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THE MOST FASHIONABLE MUSEUM IN NEW YORK CITY December 2, 2010 DECEMBER EVENTS NEWSLETTER THE LATEST NEWS CURRENT EXHIBITION His and Hers - Just opened! CURRENT EXHIBITION Lightness: FIT Art and Design Faculty Exhibition CURRENT EXHIBITION Japan Fashion Now UPCOMING EXHIBITION Vivienne Westwood 1980-89 MUSEUM PUBLICATION Japan Fashion Now MUSEUM INFORMATION THE LATEST NEWS Comme des Garçons, dress, autumn/winter 2009-10, Japan, museum purchase. Photograph by Eileen Costa ©MFIT **Cross-Pollination: Eco-Fashion ** Two teams of students from FIT (New York) and CENTRO (Mexico) were asked to explore ecological sustainability in fashion. They worked together and developed a joint project reflecting their discoveries and conclusions. Read more about this unique collaboration. **MFIT "in the round" ** MFIT has partnered with Leica Camera AG and Synthescape Art Imaging to digitize highlights from Japan Fashion Now. Follow this link to view high-resolution and interactive 360° views of selected works from the show. **More Japanese fashion than ever ** We are thrilled to announce that our exhibition Japan Fashion Now has been extended through April 2, 2011!! **Winter Break ** MFIT's Fashion Culture programming is on hiatus until Spring. Check back in January to hear about our programs that start up in Februray!   CURRENT EXHIBITION His and Hers - Just opened! Alexander McQueen, evening dress, black leather, white silk, black tulle, fall 2008, France, museum purchase. - Photograph by Eileen Costa ©MFIT. November 30, 2010 - May 10, 2011 His & Hers explores the relationship between gender and fashion over the past 250 years. Clothing can act as an immediate signifier of gender – however, while making distinctions between “masculine” and “feminine” styles of clothing may seem natural, gendering is not a biological phenomenon. While much of the show discusses the changing ideas of “appropriate” attire for each gender, it also includes examples of so-called unisex and androgynous fashion. More than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles from the Museum’s permanent collection are featured chronologically, from a seemingly “feminine” 18th-century man’s velvet suit, to a woman’s “power suit” from the 1980s. Also included are works by innovative designers such as Giorgio Armani, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Gianni Versace, and Vivienne Westwood. Read more here. CURRENT EXHIBITION Lightness: FIT Art and Design Faculty Exhibition Jessica Wynne, Trurobay, 2010. November 13 - December 11, 2010 The focus of Lightness is to embrace, explore, and exploit the many meanings, interpretations, and associations of "lightness." Lightness is a theme that emerges in many cultures, world religions, and ideologies. Ideas of lightness have also been explored by philosophers and writers such as Friedrich Nietzsche and Milan Kundera. Some definitions of lightness: blaze, glow, sparkle, illumination, weightlessness, buoyancy, levity, play, joy, grace, agility, ease, freedom, light in value, light in color, light as a feather. Visit the website CURRENT EXHIBITION Japan Fashion Now h.NAOTO Autumn/Winter 2008. Photograph courtesy of h.NAOTO September 17, 2010 - January 8, 2011 / Extended through April 2, 2011 Japan Fashion Now explores how Japanese fashion has evolved in recent years. Japanese fashion today embraces not only the cerebral, avant-garde looks associated with the first wave of Japanese design in the 1980s, but also a range of subcultural and youth-oriented styles, such as the Elegant Gothic Lolita style and the Cosplay phenomenon. In addition, Japanese fashion often has a strong component of realism and an obsessive interest in perfecting classic styles. Contemporary Japanese fashion is significant globally precisely because it mixes elements of the avant-garde (pushing the aesthetic envelope at the level of “high” art) and elements of realism (such as high-tech fabrics or an obsession with the perfect pair of jeans) with popular or subcultural elements, especially those associated with electronic manifestations, such as animated cartoons and videogames. Generous support for Japan Fashion Now has been provided by Yagi Tsusho Limited. Additional support has been provided by the Couture Council of MFIT, Sokenbicha, and the Consulate General of Japan in New York. Read more here. UPCOMING EXHIBITION Vivienne Westwood 1980-89 Vivienne Westwood, “Rocking Horse” boots, leather and wood, 1987, England, Gift of Francisco Melendez A.K.A. Francois. Photograph by Irving Solero ©MFIT March 8, 2011 - April 2, 2011 Vivienne Westwood 1980-89 will be the first exhibition to focus exclusively on Westwood’s fashions of the 1980s. The exhibition will highlight the significant shift in Westwood’s design style during this decade. Her work of the early 1980s was prominently featured in edgy magazines such as i-D, and her following was comprised mainly of street-style insiders. By 1985, her more structured, feminine, and historically-inspired styles began to attract the attention of the mainstream press and widened Westwood’s audience. Vivienne Westwood 1980-89 will feature over 50 objects—including clothing, photographs, and video. Highlights will include a unisex ensemble from the Pirate collection (1981), a woman’s ensemble from the influential Buffalo collection (1982), and a pair of Westwood’s iconic “Rocking Horse” boots from the Harris Tweed collection (1987). Editorial photographs from a number of prominent magazines, including The Face and British Vogue, will further illuminate Westwood’s impact on 1980s fashion. Runway footage and video interviews with the designer will also be on view. This exhibition has been organized and curated by FIT graduate students of the Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice program. MUSEUM PUBLICATION Japan Fashion Now Book Cover Scholars have long acknowledged the significance of the Japanese “fashion revolution” of the 1980s, when avant-garde designers Issey Miyake, Yohji Yamamoto, and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons introduced a radically new conception of fashion. But what has happened in the years since? Lavishly illustrated, Japan Fashion Now is the first book to explore how Japanese fashion has evolved in recent years. During this time, Japanese pop culture has swept the world, as young people everywhere read manga, watch anime, and play video games. Japan has had a profound impact on global culture, often via new media. With essays by Valerie Steele (“Is Japan Still the Future?”), Patricia Mears (“Formalism and Revolution”), Hiroshi Narumi (“Japanese Street Style”), and Yuniya Kawamura (“Japanese Fashion Subcultures”), Japan Fashion Now explores how the world of fashion has been transformed by contemporary Japanese visual culture. Valerie Steele is chief curator and director of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Patricia Mears is deputy director of The Museum at FIT. Yuniya Kawamura is associate professor of sociology at FIT. Hiroshi Narumi is associate professor at the Kyoto University of Art and Design. Yale University Press MUSEUM INFORMATION The Museum at FIT is dedicated to advancing knowledge of fashion through exhibitions, programs and publications. The Museum is open to the public free of charge, Tuesday - Friday, Noon - 8pm, and Saturday 10 am - 5pm. Located on the Southwest corner of Seventh Avenue at 27th Street in New York City, the museum can be reached by subway: 1, C, E, F, M, N, or R, and by bus: M20 and M23. Penn Station is close by at 31st Street for the Long Island Railroad, New Jersey Transit, and Amtrak. For more information, be sure to visit our website at www.fitnyc.edu/museum or phone our information line at 212-217-4558 For Press Information about any of our exhibitions or programs, please call the Office of Communications and External Relations, 212-217-4700 The exhibitions and programs of The Museum at FIT are supported in part by the generosity of the members of the Couture Council   This e-mail was sent from The Museum at FIT Immediate removal with ® Secure. To forward this e-mail to a friend or colleague, . To change your e-mail address or update preferences, .