Our annual gala in early June was—once again—a wonderful success. Held at Cipriani on 42nd Street, it drew over 650 people, all good friends and supporters of FIT who, altogether, helped us to raise over $1.3 million. Our honorees—trustee Ed Goodman and Saks Fifth Avenue—attracted bands of admirers whose enthusiasm boosted an already high level of cheer throughout the room.
Marc Metrick, the president of Saks, accepted for the legendary store with the same kind of wit and sagacity that he offered just a few weeks before as FIT’s commencement speaker. He was introduced by the inimitable Fern Mallis, another former FIT commencement speaker, whose own wit and love of industry shone through. And Ed Goodman, a trustee for 20 years and chairman of the board for 16 of those years, spoke with great warmth about his family, their celebrated retail heritage, and their long-standing commitment to FIT. Ed was introduced by Pete Scotese, chairman emeritus of the FIT Board of Trustees, who commented that convincing Ed to succeed him as board chair was the best thing he did in his own 13 years as chair.
Cipriani is such a grand space for events of this kind. The room was beautifully lit and enhanced by clever mannequins created by students in our Visual Presentation and Exhibition program and representing world-famous artists. The tables featured very elegant floral centerpieces.
I was delighted to see so many of our wonderful alumni in the crowd. Everyone looked so beautiful that I think I am going to let our slide show tell the story: