The FIT/Infor Design and Tech partnership with IBM and Tommy Hilfiger was the major focus of a feature-length article titled “Is AI the Future of Good Taste? Will Robots Replace Humans of Arbiters of Culture, Beauty, and Refinement?” in Town & Country (March issue, not yet available online) and on Town&CountryMag.com (Feb. 6). BusinessInsider.com (Feb. 12) posted a Q&A with four of the students who participated in the IBMxFIT project.
JCKOnline.com (Feb. 13) announced that FIT will host the symposium Digital Meets Handmade: Jewelry in the 21st Century, a three-day symposium to discuss issues surrounding jewelry design and manufacturing. Held from May 15–17, the event is a partnership between the college and Politecnico di Milano, Italy’s largest technical university.
Industry Magazine (February issue) reported on the new NFL merchandise created with the visual systems designed by the FIT student team that won the NFLxFIT Visual System Design Contest. This contest challenged students minoring in Creative Technology to reimagine unified visual representations of all 32 NFL teams’ identities. Products, which include apparel, blankets, and mugs, among other items, are available on NFLShop.com/FIT.
WWD.com (Feb. 8) reported that the inaugural atrium exhibition to be held in the newly renovated Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center will be a retrospective installation of the works of Jeffrey Tweedy, president of apparel company Sean John. The Pomerantz Center is slated to re-open in September.
UnderlinesMagazine.com (Feb. 8), Blog.ApparelSearch.com (Feb. 10), and KnittingIndustry.com (Feb. 12) all reported on the 2018 Femmy Awards, at which the 15th Annual Student Design Contest featured creations from FIT Fashion Design students specializing in intimate apparel.
Shawn Grain Carter, chair, Fashion Business Management, spoke with Bloomberg.com and BusinessWeek.com (both Feb. 8) for an article on archival and second-hand fashion. “Sustainability is a big deal to millennial shoppers,” she said. “They have a sense of corporate responsibility, and they find nothing wrong with recycling clothing. Buying used does not have a stigma whatsoever.” Pickups include SFGate.com (Feb. 8).
AdWeek.com (Feb. 8) spoke with Mark-Evan Blackman, assistant professor, Menswear, about the bell-bottom pant. “Since [the coming of] dress-down Friday 20 years ago, men have realized that they are required to look a certain way in various business or social settings, and they also want to feel a certain way,” Blackman said. “None of those predispositions are immediately embracing of a bell-bottom pant.”
Furthermore.Equinox.com (Feb. 12) spoke with Ajoy Sarkar, associate professor, Textile Development and Marketing, about high-tech fabrics worn by athletes. “The materials are not new; what’s new is the science behind them,” said Sarkar.
WashingtonPost.com (Feb. 7) turned to Valerie Steele, director and chief curator, The Museum at FIT (MFIT), for “A normal person’s guide to understanding a Fashion Week runway show.” The article had dozens of pickups, including StamfordAdvocate.com, SouthCoastToday.com, OrionGazette.com, SFGate.com (all Feb. 7), and The Toronto Star (Feb. 9). FT.com (England, Feb. 8) sought comment from Steele on the “feminist statement” of the pink princess dress. “It has to struggle against a whole heritage that weighs it in the other direction. That’s the interesting challenge both for the designer and the wearer,” said Steele.
NY1 News (Feb. 8) interviewed Patricia Mears, deputy director, MFIT, about New York Fashion Week in the digital age.
Norell: Dean of American Fashion, currently on view at MFIT, received a half-page review in in The Wall Street Journal (Feb. 12). The exhibition also received feature coverage on Blogger.LookOnline.com (Feb. 9) and NewYorkSocialDiary.com (Feb. 12), and
The Body: Fashion and Physique, currently on view at MFIT, received coverage on VivaGlamMagazine.com (Feb. 6) and in IN New York (February issue).
Pockets to Purses: Fashion + Function, which opens at MFIT on March 6, received advance coverage on Enfilade18thc.com.
Pink: The History of a Punk, Pretty, Powerful Color, which opens at MFIT in September, received advance coverage on Enfilade18thc.com.