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"Martha Graham’s creativity crossed artistic boundaries and embraced every artistic genre. She collaborated with and commissioned work from the leading visual artists, musicians, and designers of her day, including sculptor Isamu Noguchi and fashion designers Halston, Donna Karan, and Calvin Klein, as well as composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, William Schuman, Norman Dello Joio, and Gian Carlo Menotti.

Influencing generations of choreographers and dancers including Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp, Graham forever altered the scope of dance. Classical ballet dancers Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, and Mikhail Baryshnikov sought her out to broaden their artistry, and artists of all genres were eager to study and work with Graham—she taught actors including Bette Davis, Kirk Douglas, Madonna, Liza Minelli, Gregory Peck, Tony Randall, Eli Wallach, Anne Jackson, and Joanne Woodward to utilize their bodies as expressive instruments.

Graham’s groundbreaking style grew from her experimentation with the elemental movements of contraction and release. By focusing on the basic activities of the human form, she enlivened the body with raw, electric emotion. The sharp, angular, and direct movements of her technique were a dramatic departure from the predominant style of the time.

With an artistic practice deeply ingrained in the rhythm of American life and the struggles of the individual, Graham brought a distinctly American sensibility to every theme she explored. “A dance reveals the spirit of the country in which it takes root. No sooner does it fail to do this than it loses its integrity and significance,” she wrote in the 1937 essay A Platform for the American Dance.

Consistently infused with social, political, psychological, and sexual themes, Graham’s choreography is timeless, connecting with audiences past and present. Works such as Revolt (1927), Immigrant: Steerage, Strike (1928), and Chronicle (1936)—created the same year she turned down Hitler’s invitation to perform at the International Arts Festival organized in conjunction with the Olympic Games in Berlin—personify Graham’s commitment to addressing challenging contemporary issues and distinguish her as a conscientious and politically powerful artist.

Martha Graham remained a strong advocate of the individual throughout her career, creating works such as Deaths and Entrances (1943), Appalachian Spring (1944), Dark Meadow (1946), and Errand into the Maze (1947) to explore human and societal complexities. The innovative choreography and visual imagery of American Document (1938) exemplified Graham’s genius. The dramatic narrative, which included the Company’s first male dancer, explored the concept of what it means to be American. Through the representation of important American cultural groups such as Native Americans, African-Americans, and Puritans and the integration of text from historical American documents, Graham was able to capture the soul of the American people.

During her long and illustrious career, Graham created 181 masterpiece dance compositions, which continue to challenge and inspire generations of performers and audiences. In 1986, she was given the Local One Centennial Award for dance by her theater colleagues, awarded only once every 100 years, and during the Bicentennial she was granted the United States’ highest civilian honor, The Medal of Freedom. In 1998, TIME Magazine named her the “Dancer of the Century.” The first dancer to perform at the White House and to act as a cultural ambassador abroad, she captured the spirit of a nation and expanded the boundaries of contemporary dance. “I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer,” she said. “It’s permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable.”"

http://www.marthagraham.org/history/

Robert Dudley (1905-1992) was a New York-based American millinery designer best known for his collections of women's hats popular in the 1940s and 1950s. Dudley operated the Chez Robert hat salon within Saks Fifth Avenue as well as his own shop, Robert Dudley Originals, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. His clientele included Broadway actress and society figures. Dudley designed the hats for several films, including the 1940 Hitchcock film "Rebecca." He worked as an interior designer in the latter part of his life.

Elizabeth Hawes was an American fashion designer and outspoken fashion industry critic. Hawes was a champion of the ready to wear industry and people's right to have the clothes they desired, rather than what was specified as "fashionable." These ideas are encapsulated in her 1938 book Fashion Is Spinach. Hawes began her career as a dress copier in Paris in 1925. In 1926, after the garment firm she worked for closed, she began work as a fashion sketcher. Returning to New York in 1928, and began to produce ready-to-wear copies of French designs with Rosemary Harden for their company, Hawes-Harden. After Harden sold her portion of the company to her, Hawes began to work on designs of her own. In 1931, she became the first non-French designer to show at the Paris Spring Fashion Shows, garnering her a great deal of media attention. In 1935, she showed her designs in Moscow, the first display of Western Fashion there since the Russian Revolution of 1917. In 1937, she presented an all-male fashion show of her own brightly colored designs, followed in 1939 by the publication of another book, Men Can Take It. Throughout her career, she became one of the first American designers to establish their reputation outside of the Parisian haute couture model. In addition to her work in the fashion industry, she was an author, union organizer, champion of gender equality, and political activist.

American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 3457
Affiliated with New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) NEA & AFL-CIO
The United College Employees of the Fashion Institute of Technology is the oldest higher education union in the nation. The Union plays an instrumental role in shaping the future of FIT while also regarding its history. According to http://www.uce-fit.org/committees.html, "The primary role of the UCE of FIT is to support collective bargaining as a means to strengthen and protect the core principles of due process, academic freedom and shared governance, and to promote the economic security, health, and safety of its membership."

Norman Norell was born in April 1900. He first attended Parsons but transferred to Pratt a year later. Norell entered a blouse design contest while at Pratt and won first prize. In 1922, he designed for Brooks Costumes in NYC. He moved to Paramount studios, which was then in Astoria, Queens, and created costumes for Rudolph Valentino and Gloria Swanson. Next, Norell costumed shows for the Ziegfeld Follies. His first credited designs were costumes for a show at the Cotton Club in Harlem. In 1924, he was hired by Charles Armour and designed under that label for three years. In 1927, he was hired by Hattie Carnagie to design under her brand. Carnagie would purchase roughly Parisian Couture garments a year and bring them back to study the construction and style. This is how Norell learned couture construction. In 1940, he and Carnagie got in an argument about a design for Gertrude Lawrence which ended in him getting fired. In 1941, he was hired by Anthony Trainer. Trainer gave him the option of higher pay or Norell's name on the label. Norell chose to have his name on the label. Norell learned mass production techniques at Trainer. This lead to a fusion of ready-to-wear and couture that Norell was known for. Norerell won the first COTY Award in 1943. In 1960, Anthony Trainer retired, giving Norell full control of the designs. He continued to design until 1972 when he passed away, at the age of 72.

Born April 20, 1900 in Noblesville, IN, Norman Norell was an American fashion designer known for his elegant suits and tailored silhouettes. After spending some time in military school during World War I, Norell studied illustration at Parsons School of Design and fashion design at Pratt Institute from 1920 to 1922. Born Norman Levinson, Norell changed his surname while at Pratt. He described his name change as, “ ‘Nor’ for Norman, ‘l’ for Levinson, with another ‘l’ added for looks.” After graduation, he joined the East coast studios of Paramount Pictures as a costume designer and after a year went on to work for the Brooks Costume Company and for wholesale dress manufacturer Charles Armour. In 1928, Norell went to work for Hattie Carnegie, where he spent the next twelve years working in “complete anonymity,” modifying elements of Paris couture for American ready-to-wear designs. During these early years, Norell learned about cut, fit, and quality fabrics, as seasonal trips to view the Paris collections exposed him to the standards of couture. However, a disagreement with Carnegie led Norell to accept a position with the design firm Anthony Traina in 1940. Traina offered him a large salary if when he joined the company name did not have to change; however, Norell insisted and accepted a lower salary in exchange for changing the company name to Traina-Norrell. In 1943, Norell won a Coty Fashion Award and became a critic at Pratt Institute fashion department, where he was previously a student. In 1960, Norell started his own label, Norman Norell Ltd. He popularized the Empire-line dresses, culotte-skirted suits, sailor-style dresses, and the chemise dress, which was inspired by his favorite decade, the 1920s. He considered his simple, round necklines—at times embellished with bows or Peter Pan collars—his greatest contribution to fashion. Unlike couture designers, who only produce a garment for a specific person, Norell applied his high-standards to mass produced garments. Even though his clothes were ready-to-wear, each Norell garment was handled from start-to-finish by the same worker. Upon his death in 1972, the New York Times proclaimed: “Norman Norell made Seventh Avenue the rival of Paris.”

"Central Needle Trades High School had its origins in a garment loft on West 26th Street in 1926. Its original purpose was to provide a trained work force for the many trades in fashion related industries. Most of its students were immigrants or the children of immigrants who were trying to make new lives for themselves in a new country. As part of a Works Projects Administration (WPA) project, construction of a new school was begun in 1938. Its design called for it to be the ultimate vocational school. It’s Visitor’s Guide referred to the new school as “The Fulfillment of an Ideal in the Field of Vocational Education.” Principal Mortimer Ritter wrote:

"It is only fourteen years since the school was founded – a few classes held in a third floor loft. Today a skyscraper school proudly demonstrates the achievement of an important phase in modern vocational education, planned and fulfilled by people of vision . . . ."

The school that opened its doors in 1940 was also a fine example of the Art Deco movement, as best illustrated in the landmark status murals in the auditorium and exquisite mosaic over the main entrance to the building.

The original curriculum was almost entirely vocational, stressing sewing, machine work, garment cutting, garment grading, draping, tailoring, costume sketching, etc. The school changed as the fashion industry of New York City changed. It adopted its present name in 1956 to reflect the new variety of vocational majors offered. The majors of the school have changed since then, as the school’s curriculum has become increasingly more academic and its occupational and technical majors moved more into the areas of design, art and marketing. Today’s student may major in Fashion Design, Fashion Merchandising Management, Visual Merchandising, or Graphics & Illustration. Today’s program also successfully prepares students for entry into college. The High School of Fashion Industries is recognized as one of the highest performing schools in New York City having received an ‘A’ rating for eight straight years from the NYC Department of Education. The last two years the High School of Fashion Industries has finished in the 96th percentile of all New York City high schools. The school has also been recognized by US News and World Reports as one of America’s best high schools.

HSFI has strong and long lasting connections to the world of art and all facets of the fashion industry. These have yielded viable and dynamic partnerships. In the Art related areas, we have successfully collaborated with the ARTS Connection and with the International Center of Photography for over a decade. We have interns placed at the major museums and ongoing mural projects in both the public and private sectors. Our students have had their prototypes and designs displayed in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue and Barney’s.

At the core of the Fashion Design, Art and Fashion Merchandising partnerships is the unwavering support of our Advisory Board, founded in 1932 as the Fashion Crafts Educational Commission, and, in recent years, having undergone a revitalization and name change. It is the members of this Advisory Board who have sustained our students’ twenty year participation in the Adopt-a-Student Program, established an endowment fund for college scholarships for our graduates, continued the scholarship support for incentive awards for our 9-12th graders, and have worked alongside the principal in gaining the support of key industry organizations such as the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Barneys, Kleinfeld, Swarovski, IMG, the Liz Claiborne Foundation, the Young Menswear Association, the National Association of Men’s Sportswear Buyers and the Black Retail Action Group."

"...Nancy White was born in Brooklyn on July 25, 1916. Her father was in publishing and became general manager of Hearst magazines. She attended the Madeira School in Greenway, Va., where she and Katharine Graham, who was to become publisher of The Washington Post, became lifelong friends. She left Madeira to work during the Depression, her daughter said. At 15, she worked as an errand girl with a magazine, according to an interview with her in The New York Mirror in 1957. (She did not name the magazine.) She returned to the boarding school, and after graduation became an editorial assistant, or ''glorified errand girl,'' in her words, with the magazine Pictorial Review. Her next job, which lasted 16 years, was with Good Housekeeping magazine, where she started as an assistant in the fashion department and left as fashion editor. She joined Harper's as an assistant editor in 1957 and was appointed editor at the beginning of 1958. She was chosen by the previous editor, Carmel Snow, who happened to be her aunt. Diana Vreeland had been another candidate for the top job; she promptly quit. In 1962, Mrs. Vreeland joined Vogue, becoming a legend in the fashion world, and not incidentally Miss White's principal competitor. Under Miss White, Harper's was aimed at stylish women in Des Moines and Omaha as well as in New York and San Francisco. In one issue, 14 pages by Hiro showed models' bodies seeming to disintegrate beneath colorful prints. Yet in the same issue, there was page after black-and-white page of elegantly understated suits and coats. Her comments on pantsuits in a 1964 interview in The New York Times reflected the balance she sought between modernity and moderation. Although she would not wear one to the office herself, she said, pantsuits would be all right for her staff members if they wore ''perfect accessories.'' Miss White resigned in 1971 after James W. Brady, formerly publisher of Women's Wear Daily, was appointed publisher and editorial director of Harper's. Mr. Brady said it was Hearst's decision for him to modernize the magazine....After her resignation, Miss White advised Bergdorf Goodman on fashion for two years and devoted much of the rest of her life to charities, including Lighthouse for the Blind and the public television station WNET. She was first married to Clarence Dauphinot, founder of Deltec International, then to Ralph D. Paine Jr., publisher of Fortune magazine, and then George K. Thompson, her high school sweetheart. The first two marriages ended in divorce, and Mr. Thompson died in 1996....Ms. White had two daughters, Ms. Paine of Durham, N.H., and Gillette Piper of Coral Gables, Fla.; a stepdaughter, Mimi Thompson of Manhattan; a sister, Carmel Eitt of King George, Va.; a brother, John Michael White of Delray Beach, Fla.; three grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren." https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/29/nyregion/nancy-white-85-dies-edited-harper-s-bazaar-in-the-60-s.html

At Harper's Bazaar, Ms. White edited a book celebrating the magazine's 100th anniversary. It was entitled "100 Women of Accomplishment" and was published by Hearst Corporation in 1967. She was a member of the National Council of the Arts (1966-1972) and is a member of the board of directors of General Mills.

Ms. White was born to a fashion and editorial career. Her father, Thomas J. White, was a power in the Hearst publishing empire, which included Harper;s Bazaar; while her aunt, Carmel White Snow, was the creative and authoritative editor of Harper's Bazaar for many years.

John Paul Bozett was a fashion designer and illustrator working in the mid-20th century. He was a sketch artist associated with Sophie of Saks Fifth Avenue

William J. Cunningham, more commonly known as Bill Cunningham, was an American street photographer. Cunningham was born on March 13, 1929 in Boston. In middle school, Cunningham began creating hats out of objects found in dime stores. He was given a scholarship to Harvard but dropped out after only two months. He accepted an offer to move in with his uncle in New York, who hoped to persuade Cunningham to drop fashion and become interested in the family's advertisement agency. Upon receiving the ultimatum "stop making hats or move out," Cunningham left his uncle's apartment, relocating to a small ground-floor apartment on East 52th st. In addition to making hats, Cunningham briefly held a freelance position at Women's Wear Daily but quit in the early 1960s. In 1967, Cunningham got his first camera. He began taking photography assignments from "The Daily News" and "The Chicago Tribune." By the late 1970s, Cunningham was a regular contributor to the New York Times. Although asked several times by a number of newspapers and magazines, Cunningham refused to take a staff position. It was only after being struck by a truck while on assignment that Cunningham considered the Time's offer, stating that it was "a matter of health insurance." In 1993, the Council of Fashion Designers honored Cunningham, who biked onto the stage to accept his award. Cunningham was invited to Paris in 2008 to accept the French Legion of Honor. Bill Cunningham was the subject of a 2010 documentary "Bill Cunningham New York." Bill Cunningham passed away in June of 2016.

David Croland is an American illustrator and model. He is best remembered today as being Robert Mapplethorpe's first boyfriend.

Salvador Dalí i Domènech was born on May 11, 1904. Dalí began studying painting in 1920 at the Fine Arts School in Madrid. In 1922, he moved into the Residencia de Estudiantes and befriended some soon-to-be famous artists, including Louis Buñuel. Throughout the 1920s, Dalí exhibited works in Madrid and Barcelona while still in school. Dalí traveled to Paris in 1929 and was introduced to the Surrealists working in the city through Joan Miró. That same year, he collaborated with Buñuel on the surrealist film "Un chien andalou." The pair collaborated on a second film, "L'âge d'or," a year later. Dalí would come into his own as an artist during the 1930s, as well as become a celebrity. In 1934, Dalí entered a civil marriage Elena Ivanovna Diakonova, known as Gala, five years after their first meeting. Dalí's work began being exhibited outside of Europe in the early 1930s, helping disseminate his name in cultural circles. In 1935, Dalí began working with noted fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli. That year, they produced a powder compact that resembled a rotary phone dial. Throughout the later-half of the 1930s, Schiaparelli and Dalí created some of the most infamous garments in fashion history: the Shoe Hat, the Drawer Suit, the Skeleton Dress, the Tear Dress, and the Lobster Dress. Between 1939 and 1944, Dalí produced multiple illustrations for Vogue magazine, three of which were used as the cover image. In 1940, Dalí and his wife relocated to the U.S.A. and remained there until 1948. While in the U.S., Dalí became interested in jewelry design. In 1945, Dalí collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock on the film "Spellbound." After returning to Spain in 1948, Dalí's work began dealing more regularly with religious themes. Dalí continued to produce artworks throughout the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. By this time, many museums had acquired his artworks and multiple large-scale exhibitions were put on. In 1969, Dalí purchased the Púbol Castle and redecorated it. After a growing, decade-long interest in optical science, Dalí debuted "Dali Lifting the Skin of the Mediterranean Sea to Show Gala the Birth of Venus," a hyper stereoscopic painting, in 1978 at the Guggenheim Museum. A year later, the Académie des Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France appointed him an associate overseas member. Salvador Dalí died in Figueres on 23 January 1989.

"The founder of one of the most prominent Parisian photographic establishments, Reutlinger Studios, which operated from 1850 to 1937. The Reutlingers were a French family of German descent. The family photographic business was founded in Paris by Charles Reutlinger, and the studio became famous for its portraits of the actors, artists, musicians, composers, opera singers and ballet dancers of the period. In 1880, Charles handed over the studio to his brother, Emile Reutlinger." https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp82485/charles-reutlinger

Photographer

Adolphe Goupil is an art trader and engraver. In 1829, Goupil and his partner Rittner founded Maison Goupil which printed and sold engravings and lithographs. The house specialised in the sale of engravings after pictures by Ingres, Hippolyte Delaroche and Léopold Robert. After Rittner's death in 1842, Goupil formed a new partnership with Théodore Virbet creating Goupil, Virbet et Cie. In 1850, Adolphe Goupil formed Goupil & Cie. Goupil & Cie concentrated on buying, selling, and editing prints. The firm's factory outside of Paris employed skilled craftsmen to produce engraved, etched, photographic and even sculptural copies of artworks in vast quantities. Goupil & Cie's reproductions are largely credited with making Jean-Léon Gérôme a well known artist. Adolphe Goupil partnered with many other people until his retirement in 1882, including Vincent van Goph, the uncle of the famous painter with the same name.

One of the most prominent Parisian photographic establishments, which operated from 1850 to 1937. This family photographic business was founded in Paris by Charles Reutlinger, and the studio became famous for its portraits of the actors, artists, musicians, composers, opera singers and ballet dancers of the period. In 1880, Charles handed over the studio to his brother, Emile Reutlinger. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp82485/charles-reutlinger

Artist André Édouard Marty was part the "Beau Brummels of the Brush," the core group of illustrators--and friends--at the heart of the magazine Gazette du bon ton. He was a premier, in-demand fashion illustrator of the period whose romantic, often contemplative, illustrations can be found in Modes et manieres d'aujourd hui, Femina, Vogue and Vanity Fair, to name a few. In 1925, he served on the jury of the now famous 1925 Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes. He also gained prestige as a book and poster illustrator during this period, and later as a set and costume designer.

In addition to his contributions to Journal des dames et des modes and Gazette du bon ton, Vallée was known for his risqué scenes featuring scantily clad girls which he contributed to the humor journals Fantasio, La Vie Parisienne and Le Rire. Like many of his contemporaries, he also worked as a costume designer, most notably for the Paris Opera. Vallée often found employment in the realm of advertising, illustrating posters and unique publicity products such as a set of vintner’s books on the history of French wine, Monseigneur le Vin.

Founded around 1890, the fashion house Beer was one of the four oldest in Paris, its only predecessors being Worth, Doucet, and Paquin. Designer Gustave Beer’s design philosophy was “conservative elegance for conservative customers,” which included the who’s who of international royalty. The former Czarina of Russia and queens of Belgium, Italy and Romania were patrons of the house, which was reputed to have the highest prices in Paris. The house was especially known for their evening gowns, rich embroideries, furs and lingerie. Founder, Gustave passed away in 1908 after which time Beer continued under the direction of Paul Trimbach and Monsieur Pierre, who served as the head designer into the 1920s.Merged with Drecoll in 1929 under the name Drecoll-Beer. Drecoll-Beer merged with House of Agnes in 1931, dropped Beer from name.

After his hometown of Valladolid, Spain granted him a scholarship to study at the École des Beaux Arts, Benito moved to Paris in 1912. While completing his studies, he became part of a circle of Spanish artists that included Picasso and Juan Gris and was inspired by the nascent Cubist and Futurist art movements. A painter his whole life, Benito is best known for his illustration work for both French and American publications—Femina, Gazette du bon ton, Vogue and Vanity Fair—which necessitated him to split his time living between Paris and New York during the 1920s and 1930s. Hollywood celebrities, including Gloria Swanson, employed his talents as an interior designer and portraitist. He returned to his roots the last two decades of his life, living quietly as a painter in Valladolid.

Artist Bernard Boutet de Monvel was a respected painter, engraver and illustrator. He was one of the core contributors to Gazette du bon ton referred to as the "Beau Brummells of the Brush," but his statuesque, often-emotionless beauties are found in other fashion publications such as Journal des dames et des modes, Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. After the war, he also worked as a society portraitist and interior designer in Europe and the United States.

The textile firm was founded in 1889 in the city of Lyon—the center of French luxury textile production since the days of Louis XIV. Bianchini-Férier set the industry standard with innovative and novel fabrics and cultivated a close relationship with the couture industry. Many of their most innovative fabrics, such as silk charmeuse and crepe georgette, were designed specifically for their use in couture gowns. From 1912 to 1928, the company collaborated with artist and designer Raoul Dufy whose bold, distinctive patterns often played out within the pages of Gazette du bon ton. The company survives to this day, albeit under a different name: in 1992, it was taken over by Tissages Bauman and later by Cédric Brochier.

Formed by its namesake in 1885, the millinery firm Camille Roger was considered one of the finest hat-making establishments in Paris for decades. Roger, herself, eschewed the limelight brought by the renown of her hats, and fostered a familial atmosphere within her establishment; her employees were fiercely loyal to their boss who demanded the utmost quality of workmanship and personally inspected each model produced. After her death in 1905, the house was headed by a succession of female directors, most notably Madame Prisca during the 1920s and 1930s.

Charles Martin was one of the core group of artist contributors to Gazette du bon ton, known as the “Beau Brummels of the Brush.” As a fashion illustrator, Martin contributed to publications such as Marcelle Demay’s La Mode en mil neuf cent douze chez Marcelle Demay (1912), Modes et manières d’aujourd’hui (1913) and Journal des dames et des modes but he also established himself as a leading graphic artist and poster designer, as well as a set and costume designer for ballet and theater. Perhaps more than any other illustrator of the period, Martin’s style is distinctively Cubist. His most renowned work is the folio Sports et divertissements in which Martin’s illustration accompany the short musical scores of famed composer Erik Satie who took “sports and leisure” as his inspiration and theme.

The Maison Cheruit was one of the premiere couture houses of the early 20th century, founded by Louise Chéruit in 1906. Chéruit was one of the original sponsors of the luxury fashion magazine Gazette du bon ton, and during WWI was one of a handful of couture houses that remained open. In 1914, a scandal regarding her Austrian lover forced Chéruit to flee Paris, leaving her business in the hands of Julie Wormser and Louise Boulanger. The house remained open, under the direction of various designers, until 1935 when Elsa Schiaparelli took over the premises for her own couture business.

The couture house Dœuillet opened its doors in 1900 on the place Vendôme, Paris, the same year several of the house’s debut designs were featured in the Exposition Universelle. The founder of the house, twenty-five year old Georges Dœuillet had parlayed his former career as a silk merchant into his own business with the financial backing of Benjamin Guggenheim, which may explain why so many of Dœuillet’s clients were wealthy American women. The house was especially known for their robe-de-style, which was the equivalent of the modern day cocktail dress.

Doucet was founded around 1818 as a purveyor of lace and lingerie and existed as a family enterprise until 1871, when Jacques Doucet converted the business into a couture house. The house’s creations often incorporated the fine laces, for which Doucet was already known, as well as bead and featherwork. Some of the era’s most famous women including the actress Réjane and the celebrated courtesan Liane de Pougy were Doucet patrons.

As an individual, Jacque cultivated the persona of connoisseur: an oenophile, gourmand and important collector of eighteenth century and modern art. His air of aficionado made a strong impression on a young Paul Poiret, who entered the employ of Doucet in 1897, as would another soon-to-be luminary of twentieth century fashion, Madeleine Vionnet, in 1907. By the 1920s however, the house’s relevance was on the decline, and following Jacque’s death, Doucet merged with Dœuillet to become Dœuillet-Doucet in 1928.

Artist Étienne Adrien Drian was a staple of fashion illustration during the early 1900s when he enjoyed international fame and success, notably through his high profile collaborations with celebrities such as Gaby Deslys and Cecil Sorel, whom he also called friends. Known simply as "Drian," the monicker with which he signed his work, he illustrated for magazines such as Journal des dames et des modes, Gazette du bon ton, Vogue and Femina. He also illustrated books and worked as a set and costume designer for the Casino de Paris.

Born in Rome in 1877, Enrico Sacchetti followed his father’s wishes and graduated with a degree in math and physics, despite the fact he dreamed of becoming an artist. His art training was informal, gained by apprenticing in the studios of Florentine painters and printmakers, where he had attended school. After briefly working as a satirical illustrator in Milan and Argentina, Sacchetti found his way to Paris where he was introduced to the world of fashion illustration in 1912, contributing to periodicals such as Gazette du bon ton and La Vie Parisienne. His album, Robes et femmes which satirized contemporary fashions of the day, was released in 1913. The outbreak of WWI forced Sacchetti back to his native Italy where he continued to work as an illustrator for humor journals, satirical newspapers and children’s books.

A native Parisian, Siméon studied at the École des Arts Décoratifs and quickly became known for his facility in creating woodblock prints. The fashion illustrations he contributed to Gazette du bon ton and Modes et manières d’auhourd’hui were rendered as woodcuts and then printed using the pochoir process. He created woodcut illustrations for dozens of books including works by Anatole France, Edgar Allen Poe, Voltaire and Oscar Wilde.

Advertisements for the elite French furrier, Fourrures Max first begin to appear in fashion magazines around 1904, with an additional attribution to Leroy & Schmid. Presumably, Schmid was the male business partner of Madame André Leroy, and perished in WWI. After his death, Madame Leroy served as the sole director and lead designer of Fourrures Max. The house garnered a reputation for the ultra-modern aesthetic infused into its fur garments, and the cutting-edge interiors of its Parisian fur salons. Abroad, original Fourrures Max creations, as well as adaptations the house’s designs, were retailed in the United States at high-end department stores such as Saks Fifth Avenue and Bonwit Teller.

Parisian illustrator known for his collaboration with Paul Poiret on the album Les Choses de Paul Poiret vues par Georges Lepape and the illustrated covers he produced for American, French and British editions of Vogue.

Lepape was born in Paris, where he lived all throughout his life. He received his artistic training at the École des Beaux Arts and studied in the studio of the historical painter Fernand Cormon, where he formed friendships with top artists of his generation. In 1911, Paul Poiret introduced him into the world of fashion illustration, giving him complete artistic freedom in creating the album Les Choses de Paul Poiret vues par Georges Lepape. Lepape continued his career as a fashion illustrator contributing to La Gazette du bon ton, Modes et Manières d’aujourd ‘hui and Harper’s Bazar and Femina. Following WWI, Lepape taught for twelve years at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art in Paris.

Georges LePape born on the Rue Montaigne May 26, 1887 and by the age of eighteen enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. At age 20 Lepape had already formed strong liaisons with such notable artists as Georges Braque, and Marie Laurencin. His first Salon submissions came the year prior to his 1909 marriage to Gabrielle Lausanne, and one year later he formed his historical collaboration with Paul Poiret. Over the next ten years, Poiret would become Paris’s leading haute couture designer and Lepape would be recognized as one of the world’s most brilliant fashion illustrators.

Beginning with the exclusive limited edition album “Les Choses de Paul Poiret”, Lepape introduced the ideas of “motion” and “story” to fashion illustration by showing some models actually leaving the viewing frame and by turning their backs to the viewer. These illustration techniques were further developed with publisher Lucien Vogel between 1912 and 1925 as Lepape became one of the primary contributors to the famous Gazette du Bon Ton. By 1920 Lepape was at the very top of his profession. He had completed a prolific decade of work, including illustrations for the houses of Worth, Lanvin, Paquin, Doucet, Beer among others, cover work for Harper's Bazaar and the first cover for Vogue Magazine (Oct.1916, English edition), numerous commissions for fur, perfume and other luxury goods producers, illustrations for theatre programs (particularly for the Ballets Russes), costume and set designs for Marcel L’Herbier and a series of posters for Galeries Lafayette.

In 1920 the Musee des Arts Decoratifs held the first major exhibition of his work. He followed this with major contributions that year to the post-war re-introduction of Gazette du Bon Ton, to Paul Poiret’s European Tour, to the introduction of Vogue France and with the publication of a special edition of Modes et Manières d'aujourd'hui featuring twelve of his new fashion plates. The following years saw continued high demand for Lepape’s talents and a branching out to include catalogue illustration, film posters and even some minor industrial design.

Conde Nast invited Lepape to New York in 1926, further cementing a long and profitable relationship with Vogue as that publication took over Gazette du Bon Ton. He illustrated eight of the Vogue covers in 1927 plus covers for Vanity Fair, while continuing to expand his client list to include Hermes, Wanamaker’s Department Store and Femina Magazine, among others, and to further increase his visibility in the theatrical world.

George Lepape remained a prolific and sought-after working artist right up to the time of his death, at age 84, on Feb 15, 1971. His works have been shown at several major exhibitions including the Palais Grenvelle in 1963, the Musee des Arts Decoratifs again in 1966 and the Minneapolis Institute of Arts in 1971.

The Queen was a magazine that was launched in 1861 by English publisher Samuel Beeton. Together with his wife, Isabella, they also published the best-selling Victorian ladies’ manual Mrs. Beeton’s Guide to Household Management. The success of this volume led to the creation of a whole line of other guides on various topics including needlework, folk remedies, flora and fauna, culinary arts, gardening and history. Other publications under his imprint included The Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine (which we also hold) and The Boy’s Own Magazine, which was one of the first influential magazines aimed at adolescents. At the age of 22, he was the first British publisher to put out Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, concurrently with its first publication in the US.

Beeton was forced to sell most of his copyrights to avoid bankruptcy in the 1870s, after the death of his wife, who was a creative partner and writer for many of his projects. At this time, The Queen was sold to a handful of publishing entities and continued to run as a high society magazine with in depth coverage of British aristocracy until the late 1950s when it was acquired by Jocelyn Stevens. Stevens dropped “The” from the title and reconceived the magazine for a younger, hip audience who was embodied by an imaginary reader named Caroline—a pretty, red headed high school dropout who was more interested in casual sex than she was in pursuing an education or a traditional path of marriage and children. At this point, Queen became a voice for swinging London’s youth-driven underground culture. The small Chelsea boutiques run by “Youthquake” fashion designers such as Mary Quant were regularly featured among its pages and the magazine ran early photographs of the model/icon of the era Twiggy, which were shot by legendary fashion photographer David Bailey.

Stephens’ liberal views translated into the political realm as well. When the British government issued a report condemning the future of commercial broadcasting—both radio and television¬—Stephens helped to fund an off-shore, ship-based radio station that blasted the type of young, hip programming which was all but banned from British radio at the time. Named Radio Caroline, after the Queen’s imaginary muse, the pirate radio station’s target audience was much the same as the magazine’s and initially Radio Caroline’s offices operated out of the Queen’s. Radio Caroline, and other pirate radio stations like it, reached an estimated 20 million Brits and were a critical platform for the rock ‘n roll revolution as many bands such as the Stones received their first airtime via these pirate radio stations, which were the subject of the 2009 feature film, Pirate Radio.

In 1970 interests in Queen were sold to the UK edition of Harper’s Bazaar, which was then issued as Harper’s & Queen until 2006 when Queen was dropped from the title to bring the British edition in line with its sister publications from around the globe, which are titled, simply Harper’s Bazaar.

Born in Denmark in 1885, Wegener studied art at the Academie des Beaux-Arts in Copenhagen. In 1912, she relocated to Paris with her former teacher and husband, the painter Einar Wegener. Gerda found success almost immediately working as an illustrator for fashion magazines including Journal des dames et des modes, La Baïonnette, La Guirlande, and La Vie Parisienne. Commissions poured in for Wegener, who also worked as a portrait painter and illustrator for numerous volumes of erotica, which are now highly sought-after by collectors of the genre. The Wegeners’ marriage was annulled by the King of Denmark after Einar became the first recorded recipient of a gender reassignment surgery, yet the former spouses remained close. Gerda would later remarry and live in Morocco with her new husband before returning to Denmark, where she died in relative anonymity in 1940.

The Spanish artist who received his artistic training in Barcelona first visited Paris in 1900 to view that year’s Exposition Universelle. Enraptured with the bohemian art scene of Montparnasse, Gosé would alternate living between Paris and Barcelona for the next fifteen years, working as a painter and illustrator. A regular contributor to the early years of Gazette du bon ton, Gosé’s work is noticeably absent in the latter issues; the artist suffered from a chronic respiratory condition and died prematurely, in his hometown of Lérida, at the age of 39.

Born Roy Halston Frowick in 1932 in Des Moines, Iowa, the fashion designer who was better known as simply 'Halston' moved to Chicago in 1952 where he took a job as a window dresser for the Carson Pirie Scott department store. In 1958, he moved to New York to work for the preeminent milliner Lilly Daché before taking a job designing millinery for Bergdorf Goodman. In 1966, Bergdorf Goodman sponsored Halston's first ready-to-wear clothing line which had its own boutique within the store. He left Bergdorf in 1967 and launched his own line the following year, which was an immediate success. He won COTY Awards in 1969, 1971, and 1972. In 1973, Halston signed licensing deals with Norton Simon. Halston and menswear lines were launched in 1975.

During this period, Halston was at the epicenter of a glittering social circle, frequently attending the Studio54 night club beginning in 1977 with Andy Warhol, Liza Minelli, Mick and Bianca Jagger, and his coterie of models dubbed "The Halstonettes."

Halston diffusion lines were launched with J.C. Penny's in 1983 and the following year, Halston unsuccessfully attempted to buy his company back from Norton Simon; Halston Originals closes in 1985 and the following year Halston learned that he was HIV positive. Halston passed away from AIDS-related complications in 1990.

The artistic talents of Hélène Perdriat are believed to have been discovered by couturier and art collector Jacques Doucet. As a young woman, Perdriat had come to Paris from her hometown of La Rochelle, France with the hopes of becoming a writer. After contracting consumption, and not expecting to survive, Perdriat felt compelled to create a self-portrait, which launched her artistic career. Especially known for her paintings of women, Perdriat also worked as an illustrator, engraver set and costume designer, in addition to writing poetry.

Born in Versailles, Jacques Drésa is best known as for his textile and tapestry designs. One of the older and more frequent contributors to Gazette du bon ton, Drésa also worked as a set and costume designer for the Paris Opéra and the Théâtre des Arts.

Established by Annette Green of the Fragrance Foundation.

Carol Poll was a professor of sociology at FIT and interviewed members of the FIT community for the FIT 50th Anniversary oral history series.

Jules David (1808 - 1892) was a French painter, book illustrator and lithographer. He is best remembered for his fashion plates. He began his career in 1824. David was the first to use contemporary backgrounds in fashion plate illustrations.

Bruce Davidson is an American photographer. He first started taking photographs at the age of ten in his hometown, Oak Park, Illinois. Davidson continued to practice and learn about photography while attending both Rochester Institute of Technology and Yale University. Around 1957, Davidson began taking freelance assignments from Life magazine. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1962 and began documenting the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. Five years later, in 1967, he received his first grant for photography from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Museum of Modern Art in New York hosted an exhibition of his work dealing with race conditions in East Harlem. Throughout the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Davidson has continued to take socially conscious art photographs. As of fall 2020, Davidson continues to work as a photographer.

"Over six full decades, from his arrival on the national scene in 1945 until his death in 1991, Miles Davis made music that grew from an uncanny talent to hear the future and a headstrong desire to play it. From his beginnings in the circle of modern jazz, he came to intuit new worlds of sound and challenge. While the vast majority of musicians – jazz, rock, R&B, otherwise – find the experimental charge and imperviousness of youth eventually running down, Miles forever forged ahead, trusting and following instinct until the end.

In doing so, Miles became the standard bearer for successive generations of musicians, shaped the course of modern improvisational music more than a half-dozen times. This biography attempts to explain those paradigm-shifts one after another, through his recordings and major life changes.

The factors leading to that process are now the foundation of the Miles Davis legend: the dentist’s son born in 1926 to middle-class comfort in East St Louis. The fresh acolyte learning trumpet in the fertile, blues-drenched music scene of his hometown. The sensitive soul forging a seething streetwise exterior that later earned him the title, Prince Of Darkness. The determined teenager convincing his parents to send him to New York’s famed Juilliard School of Music in 1944, a ploy allowing him to locate and join the band of his idol, bebop pioneer Charlie Parker.

It wasn’t long before the headstrong young arrival grew from sideman to leading his own projects and bands of renown, from the restrained, classical underpinning of the famous “Birth of the Cool” group (Miles’ first foray with arranger Gil Evans), to the blues-infused hardbop anthem “Walkin’”, to his first famous quintet (Coltrane, Chambers, Red Garland, Philly Joe Jones) with whom his recordings on muted trumpet helped him develop a signature sound that broke through to mainstream recognition. His subsequent jump from recording with independent labels (Prestige, Blue Note) to Columbia Records, then the Tiffany of record companies, propelled his career further from a limited jazz audience and a series of late ‘50s albums (Miles Ahead, Porgy & Bess, Miles Ahead, Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain) secured his widespread popularity.

Miles’ group shifted and morphed through the early ‘60s until he settled for a four-year run with his classic quintet, a lineup that is still hailed today as one of the greatest and most influential jazz groups of all time. Their albums together — from Miles Smiles, ESP and Nefertiti, to Miles In The Sky, and Filles de Kilimanjaro — traced a pattern of unparalleled growth and innovation.

Had Miles stopped his progress at that point, he’d still be hailed as one of the greatest pioneers in jazz, but his creative momentum from the end of the ‘60s into the ‘70s would not let up. He was listening to the world around him — the amplified explosion of rock bands and the new, heavy-on-the-one funk of James Brown and Sly & The Family Stone. From the ambient hush of In A Silent Way, to the strange and unsettling – yet wildly popular Bitches Brew, he achieved another shift in musical paradigm and a personal career breakthrough.

Bitches Brew was controversial, a best-seller and attracted another, younger generation into the Miles fold. Thousands whose musical taste respected no categorical walls flocked to hear Miles, and a slew of fusion bands were soon spawned, led by his former sidemen: Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Return To Forever. The studio albums that defined Miles’ kaleidoscopic sound in the ‘70s included a series of (mostly) double albums, from …Brew to 1971’s Live-Evil, ‘72’s On The Corner and ‘75’s Get Up With It. The covers listed populous line-ups that reached up to 11 musicians, adding new names to an ever-widening circle of on-call talent.

By the end of 1975, Miles was tired – and sick. A period of seclusion ensued, full years to deal with personal demons and health issues, bouncing between bouts of self-abuse and boredom. It was the longest time Miles had been off the public radar – only amplifying the appetite for his return.

When Miles reappeared in 1981, expectation had reached fever pitch. A final series of albums for Columbia reflected his continuing fascination with funk of the day (Rose Royce, Cameo, Chaka Khan and later, Prince), and the sounds of synthesizer and drum machines (Great Miles Shift Number 8). The Man With A Horn, We Want Miles and Decoy found him still working with Teo Macero and still surrounding himself with young talent, including bassist Darryl Jones (Rolling Stones). In 1985, his album You’re Under Arrest — with unexpected covers of recent pop charters (Michael Jackson’s “Human Nature” and Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time”) – brought the long Davis-Columbia association to a close. He embarked on a new relationship with Warner Bros. Records and producer Tommy LiPuma, scoring successes with Tutu (written in a large part by his bassist Marcus Miller), Music from Siesta (also with Miller), Amandla (featuring a new breed of soloists, including alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett, tenor saxophonist Rick Margitza, guitarist Jean-Paul Bourelly, keyboardist Joey DeFrancesco, and others) and Doo-Bop (his collaboration with hip hop producer Easy Moe Bee.)

Those titles proved Miles’ farewell, still pushing forward, still exploring new musical territory. Throughout his career, he had always resisted looking back, avoiding nostalgia and loathing leftovers. “It’s more like warmed-over turkey,” the eternal modernist described the music of Kind of Blue twenty-five years after recording it. Ironically, in 1991, only weeks after performing a career-overview concert in Paris that featured old friends and collaborators from as early as the ‘40s, he died from a brain aneurysm.

Like his music, Miles always spoke with an economy of expression. And for Miles, it had to be fresh, or forget it. “I don’t want you to like me because of Kind of Blue,” he insisted. “Like me for what we’re doing now.”" https://www.milesdavis.com/biography/

"Martha Deane" was a radio character owned by the WOR radio network in New York. In 1934, Mary Margaret McBride became the first "Martha Deane," followed by Bessy Beatty. From 1941 to 1973, Marian Young Taylor (1908-1973) hosted the weekday news and talk show in New York. Politicians (including presidents), writers, actors, and chefs appeared on her show. Taylor became the most famous "Martha Deane," so much so that the New York Times referred to her as such in her obituary.

During the late 1940s, John Derro was working as a costume designer on Broadway before transitioning into women's ready-to wear in the early 1950s. For the manufacturer Mainstreet he designed high-end women's rain gear before the company placed him at the helm of their Young Couture subsidiary line. In 1958, he was honored by Bloomingdale's as a top young American designer. Sometime around 1962, Derro left Mainstreet for the head design position at the 7th Avenue label David Hart. In 1963, following the retirement of Evelyn Dawson, Derro became the designer for the Suzy Perette line, which Dawson and a partner had established.

"Thomas E. Dewey; in full: Thomas Edmund Dewey; born March 24, 1902 in Owosso, Mich.; died March 16, 1971 in Bal Harbour, Fla.; a vigorous American prosecuting attorney whose successful racket-busting career won him three terms as governor of New York (1943-1955); a longtime Republican leader, he was his party’s presidential nominee in 1944 and 1948 but lost in both elections; he graduated from the University of Michigan in 1923 and received a law degree from Columbia University in 1925; was admitted to the New York bar in 1926 and launched his government career five years later as chief assistant to the U.S. attorney for the southern district of the state; between 1935 and 1937 he garnered national attention as special prosecutor in an investigation of organized crime in New York; he obtained 72 convictions out of 73 prosecutions of long-established racketeers; was elected district attorney in 1937; at the end of his third term as governor (1955), Dewey returned to a lucrative private law practice; he remained a close adviser to Republican administrations but thought his age precluded acceptance of an offer by President Nixon in 1968 to serve as chief justice of the United States."

Samuel Dietsch was acting president of the Fashion Institute of Technology briefly in 1953 and again in 1965.

Phil Donahue (1935 - ) is an american talk show host. "The Phil Donahue Show," debuted in 1965. The show is credited with introducing a new style of daytime talk programs, having introduced audience participation and discussions of controversial topics.

Donovan Phillips Leitch (1946 - ), professionally known as Donovan, was a Scottish folk/psychedelic-pop singer popular during the 1960s and early 1970s.

Estelle Ellis was born on November 12, 1919 in Brooklyn, New York. After graduating from Hunter College in 1940, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and a minor in Journalism, Ellis began a career in publishing. Ellis was crucial in the founding of Seventeen magazine in 1943, assisting Helen Valentine with design and advertising for the magazine. In 1958, Ellis founded Business Image, Incorporated, a creative marketing firm that stressed the importance of market and product positioning. Her company worked primarily with Condé Nast publications but other businesses, such as Yves Saint-Laurent Fragrances, Evan-Picone, AT&T, and Scoville, hired Business Image as well.

Beginning in the mid-1960s, Ellis began working with the Fashion Institute of Technology, creating programs and fundraising campaigns to help with financial support. During the 1990s, Ellis focused on writing, co-authoring At Home with Books: How Booklovers Live With and Care for Their Libraries (1995), At Home with Art: How Art Lovers Live With and Care for Their Treasures (1999), and The Booklover's Repair Kit: First Aid for Home Libraries (2000). Estelle Ellis passed away on July 12, 2012.

"Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, Germany on March 14, 1879; Einstein emigrated to the United States in the autumn of 1933 and took up residence in Princeton, New Jersey and a professorship at the prestigious Institute for Advanced Study. Today, the practical applications of Einstein’s theories include the development of the television, remote control devices, automatic door openers, lasers, and DVD-players."

John Engstead (September 22, 1909 - April 15, 1983) was an American photographer working in Hollywood during the mid-20th century. His first job was working as an office boy for Paramount Pictures' head of studio publicity, Harold Harley, in 1926. A year later, he was promoted to art supervisor after impressing Paramount with his creative directing on photos of Louise Brooks and Clara Bow. Engstead remained at Paramount until 1941 when the studio fired him. He was hired to work on freelance advertising and portrait photography assignments by Harper's Bazaar soon after. Throughout the 1940s, Engstead took fashion photography assignments from several other magazines, including Ladies Home Journal, Life, Mademoiselle, Vogue, and McCall's. In addition to his magazine work, Engstead was becoming a well-known celebrity photographer, with many Hollywood actresses flocking to his Los Angeles Studio for a session. Engstead went into semi-retirement in 1970, closing down his L.A. studio. He would occasionally accept television and special assignments until his death in 1983.

Estée Lauder, Inc. is a skincare and fragrance company founded in 1946 by Estée Lauder (born Josephine Esther Mentzer) and her husband Joseph Lauder. Saks Fifth Ave. was their first major client, ordering $800 worth of products from the fledgling company in 1947. Part of the success of Estée Lauder, Inc. was the "gift with purchase" promo that the company introduced and that has since become standard in the industry. The promo was created to introduce clients to new products without having to convince them to purchase anything new. In 1953, the company introduced its first fragrance/bath oil, "Youth Dew." The Clinique allergy-tested cosmetics were first developed in 1968. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, the company purchased smaller cosmetic firms including Aveda, Bobbi Brown Essentials,Darphin, Makeup Art Cosmetics (M∙A∙C), Ojon, and Stila. Estée Lauder retired from the company in 1995.

Man-Sew Corp. is a distributor of industrial sewing machines for the home and apparel industry. Other products include bag closers, carpet sewing, chainstitch machines, safety stitch/sergers, cutting machines, and more.

Madame Margé (Mrs. Marguerite Norlin Faupel), a lauded American fashion designer who won the Com Pugh Gold Prize, the Gossard Trophy, and the Mallison Cup, lived from 1878-1950. She made models for fashion houses (Skinner, Cheney, American Woolen Co.) and retail stores (Wannamaker and Marshall Field) and worked as a fashion consultant to Broadway and Hollywood. She operated a Chicago shop and a New York studio on Madison Avenue. Her 1936-1937 Javanese Batik collection--in particular, her famous 'sarong dress'--was shown in NY, Chicago, and Hollywood and contributed to a trend for Asiatic textiles within the fashion industry.

Born in 1927, Norman Lerner is a fashion and commercial photographer who worked extensively in New York City between the 1950s to the 1970s. His work appeared in major publications including GQ, Glamour, Popular Photography and the New York Times. His work has been included in exhibitions at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA and various other art institutions around the United States. Lerner was the first Chair of the Fashion Design program at the Fashion Institute of Technology and a Professor Emeritus of the California Polytechnic State University.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. is a Scottish company founded in the mid-18th century by Andrew Bell, an engraver, and Colin Macfarquhar, a printer. The first edition was published over a three year period, from 1768 to 1771. After the success of the first three volume set, the publishers released a ten volume set, between 1777 and 1784. In 1790, Thomas Dobson printed a pirated set of the encyclopaedia, introducing the text to the United States. The company moved to the U.S. in 1929. Today's Encyclopaedia Britannica is published in 32 volumes.

The Fashion Institute of Technology was the brainchild of the educator Mortimer C. Ritter and the menswear manufacturer Max Meyer. The school opened in 1944 on the top two floors of the High School of Needle Trades. By 1951, there was enough support for the institute as well as students enrolled to warrant a degree program at FIT. That year, the school was granted the right to award an Associate in Applied Science (AAS) degree. FIT received accreditation in 1957 and introduced a variety of courses, including Liberal Arts. During the 1960s, the curriculum grew to include interior design, advertising, and photography as subjects taught at the school. The following decade saw the school expanding to provide Bachelor's (in 1975) and Master's (1985) degree's, after years of lobbying State University Board of Education. FIT can boast about being the first to offer unique degrees in fields taught no where else in the U.S., such as Toy Design and Visual Presentation and Exhibition Design. There are 48 degree programs in total at FIT as of October 2020.

The Museum at FIT was founded in 1969 under the name Design Laboratory with the idea that it would support the courses at the school. The museum's first exhibitions were organized in the 1970s. These early shows relied on a long-term loan from the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Since that time, the museum has amassed its own collection, that today consists of more than 50,000 garments and accessories ranging from the eighteenth century to the present. The Board of Trustees of FIT changed the name from Design Laboratory to The Museum at FIT in 1993. In 2012, the museum was awarded accreditation by the American Alliance of Museums. In addition to exhibition, the museum holds an annual Symposium, beginning in 2003.