The Museum at FIT
My friend, Debra Rapoport, let me know about a free fashion symposium at FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology). Yesterday I met Debra and some other friends to attend this fascinating event and see the two accompanying exhibitions: Expedition: Fashion from the Extreme and Force of Nature.
The symposium began with a presentation by Patricia Mears, deputy director of the museum. She is a fabulous presenter, beginning her talk with the opening music from 2001: A Space Odyssey. She gave an overview of the exhibition which essentially draws relationships between exploration of extreme environments and its influence on fashion.
Exploration of the North and South Poles
led to designers like Joseph Altuzarra
designing parkas.
Here is Jenna Lyons, formerly of J. Crew,
looking lovely in the snow in the
Altuzarra parka.
The scaling of Mount Everest was a factor in
designs for down-filled garments and puffer jackets.
Here is a color-block ensemble
by Junya Watanabe for Comme des Garcons
from the 2004 collection.
A beautiful paisley, fur-trimmed coat
by Yohji Yamamoto echos the Arctic theme...
as does this Isaac Mizrahi ensemble of
a flowing taffeta skirt paired with a parka.
The moon landing is another of the extreme
explorations covered in the exhbition.
Here are two geometric dresses
displayed in a structure meant to bring to
mind a space capsule.
Intermission found us having lunch at
Kobeyaki. Judy ordered a spicy roll.
This was my lunch, a chicken Teriyaki burger.
It was delicious and I loved the packaging.
Norma!
The afternoon program featured
Patricia Mears interviewing the
iconic Norma Kamali.
Norma relayed many anecdotes. She exercises
every day, and loves to swim hence the importance of her swimsuit line.
Paramount to her philosophy is her
desire to live a creative life.
The famous Farrah Fawcett poster.
She is wearing a Kamali suit.
Norma Kamali's "sleeping bag" coat
appeared in the late 1970s.
She was camping and had to pee. She picked up
her sleeping bag and went out into the woods with
the sleeping bag around her shoulders. This
gave her the idea for a coat. She went home and cut the
sleeping bag up and used every part of it for the coat.
She is still using the same pattern today.
À Bientôt!
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