The Division of Communications and External Relations is pleased to share FIT in the News, which reports selected highlights of news stories about the college and/or that quote the college’s experts. These stories will be accessible for at least seven days by clicking on the links below.
Designers to Know from FIT’s Class of 2020
In a feature story, Vogue examined the senior thesis collections of 11 FIT fashion design students with a brief Q&A. Numerous photos of student work and sketches accompany the article. “As might be expected in a pandemic, the fantasy quotient has generally been on the ebb, but it got a boost at the Fashion Institute of Technology where some members of the Class of 2020 engaged with make-believe in various and unexpected ways.”
Class of 2020 and COVID-19
Coveteur spoke with five fashion students from New York City fashion schools about the experience of completing their senior thesis collections during the pandemic. Two FIT students were included, as well as students from Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts, LIM, and Parsons. “I had to use the supplies that I had at home and just figure it out. Some of the garments I was working on for other classes have mismatched buttons, patchy linings—whatever fabrics and trims I had left over were used in these projects. It was actually a really cool process, and now when I look at these pieces, there’s a lot of meaning to them,” said Marta Cimoszko, sportswear.
Without End-of-Year School Fashions Shows, How Are Design Graduates Showcasing Their Work?
Fashionista spoke with fashion design students from around the country, including two from FIT, about how finishing their thesis collections from quarantine has created both challenges and opportunities. Other schools include SCAD, Pratt, Otis, and Marist. “My thesis became so relevant,” said FIT’s Amruta Shree Behera, sportswear, who was inspired by the connection between the human and virtual worlds. “I became my own thesis because the only way we can keep in contact with everyone has been digital,” she explained.
FIT Fashion Grad 2020 That “You Need to Know”
PaperMag.com and the CFDA teamed up to highlight the work of five fashion design grads paired up with CFDA designers who reviewed their portfolios and shared advice. FIT’s Justin Chi, sportswear, was advised by designers from AREA (Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Panszczyk). Other students were from Parsons, RISD, SCAD, and the Academy of Art San Francisco. “In his thesis collection ‘Dress Up – Dress Down,’ Taiwanese student Justin Chi challenges the wearer to confront their relationship with the details that often go unnoticed: fasteners like buttons, snaps and zippers. Exploring and interrogating how these fasteners relate to our everyday routine of putting on and taking off clothes, Chi plays with scale and proportion on functional elements and gives them a new, unexpected meaning.”
Emma McClendon, associate curator of costume, MFIT, on The Row
Town and Country on the stylish designs of The Row, owned by Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen: “It’s this little secret that you feel you’ve unearthed when you start to realize how many powerful, successful, wealthy women are wearing primarily The Row,” said McClendon.
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