I keep telling you guys that if you live in New York - an ultimate city that offers everything for every interest: from great chefs and artists to fashion designers and financial moguls, you can never be bored.
No one can possibly be ever bored in New York City - one of the reasons thousands of people come to the city every year to live, work and - most of the time, stay! This is why the rents are high, the restaurants - even with the thousands of them available - have waiting lists, the subway is over-crowded, and the museums charge entrance fees (unlike, say, most of the museums in Washington, DC that are free to the public!)
So, you have no excuse saying that you are bored in the city and claim that you've seen and done it all, because it's absolutely impossible. For those who subscribe to the local magazines like Time Out New York and/or New York Magazine know what I'm talking about - every week these magazines share with the New Yorkers what's happening in the city they love so much, and let me tell you - every single time they talk about new stores, new exhibitions, new shows, new restaurants, new jobs, new....new....new - as if we don't have enough already. I remember reading an article, written by one of the most well-known and powerful restaurant critic in NYC, saying that even you eat out every night and every time at a different place in the city - you would still not going to be able to try all the restaurants in the city, which sounds just about right to me. The point is - you cannot be bored in New York City even if you really, really tried.
That brings me to the next point. How many of your have been at least once to the Museum of FIT (Fashion Institute of Technology)?
If you live in NYC and your answer is- "never", I'd doubt that you could belong in NYC, when at least a small part - a small particle of you - has never ever had any interest in fashion, but most importantly - in the history of fashion.
You live in New York City - THE capital of the fashion industry [as in the capital letters]! The French might have invented the parfume - [I'd suggest you read Patrick Suskind's Parfume: The Story of a Murderer] - and the Italians might have brought us some of the greatest fashion designers in the world, but, guess what, most of them choose to live and work in New York City. They choose to headquarter in New York City, where they have multiple boutiques around the city and where their fashion shows guarantee the attendance of some of the most powerful people in fashion - from Anna Wintour - [who is known for skipping some of the fashion in other cities, like Paris and Milan, but never in New York City], Bill Cunningham - the legend of the street fashion photographic reports of the NYC high society and fashion community and the founder of On The Street column at the New York Times, Scott Schuman - the number one fashion blogger in the world to Cathy Horyn - the lady-in-power of a fashion word behind the New York Times Style section.
So, what excuse do you have for not being a part, even informally, of the fashion culture of the New York City and, thus, of the world? None.
When you have such places like Museum at FIT - the museum of the Fashion Institute of Technology college that offers many great and, most of the time, free events, hosting and featuring some of the brightest and greatest minds and makers of the fashion industry, and where you can see what your counterparts in other parts of the world wished to see, but could't. I've been actively writing about this place in the past few years - reporting from live events and exhibitions, which there are plenty of it, because I've seen quite a few of their exhibitions and try not to miss their events.
You might have missed the following events and shows like Youthquake! The 1960s Fashion Revolution, Daphne Guinness, IMPACT: 50 Years of the CFDA, Evolution of the Fashion Runways: A Photographer's Viewpoint, Designers & Books Fair 2012, The Great Designers, Hal Rubenstein's 100 Unforgettable Dresses, The Learning from Experience: Four Graphic Designers in Conversation, meeting the Editor-in-Chief Franca Sozzani from Vogue Italia, Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar, or Death to Pie Charts, but you might still have time to register for these great FREE events:
Around the World in 24 Shoes
This exhibit features more than 150 pairs of footwear from a mix of international designers. The collection includes everything from Brazilian snakeskin pumps, to a Japanese set of faux-ballerina slippers that were customized just for Lady Gaga. However, according to their site, the Shoe Obsession Talk and Tour is sold out.
So is the other intriguing exhibition - Boots: The Height of Fashion Talk and Tour, but you can always reach out to them via Twitter @MuseumFIT and see if you can visit the shows that come with a tour by yourself without a guide.
In the future, try not to miss the FIT events as they get booked very quickly. Here's what is coming up at the Museum of FIT in the early Spring 2013 - the events and exhibitions that you can still register for:
- Plus One: An Outsider's Photographic Journey Into de World of Fashion: Lecture and Book Signing by Sharon Socol, an intuitive, spontaneous photographer who has attended hundreds of fashion events as her husband’s “plus one” during the eight years that he was CEO of Barneys New York. When: Tuesday, February 28, 6:00PM
- The Technology Trap: Fashion, Copying and the Speed of Information. When: Wednesday, March 6, 6:00PM
- Giving Back is the New Luxury. When: Friday, March 8, 6:00PM
- Antonio Lopez: Fashion, Art, Sex, & Disco. When: Tuesday March 12, 6:00PM
- A Career in Fashion, John Bartlett. When: Tuesday, April 2, 6:00PM. I'm looking forward to this event in particular, because I've been a big fan of Lopez works for a while and who has been Karl Lagerfeld associate for years. He was the one who discovered Jessica Lange in 1974, Jerry Hall, Grace Jones and Tina Chow. Let's just say - he was a very important influence on many great fashion designers of the era - from Karl Lagerfeld to Marc Jacobs.
- Bruno Frisoni and Ines de la Fressange in Conversation with Valerie Steele. When: Wednesday, April 10, 6:00PM
- Preserving Asian Culture Through Fashion and Textiles. When: Thursday, April 18, 6:00 PM
- Fashion and Technology Symposium. When: Thursday, April 15, 9-noon
And always check out their Multimedia page, where they post various interviews, fashion trips, overview of the exhibitions, guest speaker events, etc. Every time I go to their events, I make videos as well, which you can find on my YouTube channel. You can also reach me on Twitter @AlisaKrutovsky.
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