NEW YORK, NY: The Couture Council of The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) honored Karl Lagerfeld with a special award Friday, September 10th at its annual benefit luncheon held this year at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. The luncheon raised in excess of $600,000. FIT President, Dr. Joyce F. Brown, noted in her welcoming remarks, “Mr. Lagerfeld epitomizes the highest level of design genius. He is a source of tremendous influence and inspiration for our students - and indeed for all who seek to be unbounded in their artistic endeavors.”
The event was completely sold out with over 550 guests, including many women wearing Chanel or Lagerfeld designs. Guests arrived at Lincoln Center promptly at 11:30 a.m. to enjoy cocktails outside on the terrace, overlooking the new tents of the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week. Mr. Lagerfeld arrived in his trademark outfit of a high collar and a custom made suit by Hedi Slimane. Virginie Viard, head of the Chanel Studio, and his muse, Lady Amanda Harlech, accompanied him to the event.
Among the celebrities in attendance were Rachel Zoe, Anna Wintour, Veronica Webb, Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Andre Leon Talley, Martha Stewart, Elisa Sednaoui, Iman, Alan Cumming, Sharon Bush, Hamish Bowles and Glenda Bailey.
Daphne Guinness, Lady Amanda Harlech and Virginie Viard, the honorary Luncheon Chairs, were also in attendance, as were Luncheon Chairs Domingo, Vanessa Getty, Gretchen Jordan, Coco Kopelman, Marie Josée Kravis, Alexandra Lebenthal, Leigh Lezark, Charlotte Moss, Kara Ross, Allison Sarofim, Caroline Sieber, Lizzie Tisch, Vanessa Traina and Lynn Wyatt.
Additional guests included Gale Arnold, Fabiola Beracasa, Samantha Boardman, Andrew Bolton, Amy Fine Collins, Jacqueline Drake, Tiffany Dubin, Susan Fales-Hill, Somers Farkas, Pamela Fiori, Nina Griscom, Joanne de Guardiola, Agnes Gund, Susan Gutfreund, Sharon Handler, Michelle Harper, Iman, Kathleen Hearst, Pamela Joyner, Kim Kassel, Eleanora Kennedy, Pat Kerr, Steven Klein, Harold Koda, Cynthia Lufkin, Carol Mack, Jane Trapnell Marino, Shala Monroque, Gigi Mortimer, Ximena Navarrete, Elyse Newhouse, Lorry Newhouse, Helen O’Hagan, Liz Peek, Lisa Perry, John Pomerantz, Candy Pratts Price, John Richardson, Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn, Liz Rohatyn, Hilary Geary Ross, Ellen Scarborough, Elizabeth Stribling, Nadja Swarovski, Lizzie Tisch, Barbara Tober, Patricia Underwood, Robert Verdi, Kim Vernon and Isabel Stainow Wilcox and Stephanie Winston Wolcott.
Simon Doonan served as a witty master of ceremonies. Actress Diane Kruger (best known for her role in Inglorious Bastards), a fellow countryman and friend of Karl Lagerfeld, presented the award. Mr. Lagerfeld, accepting the award, entertained the audience with his thoughts on fashion and thanked them. Alan Cumming and Elisa Sednaoui assisted with a raffle drawing, which gave away a large Chanel bag in black caviar with gold hardware; Chanel “Mini Camellia” sculptured earrings in 18k white gold, onyx and diamonds; and a Chanel 33mm watch in black ceramic. Also raffled was a membership to Quintessentially, the private members' club with a 24-hour global concierge service, which was a generous sponsor of the event.
Luncheon tables, which filled the second floor lobby of Avery Fisher Hall, were covered in simple white Irish linen cloths set with large arrangements of white hydrangeas and white plates laid on clear glass chargers, chosen to reflect both the simplicity of the Chanel aesthetic and the cream colored travertine marble of the building. The American-themed menu, catered by Restaurant Associates, began with a chopped vegetable timbale with layers of quinoa, avocado and chopped spring vegetables and micro greens. This was followed by roasted poussin with a lemon herb mousse, sautéed summer squashes, Thumbelina carrots, English peas and purple cauliflower. For dessert, strawberry shortcake over strawberries capriccio was served.
Dr. Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT, said of the award, “It is in recognition of his unparalleled role as a creative force in the world of fashion that we have chosen to bestow on Karl Lagerfeld The Couture Council Fashion Visionary Award. This unique award was created exclusively for Karl Lagerfeld. Since his arrival at Chanel in 1983, Karl Lagerfeld has brought the company to the forefront of innovation and creativity and has continuously maintained Chanel's position as the most coveted fashion label in the world. Not only is Lagerfeld an inimitable designer, he is also an acclaimed photographer, publisher and collector, and a true connoisseur.”
Karl Lagerfeld was chosen to receive The Couture Council Fashion Visionary Award by the Couture Council Advisory Committee, an independent group consisting of curators, editors, and retailers. Members include Pamela Golbin, curator of the Musée de la Mode; Akiko Fukai, director and chief curator of the Kyoto Costume Institute; Glenda Bailey, editor-in-chief of Harpers Bazaar; Hamish Bowles, European editor-at-large of Vogue; Ken Downing, fashion director of Neiman Marcus; Linda Fargo, senior vice president of Bergdorf Goodman; and Julie Gilhart, fashion director of Barneys, New York, among others. Dr. Steele chairs the Couture Council Advisory Committee.
Elaborating on Karl Lagerfeld, Dr. Steele said, “He is an inventive and multi-faceted creator. For Chanel, he designs the Haute Couture, Ready-to-Wear, Cruise and Metiers D'Art collections, and is the creator and photographer for all fashion ad campaigns. In addition to his work for Chanel, he has his own eponymous line, Karl Lagerfeld, is artistic advisor at Fendi, and over the years has designed for numerous companies, most notably Chloé. His ability to design simultaneously for multiple brands has been a defining characteristic of his career and is typical of his apparently inexhaustible energy and creativity. His work for Chanel is as vital and exciting today as it was when he first arrived, radically modernizing the brand’s signature vocabulary, introducing new materials such as denim, and reinventing the Chanel codes. No other fashion designer is as prolific with such widespread global influence."
The Couture Council, which was created in 2004, has become an integral part of the museum and a recognized authority in the fashion world. Its Artistry of Fashion Award furthers FIT’s deep connection with the fashion industry. Dr. Brown added, “We are very appreciative of the important work done by the Couture Council in support of the mission of The Museum at FIT.”
Recipients of The Couture Council Artistry of Fashion Award are Dries Van Noten in 2009, Isabel Toledo in 2008 (a prescient choice made before Michelle Obama selected Toledo's design to wear on Inauguration Day), Alber Elbaz in 2007, and Ralph Rucci in 2006. In 2008, Giorgio Armani also received a special award for Global Fashion Leadership.
About The Couture Council:
The Couture Council is a membership group dedicated to supporting The Museum at FIT, a specialized museum of fashion. The Couture Council helps make it possible for the museum to mount world-class exhibitions of fashion, to acquire important objects for its permanent collection, and to organize public programs, such as the annual fashion symposium. The Couture Council accomplishes these goals through collecting membership dues and by organizing fundraising events such as the annual Couture Council Awards Luncheon, which presents a chosen designer with the Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion.
Couture Council Annual Membership is $1,000 per individual or couple, or $350 for Young Associates (under the age of 35). Membership is tax deductible to the extent provided by law. Please make checks payable to the Educational Foundation for the Fashion Industries. Mail checks to The Museum at FIT, attention: Couture Council, Seventh Avenue at 27th Street, Director's Office, Room E304, New York City 10001-5992.
Members of the Couture Council receive invitations to at least five special events a year, including behind-the-scenes tours of the museum's collection and exhibitions, opening receptions, and visits to the ateliers of fashion designers in New York. Couture Council members are also the first to receive notice of the annual Couture Council Artistry of Fashion Award luncheon.
In addition, Couture Council members receive complementary admittance for two to all museum educational programs, as well as the annual fashion symposium, which includes an invitation to meet the speakers at a cocktail reception at the home of Valerie Steele, director and chief curator of The Museum at FIT.
The Couture Council of The Museum at FIT recently established a board of directors that includes Liz Peek (Interim Chair), Yaz Hernandez (Interim Vice Chair), Suzi Cordish, Anne S. Goldrach, Michele Gerber Klein, Michelle Harper, Celia Hegyi, Eleanora Kennedy, Alexandra Lebenthal, Doris Meister, Charlotte Moss, Peter G. Scotese, Jean Shafiroff, Adrienne Vitadinni and Whitney Wolfe.
About The Museum at FIT:
The Museum at FIT is the only museum in New York City dedicated solely to the art of fashion. Best known for its innovative and award-winning exhibitions, which have been described by Roberta Smith in The New York Times as “ravishing.” the museum has a collection of more than 50,000 garments and accessories dating from the 18th century to the present. Like other fashion museums, such as the Musée de la Mode, the Mode Museum, and the Museo de la Moda, The Museum at FIT collects, conserves, documents, exhibits, and interprets fashion. The museum’s mission is to advance knowledge of fashion through exhibitions, publications, and public programs.
Upcoming exhibitions at The Museum at FIT include Japan Fashion Now on view September 17, 2010 - January 8, 2011.
Japan Fashion Now is the first exhibition to explore contemporary Japanese fashion in all its radical creativity, including not only avant-garde high fashion, but also street and sub-cultural styles, menswear, and new designers. Set in a dramatic mise-en-scene evoking Tokyo’s iconic cityscape, approximately 100 ensembles will be on display. Designers featured include Jun Takahashi of Undercover (described by journalist Suzy Menkes as “the essence of Japanese cool”); Hirooka Naoto, the designer behind h.NAOTO, Japan’s most successful Gothic-Punk-Lolita fashion empire; and new designer brands such as Sacai, Visvim, Phenomenon, and Matohu. “Japan continues to be on the cutting edge, even the bleeding edge, of fashion,” says exhibition curator, Dr. Valerie Steele. “But it has moved far beyond the cerebral deconstructed looks of the 1980s Japanese fashion revolution.”
Also on exhibition at The Museum at FIT is Eco-Fashion, Going Green, on view thru November 26, 2010.
Eco-Fashion: Going Green explores the evolution of the fashion industry’s multifaceted and complex relationship with the environment. By examining the past two centuries of fashion’s good—and bad—environmental and ethical practices. Eco-Fashion: Going Green provides historical context for today’s eco-fashion movement. Presented chronologically and featuring more than 100 garments, accessories, and textiles, the exhibition uses contemporary methods for “going green” as a framework to study the past. The objects displayed touch upon at least one of six major themes: the re-purposing and recycling of materials, fiber origins, textile dyeing and production, quality of craftsmanship, labor practices, and the treatment of animals. Curated by Jennifer Farley and Colleen Hill, the exhibition features some of the finest examples of 21st-century sustainable fashions by current, cutting-edge labels, including Alabama Chanin, Edun, FIN, and NOIR.
About FIT:
The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), of which The Museum at FIT is a part, is a college of art and design, business and technology that educates more than 10,000 students annually. FIT, a college of the State University of New York (SUNY), and offers 46 majors leading to the AAS, BFA, BS, MA, and MPS degrees. Visit www.fitnyc.edu
Letter to Lagerfeld from Valentino:
DO YOU REMEMBER, KARL, WHEN THE TWO OF US WERE IN OUR TEENS, SITTING AT THE CAFÉ’ DE FLORE, OR AT FIACRE…DREAMING THAT ONE DAY WE COULD BECOME BIG NAMES?
DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN, 10 YEARS LATER, THE TWO OF US WERE SITTING AT THE HARRY’S BAR CAFÉ’ IN ROME, DISCUSSING OUR FIRST EXPERIENCES STARTING OUT, AND BECOMING BEING BIG NAMES?
AND DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN, IN 2007, AT THE ARA PACIS, AGAIN IN ROME, WHEN YOU MADE ME PROMISE YOU THAT I WOULD NEVER RETIRE?
AND DO YOU REMEMBER WHEN, LAST WEEK, WE SAT TOGETHER IN SAINT TROPEZ ON MY BOAT, AND WENT BACK TO ALL OF THESE MEMORIES, AND MANY, MANY MORE?
YOU DON’T LIKE TO THINK ABOUT THE PAST. I DON’T DO IT EITHER…BUT WE HAVE TO REMEMBER THE PAST SOMETIMES TO DISCOVER THAT SO MANY YEARS HAVE CREATED A FRIENDSHIP VERY RARE IN THE FASHION BUSINESS….
ALL MY BEST WISHES, KARL!
VALENTINO