The Tour De Fashion, Second Stop: New York
Back again for the second leg of the Tour De Fashion. This time we’re in The Concrete Jungle, The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, The Place That’s Really, Really Cold in February (a lesser known title).
New York is a melting pot of fashion, music, art, and culture. You can’t help but be drawn in and immersed from the moment you set foot on the tarmac at JFK. And get immersed I did. I was there for a jam packed 10 days and experienced so many facets of that electrifying city. Our weekend started at the prestigious Parsons School of Design, covering subjects like Visual Communication in Fashion, Creating Brand Experiences, and Material Culture & Research. That last one was particularly interesting. Our lecturer Sara walked us through a brief history of fashion before getting us to engage with it first hand. I had the privilege of *carefully* holding an airy YSL dress from the 20th century. Pretty fortunate I’d say.
On a particularly crisp New York evening, we met up with avant-cool Fashion Professor, Editor, Author, and NYFW Producer Michelle Alleyne who treated us to two fashion shows during our time in NY. A third show came our way when a student by chance met Kelly Cutrone on the street who invited us to ‘Fashion for Peace’, a sustainability initiative created by renowned Indian visionary Sahdguru in partnership with four ethical Fashion Designers: Mimi Prober, Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Norma Kamali and Mara Hoffman. Nothing better than beautiful craftsmanship that’s environmentally friendly.
After we’d wrapped up with Parsons we were free to do exploration of our own kind. I explored the luxury retail of SoHo, took the Staten Island Ferry, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and hung out around D.U.M.B.O (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass), appreciated fine art and history in the MET (twice), cheered on the Brooklyn Nets on their home court, attended a comedy benefit, and watched cabaret in the regularly star studded hidden bar called ‘Apotheke’ in China Town (not the first or the last secret bar I went to, but that’s just between you and me).
I’ve only briefly touched on what New York – and Italy in my last instalment – has to offer and my experiences therein. Now I turn it over to you.
Take the journey of a lifetime and live and breathe fashion around the world with an FBI Global Fashion Experience. Get in touch with Lauren on +61 2 9566 2020 or on train@fbifashioncollege.com.au
