Beyond the Classroom

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Many of my classmates would agree, one of our favorite parts of our time here at FIT is the real life experiences and interactive lessons. Sitting in a room for four hours can get a little tiring but when you have such a great class and professor like mine who always urges us to learn hands-on, it goes by in a breeze. Our trips and lessons beyond the classroom really engages and intrigues us all and we absorb so much more. My class and I have sat through a talk on the decades of fashion, visited the museum at FIT and my favorite trip-our venture to Mood Fabrics.

Our first internal field trip was to the history of fashion department where we saw the timeline of fashion and learned about the origins of major fashion companies like Coco Chanel and Yves Saint Laurent. Our curator even brought out garments and collections from the past century. We saw vintage Dior, vintage Chanel and various other iconic pieces from recent decades.

Dress from the 90s

Dress from the 60s

For the next internal trip we traveled across campus to the Museum at FIT. We learned about the fashion trends of conformity and structure through the past exhibit Uniformity, full of uniforms seen on soldiers, sailors, flight attendants, store employees and school children.

Chanel “Brasserie Gabrielle” ensemble Fall 2015

Coco Chanel clutch Fall 2015

McDonald’s uniform Stan Herman 1976 (left) Moschino ensemble Jeremy Scott Fall 2014 (right)

Jean Paul Gautlier ensemble 1993 (left) Sacai ensemble Spring 2015 (right)

On our last trip we stopped by Mood Fabrics, the place where all fashion designers and craft fanatics’ hearts melt and they become mesmerized by the endless shelves of fabric. We spent hours roaming the floors collecting fabric swatches and leaving with a cheerful “Thank you Mood!” filling the store.

Retrieved from Manhattansideways.com

Until next time,

-Faith

A Visit to FIT’s Museum

I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t loved a good leather jacket. For my Fashion Forecasting class, we got a chance to not only see the Beyond Rebellion Exhibit, but also to get a guided tour of it. In case you’d like to see the exhibit, it’s free and it’s closing on April 5th (which is my 18th birthday btw, but whatever, no big deal).

P89.29.1_20131007_700The leather jacket has been a staple for decades, ever since it was invented by Schott NYC in the early 1900s. Jackets from labels such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Yves Saint Laurent, and Rick Owens are featured in the exhibit.image

When I got home, I checked my leather jacket, to see that the leather jacket my mother had handed down to me is actually by Schott NYC! These jackets cost around hundreds of dollars now! And it isn’t your typical leather jacket; it’s a WW1 aviator’s jacket! I feel like I have a little piece of history.

We also got a chance to visit the Trend-ology Exhibit. I saw clothing from the 18th century all the way until present time. I love learning about fashion throughout history and how it has evolved and changed with the times. My favorite was a blush pink gown by Ralph Rucci. The darts were sewn so strategically; they all had a specific purpose. The color and design was minimalist, yet it was still stunning.image

Two weeks ago, for my Fashion Merchandising class, we also got a chance to learn about fashion through history. We got a private lesson about not only how fashion has changed throughout time, but also what fashion says about certain time period.  We learned about what hemlines reveal about the women’s rights movement and how synthetic fibers changed fashion. I got a chance to be just a mere foot away from some of the fashion “game changers”, like a Mario Fortuny silk pleated gown, to a Chanel bouclé tweed suit to a printed Oscar de la Renta shift dress. We also learned about the history of couture. P1000035

I had never given much thought to what pants and hemlines reveal about gender equality, but it was very interesting. I had always known that fashion changes with time, but I had never realized what trends and clothes reveal about a time period. It backed up my belief that fashion is not just about the way you look.

Have you gone to FIT’s Museum?

Until next time,

Arielle