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9/2/2012

Impact: 50 years of the cfda

FIT - Fashion Institute of Technology , New York

curated by Patricia Mears

Impact: 50 Years of the CFDA is the first museum exhibition to celebrate the Council of Fashion Designers of America, the leading fashion trade organization in the United States. Approximately 100 garments and accessories designed by the CFDA’s most impactful creators of the last fifty years are on view. Also included in the exhibition are visual images and acknowledgment of the nearly 600 designers who have been members over the last five decades. Each living designer participating in the exhibition has selected a single object or ensemble that best represents his or her impact on the fashion world. Work by historical CFDA members have been selected by exhibition curators, Patricia Mears, deputy director of The Museum at FIT, and Fred Dennis, the museum’s senior curator. Impact: 50 Years of the CFDA is a collaborative partnership between the Museum at FIT and the CFDA.

Conceived by CFDA President Diane von Furstenberg, Impact is an ode to the illustrious designs of the CFDA’s many members and marks the organization’s 50th anniversary in 2012.

Among the designers included in the exhibition are Halston, Norman Norell, Pauline Trigère, Geoffrey Beene, Bill Blass, Rudi Gernreich, Bob Mackie, James Galanos, Diane von Furstenberg, Oscar de la Renta, Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Tom Ford, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Isabel Toledo, Rodarte, and Proenza Schouler. The exhibition is organized thematically to illuminate the broad spectrum of American creativity, from functional sportswear to couture-quality evening wear.

Founded in 1962 by publicist Eleanor Lambert and 50 of America’s leading fashion designers, the CFDA’s primary mandate was the recognition and promotion of fashion design talent based in the United States. Over the next five decades, as CFDA membership swelled to more than 400, its professional and philanthropic activities, outreach, and influence expanded exponentially. Today, in an era dominated by the designer label, it is perhaps difficult to comprehend how seminal a role the CFDA played in creating the platform for the recognition of individual creative talents in New York City, the nexus of global fashion.

“American designers have always had impact on how people dress,” said von Furstenberg. “In honor of that creativity and in celebration of the CFDA’s 50th anniversary, we are proud to present, in partnership with The Museum at FIT, an exhibit that represents the tremendous work of our members for the last five decades. ‘Impact’ was the one word that came to mind immediately – it is so strong and defining of our individual and collective influence that we knew right away that our exhibit would be called Impact: 50 Years of the CFDA.”

“The Museum at FIT is extremely pleased to be collaborating with Diane von Furstenberg and the CFDA on the exhibition Impact,” said Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT. “Exhibition curator, Patricia Mears, is an authority on American fashion both past and present, and I’m sure our visitors will love to see which of their creations today’s designers have selected.”

A publication also entitled Impact, produced by the CFDA and published by Harry N. Abrams, is the visually rich companion book to the exhibition. With more than 500 photographs, the book documents the evolution of the CFDA, from its birth in 1962, its early promotional efforts, and its strong ties to the arts, to the growth of its educational programs, its support of worthy causes, its own awards ceremony, its stewardship of fashion week, and its support of designers. Contributors include Diane von Furstenberg; Cathy Horyn, fashion journalist for The New York Times; and Patricia Mears.

Image: Giorgio di Sant’Angelo, floral print dress dress with chamois skin bodice, 1971, USA, gift of Ms. Lena Horne.

Press contact:
Brenda Perez Phone: 212 217.4700 press@fitnyc.edu

FIT - Fashion Institute of Technology
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