Panel Discussion

The Sustainability Equation:
Ethics and Aesthetics in
Contemporary Fashion

Tuesday, January 26, 6 p.m.
Pratt Manhattan Gallery
144 West 14th Street, 2nd Floor
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Saturday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Exhibition and panel are free, no reservations required

Pratt Manhattan Gallery will present “The Sustainability Equation:  
Ethics and Aesthetics in Contemporary Fashion,” a free panel  
discussion in conjunction with the gallery’s “Ethics + Aesthetics =  
Sustainable Fashion” exhibition at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, January 26 in  
Lecture Hall 213 at 144 West 14th Street. Confirmed panelists include  
Julie Gilhart, senior vice president, fashion director of Barneys New  
York; Mary Ping, designer and founder of Slow and Steady Wins the  
Race; Caroline Priebe, designer and founder of Uluru. The panel will  
be moderated by “Ethics + Aesthetics” guest curators Francesca Granata  
and Sarah Scaturro.

“The Sustainability Equation: Ethics and Aesthetics,” will examine  
what constitutes sustainability within the American fashion system and  
will explore the sustainable fashion practices of American fashion  
designers including “Ethics + Aesthetics” designers Ping and Priebe.

“Ethics + Aesthetics = Sustainable Fashion” is on view now through  
February 20, 2010 and features work by companies, clothing lines and  
artists including Alabama Chanin, Bodkin, Loomstate, SANS, Slow and  
Steady Wins the Race, SUNO, and ULURU, and by designers and artists  
such as Susan Cianciolo, Kelly Cobb, Zoë Sheehan Saldaña, and Andrea  
Zittel and Tiprin Follet, smockshop.

Francesca Granata is a fashion theorist and independent curator  
completing her Ph.D. in fashion history and theory at Central Saint  
Martins College of Art and Design in London. She also lectures at  
Parsons The New School for Design.

Sarah Scaturro is a textile conservator at the Cooper-Hewitt National  
Design Museum and adjunct instructor at the Fashion Institute of  
Technology.

Julie Gilhart is senior vice president, fashion director of Barneys  
New York, a high-end luxury specialty store based in the United  
States. In spring 2007, she spearheaded the development of an all- 
organic collection of casual, sexy clothes that are available in every  
Barneys New York store in the country. She has inspired many designers  
to develop “sustainable” products and was instrumental in the creation  
of Barneys’ 2007 holiday campaign titled “Have a Green Holiday,” which  
focused on environmentally-conscious fashion products. Gilhart  
believes there is an essential need to increase awareness of the  
development of sustainable products and how the customer makes buying  
decisions. She works to instill changes in the fashion business that  
leave a lighter footprint on the earth and promote more conscious  
consumerism.

Mary Ping’s Slow and Steady Wins the Race is an experimental  
“laboratory” line that stemmed from a desire to dissect the fashion  
vocabulary and led to an exploration of patterns of consumption and  
brand identities. The label’s mission is to “promote and produce  
interesting and significant pieces from the simplest fabrics and  
materials.” Following a product design model, the company is intent on  
slowing down the fashion cycle by creating non-seasonal pieces focused  
on specific and fundamental characteristics of clothing design. In  
addition, the designs are produced in limited numbers and sold at a  
contained price.

The garments of Uluru’s Caroline Priebe are tightly focused for  
maximum ecological impact and emphasize a “less is more” philosophy.  
For example, Priebe’s Westlake dress has only two seams, creating a  
sophisticated, simple look that is reversible and has pockets. The  
Kathleen coat, a classic design based on her grandmother’s coat,  
highlights the longevity of design and its relation to personal and  
historical memories. The recycled cashmere sweater, adorned with  
appliqués hand-sewn by the workshop of Alabama Chanin, underscores the  
collaborative nature common to sustainable fashion.

A full color catalog of the exhibition will be available at a  
discounted price made possible by a generous grant from the Coby  
Foundation, Ltd. To order the catalog  .

For more information, please call 212-647-7778 or email exhibits@pratt.edu 
. More information on this and all gallery exhibitions and events is  
available at www.pratt.edu/exhibitions. Follow Pratt Manhattan Gallery  
on Facebook by searching “Pratt Manhattan Gallery” and follow Pratt  
Exhibitions on Twitter at “PrattGallery.”

Photos, left to right: Ethics + Aesthetics, Pratt Manhattan Gallery;   
Slow and Steady Wins the Race section of exhibition; ULURU stitched by  
Alabama Chanin, recycled appliquéd sweater, cashmere and organic  
cotton jersey.

Photography credits: Installation views, Harry Zernike Photography;  
ULURU photo, Kate & Camilla

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