Let’s face it: Most alumni magazine anniversary issues are a snooze. But the Fashion Institute of Technology is far from the typical college, and we are constantly re-examining our past in response to who we are and what we’re becoming. Founded in 1944 as a way to prepare workers for careers in the then-burgeoning local garment district, the college adapted as the industry changed. First, it broadened its offerings to include a variety of fashion-adjacent programs, like interior design; then it shifted in response to globalization, forging education connections around the world, and preparing students to work across international supply chains.
Today, FIT seeks to prepare creatives and unconventional businesspeople to transform the industry into a sustainable and diverse force for good in society. With this college as our subject, the editors of Hue can never be bored, and we try not to be boring. For the 75th, we re-examined tropes associated with FIT: our history, buildings, founders and other important figures from the past, our famous alumni, and even the art on campus. We revisited cherished campus resources, such as our world-famous museum, and got them to lighten up. Not satisfied with retreading familiar ground, we re-contextualized, and re-imagined. In the end, we hoped to strike a balance. We wanted to remind the audience of our achievements; but we also worked to defamiliarize those well-worn images and landmarks. We hoped these imaginative gestures would stimulate the reader, and set the stage for envisioning our future.
From the Judges
FIT has a wonderful subject to work with, and has a license to be creative with it. The captions on all of the historical photos were fantastic and very clever.
