“The Future Of Fashion” Show at FIT

All photos Lieba Nesis

The “Future of Fashion” held at FIT is a pivotal event for those graduating students who have spent four years at FIT culminating in this end of year fashion show. Joyce Brown, president of FIT thanked Calvin Klein, who donated ten million dollars to FIT but could not make the show, and Cotton Inc. for helping sponsor this show. Additionally, Brown expressed appreciation to all the mentors and judges who gave of their time such as Lisa Perry, Lars Andersson, Kate Betts and the many other esteemed members of the industry who participated. The event was being streamed live on the Web and was being broadcast in 3D so students and other interested parties could view it worldwide. A film was then shown talking about what inspires these students to design. There were students and professors from FIT at the event as well as fashion industry professionals, lawyers in the fashion industry and designers such as Dennis Basso and Yigal Azrouel.

Emily Levine’s black popover jacket with white cotton shirtdress

The fashion show was an amalgam of those student’s designs who the judges felt were most worthy of being shown. The winners of the show were: Thaina Cruz in children’s wear, Alina Kulik in lingerie, Sijeo Kim and Marines Padilla in knitwear, Elle Loow and Trung Vu in evening wear, Carly Rosenbrook, Jae Lee and Miguel Pena in sportswear and Tae Kyung Kim with a $10,000 monetary award for the best use of cotton. The first outfit, by Jinjoo Cho, was an ivory wool draped jacket with a black leather harness cutout asymetrically; this was a very complex garment for a graduating student and quite impressive. The other designs for casual wear were predominantly in the current trend of black and white alternating between wool, leather, cotton and knit. The black popover jacket , by Emily Levine, with the white cotton shirtddress was a favorite for its freshness and simplicity. There were a lot of asymetric designs, chunky knits, and futuristic pieces giving the totality of the collection an edgy fashion forward vibe.

The shoes and accompanying accessories were inventive and appropriate. Carly Rosenbrook’s white denim and leather outfit was another favorite with its use of PVC, and fashion forward draping. Jae Lee who won an award for his charcoal wool suit with a nylon leather top made from recycled tire said, “I am excited to have won this award and gotten a job offer from Lisa Perry. My relationship with FIT is a love-hate one but it is still like a second home to me.” The adorable children’s wear collection was shown on kids either roaming or bolting down the runway at the tender ages of four through six. The children were highly precocious with some five year old girls sashaying down the runway with the confidence of Naomi Campbell.

The lingerie was simultaneously hard core and sinewy, and the knitwear and evening wear were designs worthy of veterans in the industry. The over ninety pieces that came down the runway were representative of all the current fashion trends and were executed with thoroughness and complexity.

George Simonton

At the conclusion of the show the winners came out with their awards and the models wearing their garments. George Simonton, a fashion design professor at FIT for twenty five years, who graduated in the class of Stephen Burrows and Norma Kamali, said, “these awards are great for students to put on their resume as the industry recognizes the importance of them. I teach my students to make clothing that is both practical and creative, not things to be hung in a museum- however, never boring.” Joyce Brown reiterated how important it was for a student’s esteem to get approbation from the judges and to have one on one mentoring with these accomplished professionals. The night concluded with some food and drink at the Hotel Americano and a lot of celebration around these incredibly young potential fashion stars.

Lieba Nesis

Lieba Nesis

My love of fashion, writing and photography were something that always dominated my lifestyle however it wasn't until I was approached by the editor of Lookonline that I realized I could utilize these three skills in combination.