we’ve a big clue. had,” she says. “Sometimes people ask if they Left: Inherent vice at can hug me before they leave the store.” work. A shoulder of the Good luck getting that from Amazon. dress shows the e«ects If she’s proven that she can create a store that people love to be in, buy from, of deterioration from the and return to, she admits that her business skills are still a work in progress. weight of the beads on the “I take the receipts at the end of the day and check everything against what vulnerable fabric, before I sold, but my inventory? That’s in my head. A business person would probably and during treatment. have a fit,” she jokes. “But my shop is small, and for me, it works.” Even in her mid-70s, she brushes o¨ any suggestion of retirement. Her husband, who is 81, continues to practice law, and she still buzzes with energy. “People often come in here and start smiling,” she says. “They’ll say, ‘Ona, you’re DURING never in a bad mood.’ I say, ‘Could you really be surrounded by all this and be in a bad mood?’” —ERIN PETERSON

hue.fitnyc.edu 25 ou ette

or!Zaldy designs pure glamour for RuPaul, the world’s most famous drag queen

aldy Goco, Fashion Design ’90, has costumed “I don’t even setch for Ru. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Michael Jackson; three Cirque du Soleil We’re ju so comfortable shows; and legendary nightlife promoter with each other.” Susanne Bartsch. But his most loyal and longstanding client is the one and only RuPaul. Zaldy has designed almost every outfit the drag superstar has — aldy worn in public since the 1993 video for “Supermodel,” Ru’s breakout song. That includes all his music videos, The RuPaul Show on VH1, live appearances, and RuPaul’s Drag Race, a reality competition that wrapped up its 11th season in May. In all, hundreds and hundreds of looks. “I wouldn’t go anywhere without Zaldy,” RuPaul told Vogue in 2018. “Since [‘Supermodel,’] our communication has gone from shorthand to telepathic. Bottom line, Zaldy gets it.” The two met in the late ’80s at La Palace de Beaute, a Union Square nightclub that’s now a Petco, and Zaldy and his then-boyfriend Mathu Andersen created Ru’s interstellar glamazon look. Andersen did the hair and makeup; Zaldy focused on the fashion. “It was not a typical drag queen look,” Zaldy says. “We did a lot more sci-fi future fashions, genderless looks.” Now that “Mama Ru” stars in four TV shows—RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars on VH1, a U.K. version of Drag Race on BBC Three, and AJ and the Queen on Netflix—Zaldy whips up an “extravaganza eleganza” (in the show’s argot) in his Financial District studio at a breakneck pace. He imbibes a sense of All photos courtesy of VH1 except Zaldy portrait, courtesy of Zaldy

26 Summer/Fall 2019 RuPaul’s fashion direction through informal conversa- tions, creates a diverse collection with his team of three assistants, and lets the drag queen decide what to wear when. RuPaul does not ask for edits. “I don’t even sketch for Ru,” Zaldy says. “We’re just so comfortable with each other. It’s intuitive, and it’s open.” Some of Zaldy’s favorite designs for RuPaul were the “ugly dress,” with a black-light painting of Ru riding a panther digitally printed on velvet; and a leopard print hand-painted onto flowing pink organza. (Because of the star’s towering height—6-foot-4 without heels—o›-the- rack prints aren’t at the right scale.) After nearly three decades of designing, Zaldy is finally getting the recognition he deserves: two Emmys, in 2017 and 2018, and a Costume Designers Guild Award in 2019. He was nominated for another Emmy in July. “I never really thought awards were going to be part of my world,” he says. “It’s your peers saying you’ve done a great job—and that’s amazing.” *

RuPaul’s gowns, clockwise from top left: Zaldy designed the promo look for Season ®¯ at Burning Man; a Season ’ promo look with a ’°¯s beauty salon vibe, with crotch-high boots in the same fabric; the All Stars Season ± promo look was made with laser-cut metallic fabric; the promo look for Season ² that, Zaldy says, “just wanted to get bigger and bigger every time I passed it in the studio!”

hue.fitnyc.edu 27 Zaldy “spills the T” on the making of this golden gown, which RuPaul wore When designing the gown, Zaldy took into on Drag Race Season 11, episode 6—the account how much Ru would have to walk “Draglympics” episode. (Notably, FIT and whether he would have to sit. The final creation is pliable but not exactly comfortable. Advertising Design alumnus Scarlet “It’s not the drapiest and most movable fabrica- Envy was eliminated in that episode.) tion. I was surprised that Ru wanted to wear this down the runway and then sit in it for the many, many hours it takes to film the show.”

The dress needed to make Ru look like an Emmy statuette, but Zaldy also wanted him to feel confident in it— and at the time, Ru only wore full-length gowns. “When you look at the Emmy, if you really look at it, the dress is so undefined on her,” Zaldy says. “It falls right below the calf. It’s definitely not something you want to recreate line for line for Ru.”

Sometimes RuPaul pulls a gown from the archives to wear on the show—often reaching all the way back to his ’90s talk show. This dazzling number has a more recent prove- nance, namely, the 2017 Emmy Awards, in which he played an Emmy statuette in a hilarious skit opposite host Stephen Colbert. Before sending it back to CBS (the network owns this gown), Ru wore it on Drag Race.

28 Summer/Fall 2019 ­ere are t€e‚ ƒow? Checking in on the three Drag Race The typical way to make a dress look contestants who attended FIT like solid gold would be to vacuform a hard plastic armature into shape and coat it in gold chrome. Not only is that Fashion Design alumnus process expensive, but the resulting armor Giovanni Palandrani, better would be too sti to sit in. Instead, Zaldy known as Aquaria, took used a technique he’d engineered for « home the crown in Season Cirque du Soleil performers, applying 10. Aquaria has since signed strips of a high-shine metallic transfer with IMG Models, starred in to stretch denim, creating a flexible gold a MAC campaign, and in material that looks solid. 2019 became the first drag queen to walk the red carpet of the Met Gala.

The original gown came with wings; Ru left those o for Drag Race.

Scarlet Envy, aka Jacob James Grady, Advertising Design ’14, » competed in Season 11—and “sashayed away” in the “Drag- lympics” episode after losing a nail-biter of a “lip sync for your life.” Fueled by publicity from the show, Scarlet has become a sought-after performer and host at nightclubs nationwide.

Illustration ’00 grad Jiggly Caliente, the Filipino “plus-size Barbie” « from Season 4, came out as trans in 2016, adopting the name Bianca Castro. Now a musician and actor, she has appeared on Broad City and Pose.

The judges on the “Draglympics” episode, in which RuPaul wore the Emmy statuette gown: Olympic figure skaters Mirai Nagasu and Adam Rippon, RuPaul, choreographer Travis Wall, and Drag Race fixture Michelle Visage.

hue.fitnyc.edu 29

An alumna explains Gender Bending Fashion, her show at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston By Alex Joseph OUT In Gender Bending Fashion, an exhibition at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), curator Michelle Tolini Finamore, Museum Studies: Costume and Textiles ’98, charted a journey across the spectrum of gender expression. Today, a social movement to transcend the male/female binary is reflected in cutting-edge style. Finamore’s show highlighted designers, outfits, and celebrities that blurred traditional categories in fashion over the last 100 years. The show included significant input from Boston’s LGBTQIA+ communities. Finamore says social media led the gender revolution by helping members of marginalized groups organize, so to encourage participation, she also sourced images from Instagram for a display. Approximately 4,700 locals attended an opening-night reception. Writing for Vogue, Laird Borrelli-Persson, Museum Studies: Costume and Textiles ’96, praised the show for addressing “a vital, of-the-moment cultural discussion while at the same time placing it within a historical framework.” Finamore learned the material culture approach to THE NEW RULES fashion (which places objects within a societal context) The cover photo of Young Thug’s from Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT and her FASHION 2016 album JeŒery, showing the

professor in the MA program now called Fashion and Textile OF rapper in this dress from Alessandro Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice. Later, Finamore Trincone’s “Annodami” collection, was earned a PhD in the history of decorative arts and material a signature image for the exhibition, culture at Bard College, since both artists see the gesture as where she wrote a thesis empowering. “I feel like there’s no such thing as gender,” Young Thug has said. on fashion in silent films. Now the MFA’s Penny Vinik Curator of Fashion Arts, she’s worked there in various capacities for UNISEX SELLS nine years. The final room in the “We think of the exhibition contained exhibition as the opening a section called “Transcend,” which of a dialogue,” Finamore presents contemporary recently told the hosts designers like Canadian of the podcast Dressed. Rad Hourani who, “It’s not the final word on with outfits like “Unisex anything. The conversation Couture Look #3,” tries changes by the day.” “to do away with the fashion binary alto- Listen to Finamore’s interview on Dressed, the podcast written gether,” Finamore says. and hosted by Fashion and Textiles alumnae April Calahan ’‘§, special collections associate and curator of manuscript collec- tions, and Cassidy Zachary ’‘—, a PhD candidate in history at the University of New Mexico, at dressedpodcast.com.

The exhibition ran from March –‘ to August –“. 30 Summer/Fall 2019 BOUNDS “DAPPER FEMME” The MFA put out a call online for photos of gender-nonconforming Bostonians in advance of the show, and Tanekwah’s “dapper femme” look rose to the top. Finamore says she incorporated street style to keep the exhibition “close to real, lived experience.” Nonbinary people often face harassment in public, but in the show, large-scale display screens celebrated their di›erence. DISPLAYING NONBINARY FASHION For a gender-bending show, should your mannequins be male, female, or neither? “In my perfect world, we would have invisible mounts,” TILDA FOREVER! Finamore says, though that Look 32 from Viktor & Rolf’s 2004 solution wouldn’t work for Belgian “One Woman Show” collection drew on Walter Van Bierendonck’s glorious androgynous actor Tilda Swinton as green outfit (at left in the above inspiration. (All the models in the show photo), which comes with a head were Swinton lookalikes.) Swinton’s role piece. Designer Palomo Spain as the eponymous gender-morphing employs male models to show protagonist of the 1992 film Orlando fashions like the metallic brocade remains a touchstone for nonbinary floral cape, center, but anyone can fashion, Finamore says. wear them. Comme des Garçons created the femme/butch look on the right.

DANDY QUEENS Standard fashion history texts often leave out contributions from people of color and unconventional individuals, Finamore says, and she wanted the show to be inclusive. Prisca Monnier’s 2014 fashion editorial Dandy Queens featured black models and flouted the traditional fashion dichotomy of suits for men and skirts for women. Among the photographer’s inspirations was Mary Edmonds Walker, the Civil War surgeon and su›ragist who wore pants throughout her life. BOUNDS hue.fitnyc.edu 31 alumni notes 1959 wearable art made from fabric scraps; any unused fabric is donated to local Irene Cheslock Dobson, Apparel schools. MATERIAL CONCERNS Design, paints in oils and watercolor Lauren Levinsohn Birrittella, Home Products Development ’¯¢ in Reading, Pennsylvania. After FIT, she worked in the lingerie field, for Vanity Fair, then for a small lace com- pany before focusing on raising her children. She began her painting career on vacation in Kennebunkport, Maine, and now she exhibits locally. She taught painting for ®´ years at Reading Area Community College and still teaches privately.

A pink frammento, handmade from scraps. Glen Raven’s Concept Gallery. 1996 Shopping with Lauren Birrittella is a hands-on experience. She can’t help Bike Ride, oil on canvas, Franc Boza, Advertising and Marketing knocking on a piece of furniture to see if it sounds like wood, or running an ” by 1– inches, –„1— Communications, is general manager expensive sweater through her fingers to see whether it’s fine cashmere or some 1986 for the Miami cluster of Salem Media kind of blend. When she visits people’s houses, she admits, it takes every ounce Group, which owns ®®´ Christian and of self-control not to touch everything. Dana Wood, Marketing: Fashion and conservative radio stations in the top Fortunately, Birrittella is paid to do just that. A color, materials, and finishes Related Industries, is a freelance beauty ·´ markets. Boza runs three radio sta- (CMF) specialist at Glen Raven, Birrittella is the gatekeeper of the 10,000 tions and a related digital advertising and wellness writer in St. Petersburg, di¨erent kinds of materials supplied by the North Carolina–based fabric Florida. She writes for the Wall Street agency and event production arm. manufacturer, best known for its Sunbrella shade textiles. She runs the Glen Journal and Alexa, the New York Post’s Radio, he points out, is still the number Raven Materials Explorer, a free online database featuring 200 representative fashion broadsheet; is contributing one broadcast media platform, with materials—from SPF-enhanced cloths and water-resistant fibers to antimicro- beauty editor to the Insider’s Guide to about ²± million listeners tuning in at bial finishes and industrial metal fasteners—that architects, furniture makers, Spas; and does copywriting for the U.S. least once a week. automotive designers, and more consider incorporating into their creations. Polo Association. Before moving to Flor- “We have so many di¨erent products, and we sell into so many di¨erent ida, she ran the beauty department at 1998 industries,” she says. “Sephora, Harvard Bioscience … and I have to know about W magazine for a decade, then worked in strategic development at L’Oréal, Lina Tan, International Trade and all the new materials and innovations happening.” bringing Kiehl’s into the company, before Marketing, is a research specialist for Birrittella’s obsession began at FIT, when her senior trend project had her returning to Condé Nast. “I’m always the Parenting Research Centre in East visiting Material ConneXion, the world’s biggest materials library and consul- wondering when I’m going to get burned Melbourne, Australia. The nonprofit tancy. “I thought it was the coolest place in the world,” Birrittella recalls. She got out on writing, and I never really do,” evaluates government programs (often an internship and eventually was hired as an archivist she says. “And P.S.: It’s always changing.” for aboriginal children or refugees); maintaining a library of more than 7,000 materials. Tan crunches data and occasionally While there, she collaborated with her design hero conducts interviews to find out how Betsey Johnson on a weather-resistant mannequin for e¦ective they are. She became inter- an outdoor installation called Sidewalk Catwalk. ested in helping disadvantaged chil- In 2011, Glen Raven wanted to launch a similar dren when volunteering for Toys for “Materials Explorer” library—to showcase its own tex- Tots while at FIT. After graduation, she tiles, as well as the metals, plastics, and other materials was a buyer for Bloomingdale’s before it carries from other manufacturers—and asked Birrit- being headhunted for a position as a tella to spearhead the project. marketing director in Singapore. A PhD in marketing and data science “There was no library at all before,” she says, “so I had to work with all the Wood’s blog, Florida Beauty Problems, from Australia National University market managers and designers and the people who make the fabrics to pick helps readers handle the cosmetic led to her current position. an assortment of 200 samples that represent those 10,000 di¨erent products. challenges of sunshine, humidity, and “It was initially a short-term contract to make the library, but I loved Glen mosquitos. 2004 Raven and Burlington so much that nine years later, I’m still here.” In addition to the online archive—which she updates continuously— 1987 Emily Burns Perryman, Advertising and Birrittella keeps Glen Raven’s six brick-and-mortar Concept Galleries stocked, Marketing Communications, became organizing exhibitions on topics such as 3D printing for designers and R&D Laura Tanzer, Fashion Buying and associate vice president of marketing teams seeking ideas and inspiration. Merchandising, is a sustainable and communications at Daemen College But she says that her work isn’t just for designers. designer in Tucson, Arizona. Every in Amherst, New York. In this role, she “The way we interact with our world is a¨ected by the quality or even just aspect of her business, from her energy- develops and implements marketing the feel of di¨erent materials,” she says. “Like, everyone is addicted to their e¶cient studio to the natural fibers she and branding plans and supervises the phone, but if it felt really gross like sandpaper, would you keep pulling it out of sources from dead stock when possi- areas of marketing, communications, your pocket? Probably not. It really a¨ects everything. That’s exactly what my ble, takes health and the environment and publications. She aims to complete role is about—to show the importance of materials.” into consideration. Some of her most a master’s in social and public policy —RAQUEL LANERI in-demand items are “frammenti,” from Empire State College this year.

32 Summer/Fall 2019 alumni notes

Helya Mohammadian, Fashion Design, Jonathan Ng, Graphic Design, is the founded Slick Chicks, stylish adaptive art director for Santa Monica College, underwear with side fasteners for a community college in Southern DALLAS MAVERICK pregnant women and women with California. He leads a team of three Venny Etienne, Fashion Merchandising Management disabilities. She designed the first pro- designers, plus student employees, to totype in ·¯®¸, to help her sister, who create all the school’s graphics: the was recovering from a C-section. website, flyers, and advertisements. Response to a Kickstarter campaign He aims for simplicity in his designs revealed that people with permanent and includes lots of photos of diverse mobility issues also loved the product. students. “In order to attract people “It changed my perspective on some- to the school,” he says, “they need to thing that most people take for see themselves on campus.” granted: getting dressed every day.” Mohammadian recently added a unisex and men’s line, and Slick Chicks is now sold on Zappos Adaptive, for custom- ers with disabilities. Forbes, Cosmpoli- tan, and Refinery·² have all featured Slick Chicks. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images and The Nikon Icon Left, Cardi B wears Etienne’s python trench to a New York promo event. Right, Etienne in white. Venny Etienne was refreshing Instagram one day in 2017 when he saw a photo of Cardi B in a chocolate python-skin trench that he had designed. Etienne had sent the coat to the rapper’s stylist, but had no idea when—or if—the “Bodak Yellow” singer would wear it. “It was such a huge moment,” Etienne says. Ng designed an alternative transporta- Daunting, too: Etienne is the force behind Levenity, a tiny, four-person design tion campaign for Santa Monica College, operation based in Dallas. Suddenly, he was flooded with requests. promoting the Metro, bike share, Big Blue Better Mobility Better “That was when we had to figure out PR,” he says. The side fasteners on Slick Chicks Bus, campus shuttle, and ride sharing. undergarments make them ideal for It’s a good thing, too, because Etienne is enjoying another moment in the customers with mobility challenges. 2008 spotlight after competing on the latest season of Project Runway, where he won fans with his humility, grace, and fierce designs. Romina Cenisio, Fabric Styling, created “From the time it aired till now I’ve gotten nothing but positive feedback and 2007 Infinite Resort, a multimedia platform opportunities,” he says. “I’ve been getting a whole lot of orders.” with a message of eco-conscious travel Shanlee Johnson, Fashion Design, He was born to Haitian immigrant parents in the Bensonhurst neighborhood and conservation. She first created four owns Little Birdies, a children’s wear of Brooklyn. As a kid, he styled charity fashion shows at the Pentecostal church boutique in the Georgetown area of stretch halter dresses using recycled his family attended. Still, growing up in the projects, he never thought of fashion Washington, D.C., and Pineapple Sun- plastic, each printed with a National as a career, studying investment banking instead. But he was miserable. shine, a line of layettes using custom Geographic photograph: a Papua New “I was like, ‘What the hell am I doing?’” he recalls. He signed up for sewing prints on soft pima cotton from Peru. Guinea jungle, a monarch butterfly classes at FIT, eventually enrolling in the Fashion Merchandising Management “We get inspired by cuteness,” she says. migration in Mexico, an active volcano program in 2009 before moving to Dallas in 2011 to study fashion design at “Unicorns, hedgehogs, all kinds of little in Hawaii, and a school of fish o¦ the animals.” Pineapple Sunshine is carried coast of Thailand. “You’re not just get- Wade College. by ®¯ boutiques throughout the country, ting a beautiful dress, you’re getting a “In New York I just felt like a small fish in a big pond,” he says. “I had a couple including Little Birdies, which sells new- beautiful image of this place and how friends who lived in Dallas, and I felt like there was a lot of potential for me.” born gifts and stylish apparel and it’s a¦ected by global warming. You’re There was. Etienne won scholarships to study in Paris and enough attention accessories for infants and children up wearing what you’re saving.” She shot a that he began doing custom work for Dallas society ladies. In 2013, he launched to size ®¯. related video along the border of El Levenity—financed by his day job in banking—and found a steady stream of Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Mexico, near clients who needed gowns for weddings, proms, and other events. where Cenisio grew up, and is producing “Dallas is full of women who love individuality and who love to stand out,” a magazine to highlight natural desti- Etienne says. “There’s always a charity function, there’s always a gala, and the nations and the National Geographic way women dress for them, you know it’s not o¨ the rack.” photographers involved in the project. Most of Levenity’s business is custom, but Etienne designs his own seasonal collections as well, which he sells online. He describes his aesthetic as “confident and sexy”: tough denim jackets spliced with delicate organza, color-blocked coats with sculptural kimono sleeves, jeans trimmed with ostrich feathers and wide-legged wool trousers adorned with studs. The ready-to-wear collections are not a major moneymaker, but “it’s where I can express myself as a designer,” he says. But with all the attention after Project Runway—and with Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams spotted in his feathered jeans—that could change. “It’s allowed people to see that I’m serious about what I do,” he says of competing on the show. “Regardless if you win or not, it’s really about what you

Melissa Hope do afterwards—and I plan on making myself as visible as possible.”

The Alex the Alpaca romper from Sergio Acosta —RAQUEL LANERI Pineapple Sunshine. The Infinite Resort line of dresses.

hue.fitnyc.edu 33 alumni notes Stevie D’Andrea, Advertising and Mar- 2013 keting Communications, runs Jewels for Hope with her mother. The hand- Dan Aronson, Toy Design, opened THE KINDNESS OF SHARKS made jewelry is sold on Etsy and in MKRLAB, a maker space in Montreal Kaley Young, Interior Design ’®’ stores; a portion of the proceeds is with a wide range of o¦erings: wood, divided among four charities. D’Andrea plastic, and metal fabrication; ±D focuses on promotion, landing place- printing; silk screening and letterpress; ments in publications and shows locally even bread- and cheesemaking. “It’s and nationally. Jewels for Hope is a holistic by design,” Aronson says. “When member of the Artisan Group, a con- you’re in a holistic creative space, you’re sortium that promotes independent able to put things together that you designers to the media and Hollywood; wouldn’t normally.” He previously set up when a celebrity wears a piece, D’Andrea a research and development lab for alerts the media. Popular items include WowWee, a Montreal electronic toy turquoise and brass earrings worn by company, and he still does freelance Emily Deschanel on Bones, and a black toy design. lava stone bracelet worn by country music star Rodney Atkins. Diego Corredor/Media Punch/Alamy Live News The Sharks, along with Keira, Kaley, and Christian Young, present a check to the FDNY Foundation. The MKRLAB ožers a wide variety of Fans of Shark Tank—the reality show in which entrepreneurs pitch their equipment and tools. product to a lineup of brutally honest investors—won’t soon forget the episode 2016 featuring the Young family. Siblings Kaley, Christian, and Keira lost their mother to breast cancer and their firefighter father to a rare cancer he developed Mildor Chevalier, Illustration MFA, is a during the Ground Zero cleanup after the September 11 terrorist attacks. fine art painter who tackles issues of Their father had been an avid cook: He’d been the firehouse chef and had identity and human rights, using figures Jewels for Hope’s Unicorn Necklace. appeared on Chopped three times (and won twice). Just three months after and fragments, usually painted in his death, the siblings appeared on the show to carry on his dream, that his acrylic, to assemble a narrative. He invention, a cutting board with a tray for food 2011 grew up in Haiti and spent ®¯ years in scraps, would one day be in every kitchen in the Dominican Republic before moving Ilbert Sanchez, Graphic Design, America. In an emotional, almost unprecedented launched Garçon Couture, a bespoke to New York, and though he does find decision, all five Sharks signed on to invest a total suiting line, in ·¯®° with Jean Francillion; inspiration in Haiti, a country that of $100,000 in the Cup Board Pro. they operate ateliers in New York and emerged from slavery and rejected col- With the help of the Sharks, the Youngs Miami. Francillion oversees the design onization, he resists being pigeonholed. signed a deal with Williams Sonoma to produce and manufacturing; Sanchez, a former “I’m a painter first and Haitian second.” and sell the innovative cutting board. They UX/UI designer, is the spokesperson and worked with the gourmet kitchenware retailer branding guru. Sanchez loves brocades and jacquards, wide lapels, and couture to improve the product’s durability, make it The Cup Board Pro. detailing. They’ve dressed Omari Hard- anti-microbial, and manufacture it in the U.S. wick, Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaugh- “I think that people almost think it’s magic: you go on the show and all of a lin, and basketball player Joel Embiid— sudden, your product is here,” Kaley Young says. “It is magic in so many ways, and their clients often take home best- but there’s definitely a lot of work involved.” dressed honors. They recently began When their father died, Young was in her last year at FIT, and she became producing an Italian shoe line with blue guardian to her 14-year-old sister, who is now 16. She also inherited her mother’s soles, representing the Caribbean Sea: Pilates studio, Hot Pilates Secret, in their hometown of Wantagh, New York. Threshold ®, acrylic on canvas, Sanchez is from Honduras and Francil- Now that the Cup Board Pro has a home at Williams Sonoma, Young is Ÿ– by ˆ¡ inches, –„†¢. lion from Haiti. pursuing interior design and leading yoga and pilates retreats around the world. 2018 Mainly, she’s taking life one day at a time. “Whenever I make a strict plan for my future, God just laughs,” she says. “You just have to continue to be happy, Technical Design, Joy (Juyeon) Kim, because life’s too short not to be.” —JONATHAN VATNER Fashion Design ’®´, put on an exhibition of nine upcycled, high-tech garments in Tribeca in August. To make the artworks Each garment in for the Flydopo exhibition (a dopo is a Kim’s exhibition traditional Korean men’s garment), she ožered a dižerent take on sustainability used casto¦ fabric from DKNY and Cal- and technology. vin Klein Suits, where she worked as a technical designer, as well as discarded muslin at FIT. For one piece, she cre- ated a zero-waste pattern; for another, David Coy Left, a red peak lapel cashmere overcoat she incorporated augmented reality. and tuxedo. Right, a pumpkin spice wool For a third, she programmed embed- overcoat, blue vest, and brown window- ded LEDs using skills she learned in pane pants. FIT’s Maker Minds Space.

34 Summer/Fall 2019 what inspires you?

Distefano in her studio.

THE PAST RECAPTURED Donna Distefano Thomas, Jewelry Design ’

I’ve always been drawn to antiquity, even as a child. In order to replicate a fold-over chain necklace, But if the only thing a young jeweler learns is The ancient Egyptian and Roman empires were we would carefully study how the Etruscans made computer software and 3D printing, they miss out incredibly inspiring to me. In 1990, I started it, to honor their method and create pieces that on many techniques used throughout history. The working in the goldsmithing studio hidden below would last. opportunity to see someone respond to touching a the Egyptian wing of The Metropolitan Museum In 1994, the reproduction studio began phasing handmade piece of jewelry is like seeing someone of Art. Our team reproduced high-karat gold pieces out goldsmithing in favor of large-scale production view an oil painting rather than a print. Once you from the Met’s collection and pieces from special of costume jewelry. I started my own business, let go of that history, it’s lost forever. exhibitions, which were sold exclusively in the creating handmade fine jewelry using—and museum shop, the Louvre, and the Vatican’s gift preserving—ancient metalsmithing techniques. In addition to her own jewelry brand, Distefano shops. Everything we created was done by hand Students have access to computer-aided design creates a line for the Met, Donna Distefano x The

Hardy Klahold using the masterful techniques of ancient times. and mass production: instant jewelry-making. Met Store, pieces inspired by museum artworks.

hue.fitnyc.edu 35 Fashion Institute of Technology ºº» West º»th Street New York, NY ¼½½½¼-¾¿¿º

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PRISON BREAKOUT After seven seasons, the Netflix hit Orange Is the New Black had its finale in July. Fashion Merchandising Management alumna Laverne Cox, a pioneer of transgender representa- tion in Hollywood and the face of Time’s 2014 issue, “The Transgender Tipping Point,” received her third Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actress for the role of Sophia Burset, the prison hairstylist who spent months in solitary confinement. Hue applauds Cox for her activism and her career-defining performance. Courtesy of Netflix