The soothing, textured painting on this issue’s cover is no oil on canvas—it’s made of L’Oréal Paris lip colors, composed by Roger Cabello, Photography ’85. Cabello is an abstract artist who has photographed cosmetics for magazine editorial and ad campaigns since 2000. For this issue, he used a range of products developed by FIT alumni,…
THINK YOU KNOW GENERATION Z? They’re Just Getting Started
Last semester, I conducted one-on-one, hour-long interviews with ten FIT students who fit into the demographic called “Generation Z.” Born between 1996 and 2010, this post-millennial group makes up a quarter of the U.S. population, and according to Fast Company, by 2020 will account for 40 percent of all consumers. I wanted to know what…
MENSWEAR’S NEXT ACT A new generation of FIT-trained designers infuse fresh ideas into timeworn standards
It used to be that a man’s wardrobe would consist mainly of button-down shirts, trousers, jackets, ties, and some T-shirts and jeans for the weekend. Not anymore. Now, guys can wear luxe hoodies to work, an embroidered cloak to a black-tie event, or even a Comme des Garçons skirt to run errands. And FIT alumni…
“I COULD NOT DARE TO BE ONE MORE MAN TO GIVE HER ORDERS.”Trupal Pandya, Photography ’16, trained his lens, and his ear, on refugees in the Middle East
In January 2016, the United Nations Development Programme sent Trupal Pandya, Photography ’16, to refugee camps in Iraq to document the struggles of the thousands displaced by ISIS. Over the course of one transformative week, he took several striking portraits and listened to the refugees’ moving stories of imprisonment and abuse. Here he shares one…
THE MEDIUM IS THE MAKEUPRoger Cabello ’85 slathers, dollops, swirls, and dabs cosmetics into abstract masterpieces
My shrink once told me, ‘I don’t know if you’re going to be a painter or a photographer,’” Roger Cabello says. “Now I make abstract paintings and photograph them.” He’s a painter, all right, but his medium is makeup. The Peruvian-born Photography grad has made a career of shooting all kinds of cosmetics—foundation, lip gloss,…
MAKING IT RIGHT Joe Walkuski, Textile Technology ’82, helps companies navigate the daunting complexity of global sourcing
Say you’ve designed a child’s raincoat and want to manufacture it overseas. Twenty years ago, you’d need to ask only three questions: Can you (a) make the product (b) within my budget and (c) deliver it on time? No longer. “Today it’s a whole lot more complex,” says Joe Walkuski, Textile Technology ’82 and a…
SHELF LIFE FIT’s Special Collections unit in the Gladys Marcus Library gets a $4 million upgrade
FIT’s Special Collections and College Archives, a unit of the Gladys Marcus Library, has a brand-new home. Karen Trivette, head of the unit, says the roughly $4 million renovation and expansion—from 3,500 to 6,100 square feet—is a “phenomenal demonstration of respect for the intrinsic, informational, and historic value of the materials.” Visitors now pass through…
THE PATTERNS OF HISTORYLorraine Tanyu Weinstein, Textile/Surface Design ’04, updates tradition at Lee Jofa
Handwork meets technology in the creations of Lorraine Weinstein ’04. As senior woven stylist for Lee Jofa, a leading luxury home furnishings company founded in 1823, Weinstein translates the work of fine artists, designers, and tastemakers into wallpapers, upholstery, drapery, and carpeting. These collaborations are “very involved, a lot of sending things back and forth,”…
COVER STORIESA selection of books published by faculty and alumni in 2016
Recent books by faculty and alumni run the gamut from children’s picture books to an analysis of the way globalization affects emerging markets. April Calahan, Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice ’09, Special Collections associate Fashion Plates: 150 Years of Style Yale University Press A comprehensive survey of 200 color plates from publications…
FATAL BEAUTY Carnivorous plants are a seductive subject for Matthew M. Kaelin, Fine Arts ’01, Textile/Surface Design ’99
These are plants with a dark beauty—fleshy and curvaceous, with spines that snag, mouths that gape. When an unsuspecting insect alights, it’s a horror show in miniature: the plant turns deadly, trapping and slowly digesting its tiny prey. No wonder Matthew M. Kaelin ’01, a carnivorous-plant aficionado, calls them “sinister.” But dramatic descriptions aside, they’re…