“I see it as my responsibility to design with purpose— and to give voice to what often goes unspoken.”
Stand Out www.vickyfontenelle.com
Welcome to our first zine, Stand Out!
Last fall, the Dean’s graduate fellows Iemi HernandezKim, Global Fashion Management MPS, and Roy Luo, Fashion Design MFA, came up with an idea: The seven different disciplines in FIT’s Graduate Studies run on such different schedules, many felt they were siloed. Students across the programs wanted to know what their peers were doing. What if a single representative from each of the seven majors, nominated by the program chairs, sat down with one another, and discussed their backgrounds, experiences, and hopes for the future of their respective fields? And then we made a zine out of it?
What you hold in your hands is the result. From three conversations, we culled the best quotes and edited for brevity and clarity. We asked all seven participants to share a recent project, tell us about their experience at FIT, and describe their dreams for transforming their industries. With guidance from Dr. Brooke Carlson, dean of the School of Graduate Studies, the fresh design talent of Vicky Fontanelle, Graphic Design ’25, and portraits by Mason Drowne, Photography, we worked to make a publication that demonstrates the breathtakingly diverse talent in Graduate Studies and why our students truly Stand Out.
We hope it helps you spark a conversation of your own.
The Editors
Vicky Fontenelle, Designer of
Stand Out
Conversations from the School of Graduate Studies
Editors
Dr. Brooke Carlson
Dean, School of Graduate Studies
Alexander Joseph
Chief Storyteller, Communications and External Relations
Iemi Hernandez-Kim
Dean’s Fellow, Global Fashion Management MPS
Roy Luo
Dean’s Fellow, Fashion Design MFA
Photographer Mason Drowne
Photographer, Photography & Related Media BFA
Designer Vicky Fontenelle
Designer, Graphic Design BFA
“We would like to thank the 2023-2024 fellows Juliana Villegas, Robert Reuland, & Yi Liu for their hard work on creating the first draft of the Stand Out zine.”
From: Iemi and Roy
A message from the dean:
The School of Graduate Studies at FIT provides advanced professional education in seven distinctive areas: fashion, textiles, museums, beauty, business management, art, experiential design, and illustration. The school offers programs leading to the MA, MFA, and MPS degrees, and is dedicated to advancing research in the creative industries and fostering innovative industry and professional collaborations that link students and faculty with partners worldwide. We are proud that our students and graduates are prepared to Stand Out in their fields by leading, innovating and advancing the creative industries.
We provide relevant, in-depth, multifaceted and real-world learning experiences. As a result, our graduates have an exponentially greater impact on the creative and business industries they enter.
The graduate school unites as one exceptional community, exemplified by the graduate school’s Dean’s Fellows - Iemi and Roy. Their tenacity in promoting unity and connection amongst the students and programs resulted in this first-ever zine entitled Stand Out.
I hope you enjoy Stand Out. With deep thanks to the Dean’s Fellows, the students who participated, the zine designer, photographer, my executive assistant; and especially to Alex Joseph, FIT’s Chief Storyteller, who patiently mentored and guided the students throughout the entire process.
Let’s all Stand Out!
Dr. Brooke Carlson
Interim Dean
School of Graduate Studies
Fashion Institute of Technology
“Your Hands Are Made of Gold by the End of the Semester”
Camille
Bella Palak
Sketch by Roy
A conversation between Isabella Moritz, Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice, Palak Sethi, Fashion Design MFA, and Camille Williams, Global Fashion Management.
STAND OUT: How did you find your way to FIT?
BELLA: In my undergraduate program, I went to Roanoke College and I got really into archeology. For my senior thesis, I ended up looking at the funerary garments of the ancient Sumerian Queen Puabi and I realized, Oh my God, I don’t have the fashion history and textile understanding to do it justice. And while I was doing that project, I listened a lot to the Dressed podcast and both of the hosts went to FIT in this program. I realized, This is probably one of the only places that I could do this kind of work and get that understanding.
Palak’s work:
For Palak’s project, Janani, she created a line of clothing out of her grandmother’s old sarees, “transforming these heirloom textiles into a garment that merges concept with wearability.”
PALAK: With fashion design, I knew from a pretty young age that I wanted to become a designer. And when you look at fashion schools, FIT is pretty much on the top. The program is known for how practical and hands-on it is, and that’s what I loved about it. I didn’t apply to FIT for my undergrad ‘cause I was back home in India. But I knew for my master’s I wanted to go to FIT.
CAMILLE: I actually went to FIT for undergrad in fashion business and merchandising [AAS ’96, BS ’16]. I’ve been in the industry for a while and I was ready to go back to grad school. But I knew I didn’t wanna go to a true MBA program, so I thought of FIT because in the Global Fashion Management Program, you get to travel to China, Paris, and Mexico City. I am on the business side of fashion and I’m in sales, but I’ve always wanted to understand production and what’s happening in China, and I’ve never had the opportunity to go there. This program is so hands-on that I’m getting to
go to Paris and actually see where Coco Chanel worked.
STAND OUT: What’s one thing you wish more people knew about your program?
CAMILLE: One thing I wish they knew is [GFM] is just so much more than a master’s program, because you get this in-depth experience. I went to a denim factory. I literally saw how they do the dyeing and how they’re trying to deal with sustainability, and then seeing the new robotics, and how AI is being introduced into factories as well.
BELLA: A lot of people hear the name of our program, which is Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice, and say, “Oh, what do you think of this current fashion moment?” And sometimes I have an opinion, but the history, theory, and museum practice is actually what most of us care about. So pretty much anything after around 1950 or '60, my interest kind of slides off. But when I look back to the late 18th century or the mid-19th century, those are the moments that really light me up. I always have that very historical perspective.
PALAK: Do you still have an opinion on whatever’s going on?
BELLA: A little bit, but I don’t find myself swayed by the moment. I feel like being grounded in history, and my own personal style has developed to be very grounded in historical styles. I’m always looking for a classic piece that I’ll wear for years. What makes me feel most like myself? And it is those classic lines that you see from
Palak’s hands
the 1940s.
PALAK: I wish more people knew that the MFA in fashion is so hands-on. Every semester, you are not only working on your final collection, you are also working on a smaller collection that helps your practical skills, your portfolio skills. You’re getting into AI, you’re understanding how to make garments not only physically but also digitally with CLO3D. Your hands are “made of gold” by the end of the semester because you’ve done so much. As soon as you get out of the course, if you wanted, you could start a brand. Our chairwoman Cathleen [Sheehan] teaches fashion activism, which deals with ethics in fashion and learning how to work in the industry in a very ethical manner. But also we are learning about business. People get into fashion design and they’re like, “It’s so easy! We’ll start a brand and we’ll make loads.” It’s not so easy. You need to know the ins and outs of manufacturing. You need to know finance, how to build a brand, and marketing. If you don’t know marketing, your brand is not gonna work. The course is really fast paced and hard, but once you get into it, it’s the best.
STAND OUT: How is AI affecting your field, if at all?
CAMILLE: AI, from a business point of view, has been good. And for designers too. In the company that I work for, designers are not using AI to design. They’re still the designers, but it helps them speed the work along. For example, if they create a jacket and then we say, Oh my gosh, this is a best seller, how do you think it would look in navy? Before, they just had to sit there and sketch it. Now they can play with different colors. We’re using AI in a sense to be more efficient, even helping us to write descriptions for the website. What about you?
PALAK: In the fashion industry, I feel like a creative block when it comes to AI. Because you can just [tell the AI program], “I want a collection made on this, da da da,” and a whole collection comes up. You haven’t done proper research, you haven’t done enough sketching. So our program at the moment steers away from AI, because they want you to do that initial research. It’s also taking jobs of real designers, which is
problematic. And it’s also pulling inspiration from stuff that already exists. There’s no originality in it, which is the main problem in the industry right now.
BELLA: My field is so different. Right now, AI really doesn’t have a place. There will probably never be a point where any kind of computer-based thing can do what conservators do with their hands. You really don’t know an object until you’re at the thread-and-fiber level working on it. Now, in our program, there’s the conservation half, which is what I concentrated in, and there’s the curatorial half—more traditional historical research. From the fashion historical side, I could see how AI poses a problem: There are so many fashion history myths, and when the internet is just an echo chamber of these myths, that’s what the AI is going to regurgitate to you. A little example: Did women dampen their dresses in the Regency era so they’d cling to their bodies? Absolutely not. And if you go to the primary sources, no one except for maybe the fashion extremists in Paris, would ever do something like that. It would be very improper. But you see this everywhere, even major institutions making posts about it. There is no replacement right now for digging through primary sources on your own.
Bella’s work:
For her qualifying paper, Bella created a conservation-safe reproduction underskirt so that this circa 1902-4 ensemble by the understudied couture house Fanet & Béer could be safely mounted for the first time. Through the process of recreating the missing layer by hand, she gained an embodied, intuitive understanding of the original materials and makers.
STAND OUT: How is your field addressing sustainability?
BELLA: In the museum sphere, so many exhibitions are touching on sustainability. This year, the graduating class in my program mounted one, All That Glitters, which explored how much of what glitters isn’t sustainable; it’s microplastics. When you look at the history of things at a material level and examine the past—when there were much more sustainable processes using only natural fibers, with people spinning, weaving, and
Bella’s hands
sewing every single fiber of every garment—there’s a way we can look to the past to inform the future. Fast fashion is such a global phenomenon, but what if we brought things back to our communities?
Camille’s hands
PALAK: There are so many new innovations emerging, whether on a fabric or fiber level. Recently, I can speak from an Indian perspective—they’re creating leather from waste flowers used in temples. Hindu temples use many flowers for decoration, and once they start decaying, there’s a layer that’s produced. They’ve created “fleather” from it—flower leather that emulates the same characteristics as real leather. As designers, we can work with materials that are already available. I’m personally working on a project where I took my grandmother’s saris that were probably 50 or 60 years old and created a collection with them. These saris had been stained and torn over the years and weren’t preserved properly. I couldn’t wear them, my mom couldn’t wear them, so I created dresses from them. It was hugely successful because now I can wear them again.
Camille’s work:
Camille conceptualized the line extension and led the merchandising strategy for an outerwear extension of the existing Nic + Zoe fashion line for her GFM capstone.
BELLA: I practice something similar in my own life. I inherited a collection from my great-grandparents who worked in the garment industry in New York in the mid20th century. My great-grandmother was an incredible seamstress, and my size, and she had intended to alter all these garments but never finished. They all have ripped seams, messed-up zippers, detached waistbands. I’ve started incorporating them into my life—I spent four hours altering one of her skirts back to its original size so I could wear it to an event. The sensory connection it gives me with my past, reviving garments that have just been sitting in a closet for
years—I think that’s something really special you can do in modern design.
CAMILLE: To me, sustainability is more about circularity. From a business standpoint, when you look at companies like ThredUp and Rent the Runway—how are we reusing what we’ve already made? That’s what’s going to make an impact on the planet. Yes, there’s recycled polyester and other innovations, but it’s about how we can [make] items that are built to last.
PALAK: I love that people our age are getting into upcycling, thrift stores, and the idea of sustainability. Customers are becoming more aware. I also love that brands are getting into pre-orders—thinking about how
“I could see in the future that AI could possibly help...but right now, what is in our brains, in our hands, is the most valuable.” —Bella
many orders they’ll get and buying fabric accordingly, rather than over-buying.
STAND OUT: What are the challenges facing sustainable fashion from a business perspective?
CAMILLE: It’s definitely a challenge and a tricky slope. In our business, we use recycled polyester and pride ourselves on having 90% of our collection be machine washable, because dry cleaning isn’t great for the world. We also work with companies like ThredUp for clothing recycling and reuse. But here’s the reality: there’s a whole segment of Middle America that can’t afford certain garments. It’s easy to criticize fast fashion, but that’s what people can afford. So what do we do? What are other ways we can promote sustainability while acknowledging economic realities?
STAND OUT: Can you each share a recent project that you’ve been really excited about working on?
PALAK: I’m working on my final two-year collection called “Miss Behaved.” It’s all about choice for women and focuses on
hyper-femininity. I’m really questioning who decides what a woman wears, and the answer is simply: She does. Unapologetically. The collection challenges the idea that women need to dress like men to assert power in professional environments. You know, the typical work interview uniform— blazer, pants, crisp shirt—it’s all about dressing how a man would dress to show dominance. I want to move away from that entirely. My main color palette centers around pink—it’s always been a color I feel most powerful in. I’m working with denim and using techniques like smocking and bubbling, playing with transparent and opaque fabrics to explore how a woman feels in different situations. The silhouettes are big and voluminous, taking up space, with amplified shoulders. It’s about bringing forward all the things women typically fear putting forward—like showing cleavage or exaggerating hips—and making those choices unapologetically.
BELLA: I absolutely love that concept! From a fashion historical perspective, you’re speaking to some of my favorite silhouettes—full skirts, trim waists, very exaggerated forms. You see that in the 1940s and fifties, the mid-19th century with corsets and full skirts, and even in the late 18th century. Those are moments where women were in power—Marie Antoinette leading fashion imagination, Queen Victoria in the mid-19th century, Queen Elizabeth rising to power in the forties and fifties. For my own project, I’m examining reconstruction as a conservation technique in fashion and textile museums. I’m working with an 1870s two-piece women’s dress from our graduate study collection that was altered between 1902-1904, but then the waistband and skirt went missing. It’s been sitting in a box, and no one’s ever seen it displayed.My project unites both curatorial and conservation elements—researching how many lives this object has lived and helping it get into the future by creating a new waistband and compensating for missing layers. I’m
using historical hand-sewing techniques with materials as close to the originals as possible, trying to understand what it felt like for the women in 1870s couture houses who made these pieces entirely by hand.
STAND OUT: That sounds like incredible detective work. Did you discover anything unexpected?
BELLA: Actually, yes! I discovered that the couture house that made this dress was called Fanet & Béer, and it turns out it was run by two women who were working alongside—or even slightly before—all the major male couture houses we know today as “fathers of Haute Couture.” But as soon as the 20th century hit, no one mentioned them again. I spent time going through primary sources to trace when they started their house, when they separated to run individual houses, and when they faded from history. No one’s ever talked about them before, so now I have material for various talks and I’m preparing an article to uplift these women who deserve to be mentioned alongside Worth and other big male names getting feature exhibitions in Paris right now.
“It’s easy to criticize fast fashion, but that’s what people can afford. So what do we do?” —Camille
PALAK: That’s incredible! It’s so important to bring up women who’ve been doing amazing work for so long. I think the only female designers we consistently hear about are probably Schiaparelli and Chanel—
BELLA: And Vionnet, because she was so innovative in the thirties.
PALAK: Exactly, but those are the first names that come to mind. And they’ve often been portrayed as combating each other, like everyone loves a catfight narrative. I love that you’re bringing up these two women who’ve been there all along but haven’t been mentioned. We always hear about the top male designers producing clothes for women, but what about women dressing women?
CAMILLE: Speaking of women supporting women, my project ties into that beautifully. For my Global Fashion Management program, we had to create an entrepreneurial business venture. Initially,
I thought, “I’m not an entrepreneur,” so I approached it differently. I work for a company called Nic + Zoe that’s all about making women feel good and dressing them for every moment in their lives—as mothers, as working professionals. We’re based around knitwear and focus on how she moves through her day while wanting to stay comfortable. The brand has been around for 20 years—we’re actually celebrating our 20th anniversary—and I decided to launch an extension into outerwear. I did all the research on the outerwear market and figured out how to apply that to my current job. Our CEO loved the idea so much that we’re actually launching the outerwear line in September! This program has been incredibly fruitful because I could take my learning and apply it directly to what I’m currently doing.
STAND OUT: It sounds like you’re all challenging traditional notions of how women should present themselves professionally.
BELLA: Absolutely. When I get dressed for something important, I’m never reaching for pants and a blazer—I don’t feel like myself in that. I’ll always choose a mid-length dress with a trim waist and full skirt because that’s what makes me feel powerful. I love to sew, I love to bake bread, and that doesn’t make me any less assertive and powerful.
PALAK: That’s exactly the conversation I want to have. Some women think that if you dress in a more feminine way, are you really being a true feminist? But I think the idea should be:
CAMILLE: I completely agree. I think about Whoopi Goldberg at the Oscars recently— she normally dresses in dark colors or pantsuits, but she wore this beautiful, very feminine dress. She was still powerful in that garment, but she was also expressing a different side of herself. She said when she saw the dress, she knew immediately that’s what she wanted to wear. It’s all about feeling good. I think about all the women who’ve run for president—they’re always in these masculine suits, and sometimes you wonder if that’s really their personality. Because of what they’re wearing, they can look so stiff, and I don’t know if they’re able to bring out their true selves.
STAND OUT: What do you hope people take away from your work?
PALAK: That women have the right to make their own choices about how they present themselves, without apology. Whether that’s showing cleavage, wearing pink, taking up space with voluminous silhouettes—whatever makes her feel powerful and authentic.
BELLA: That women’s contributions to fashion history deserve to be recognized and celebrated alongside men’s. There are so many stories that have been overlooked or forgotten, and they need to be brought back into the conversation.
CAMILLE: That comfort and femininity don’t have to be compromised for professionalism. Women can move through their day feeling good in clothes that reflect who they really are. This interview has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.
“Let
“Your Fingerprint Is Always in Your Work”
Chloe Damian
Sketch by Roy
Chloe Lo, Cosmetics and Fragrance
Marketing and Management MPS, talks to Damian Pilarte, Illustration MFA
STAND OUT: How and why did you find your way to FIT?
CHLOE: I currently work at Shiseido Cosmetics in marketing. I interned there in PR when I was in college, and I joined right after graduation. One of my first managers was in the FIT program, so I saw him going to school after work and he was showing me all his projects. So I was interested from that point. And then two years ago, I was interested in growing my skill set since I’ve been with the same company since I graduated. So I thought it was a good opportunity and a good time to join the program. What about you?
DAMIAN: I used to work at the Society of Illustrators. It’s like a museum. And [Illustration BFA ’78 alumnus and MFA
artwork.’ That’s also important, but that’s like half of it. You have to be able to network and put yourself out there, ‘cause if you make amazing work and no one talks to you, it’s just, all right, this is another beautiful image. And then they just go past it.
CHLOE: Do you ever have group projects?
DAMIAN: Not really. The way we use our cohort is like bouncing ideas off of each other, which is obviously super helpful. But as far as doing an actual project, not really. I mean, sometimes people will collab on things, but it’s not really the norm. Which makes sense because it’s so individual.
CHLOE: With us, it’s pretty much all group projects, and that’s realistic in terms of the marketing world. You’re always working in teams.
“We could all draw this flower together but everyone’s going to have their own rendition of it.” —Damian
faculty] Bil Donovan saw my portfolio and he recommended me to come here. And then I [visited] and I said to myself, you know what, let me do that. I wanna build my portfolio and work with bigger clients, so that pushed me into going back to school two years after undergrad.
STAND OUT: What’s one thing you wish more people understood about your program?
CHLOE: What’s amazing is all the people within the program, the majority of them are sponsored by their companies. I actually considered doing an MBA, but then I learned about this program, and it’s really the only one in the country that’s focused on cosmetics and fragrance marketing and management.
DAMIAN: I would say networking and being social is probably something that a lot of people in the illustration world are just not aware of, being out and talking to people and meeting and not just like, ‘I make dope
STAND OUT: Can you discuss a specific project you’re working on or completed recently?
CHLOE: We’re prepping for our capstone presentations right now, and my team is the wellness team. The other teams are artificial intelligence and generational beauty. We decided to focus on the medicalization of beauty. A lot of beauty treatments and procedures happening right now, that consumers see as medical issues. Like Botox, or GLP medications [for diabetes and weight loss]. So seeing the shift from a lot of natural, organic, clean beauty messaging to more like clinical, science-backed beauty.
Damian’s work:
Damian’s thesis tells the story of the colonization of the Caribbean and people of Dominican, Mexican, and Puerto Rican descent.
DAMIAN: Have you learned anything interesting?
CHLOE: We’ve interviewed a bunch of
Feelings Evoked by Hair Loss
different people, like the general manager of SkinCeuticals, who lives in Paris. He was telling us the differences between the U.S. market and the French market, and how in France, general practitioners are turning to aesthetic procedures and specializing in that because there’s such a high demand and it is also more lucrative. It’s interesting seeing the different markets. We’re going to India next week.
DAMIAN: What do you think you’ll find in India that’s going to impact your project?
CHLOE: It’s such an emerging, obviously huge population, so I think there’s a lot of opportunity in terms of business. But then also more like holistic wellness, like Ayurvedic medicine, and from what I’ve learned, Indian cultures really prioritize holistic lifestyle, wellbeing, like diet. Everything plays into how you look. So I think that’ll be eye opening.
DAMIAN: That sounds dope ‘cause I’m a first generation immigrant on my dad’s side, so very much holistic on [that] side.
on the colonization of the Caribbean and people of Dominican, Mexican, and Puerto Rican descent. I wanted to do a project that tackled not just specific areas that I’ve visited, but the Caribbean as a whole. We have deities and these masks. I have this idea of these deities throughout history from the 1490 colonization to modern times. So I’ve kind of been telling this like, surreal, loose historical story tying all these like, important historical events together. Obviously it’s so personal.
STAND OUT: Are you using what you’re learning in your current gig?
Chloe’s work:
As part of a consumer insights course, Chloe’s team explored the hair loss market through a survey of 384 women and 218 men aged 18 to 60. A field study was conducted in Europe through a Patterning Global Markets course to further inform their project, which culminated in a final presentation tailored for beauty industry leaders.
DAMIAN: I teach kids from kindergarten to eighth grade. As an art teacher, [the program] reinforces me to practice what I preach. So I tell kids that it’s okay to make mistakes and there’s an eraser for a reason. Even if you don’t like it, just move on and learn from it. Like, it’s just a drawing. It’s not the final drawing I’m going to make, there will be plenty more after.
Damian’s hands
CHLOE: Have you heard of hair oiling?
DAMIAN: No, I have not. Yeah, elaborate.
Damian’s work:
CHLOE: It’s an Indian practice. Um, there’s a brand now called Fable & Mane. It’s Indian owners and they like to massage their scalps with oil to keep it healthy and help it grow. So those are the kind of things that can enter the U.S. market. What about your project?
DAMIAN: I’m working on my visual thesis right now, an accordion-style book, based
CHLOE: Actually something similar for me too. It’s like seeing the bigger picture. Sometimes when you’re so into your work, you just isolate and then don’t think of everything else.
DAMIAN: Teaching also reminds me: Don’t be precious. You can always come back to this and nothing’s set in stone. Is that really different from the cosmetics field?
CHLOE: Yeah. You turn in the project, you’re done. You’re creating advertisements or something and then seeing it in person in real life. Obviously you can’t edit it after it’s executed. But I think that’s what’s so exciting
Illustration by Damian
about this field, seeing things live, in-person.
STAND OUT: You both work with images to some extent. What makes a strong image for marketing versus illustration?
CHLOE: Branding is so important, which is something we learn in class. Red lipstick from Dior could look the same as a red lipstick from e.l.f., but people will still purchase the Dior lipstick. And even in terms of performance, a lot of these formulas now, between mass brands and more prestige luxury brands, are really competitive. But people just feel— similar to fashion—an inspiration from the brand. So it’s really important that they connect with the consumer.
DAMIAN: For you, does the image need to be based on what the audience wants?
CHLOE: Yeah. With beauty, you have to be so consumer centric. It’s really finding a balance between staying true to your own brand and developing products for the consumer and what they want. In particular for Shiseido, the brand is an over 150-year-old company from Japan. So it’s maintaining all of those brand values, but then also trying to appeal to the consumer.
“Everything plays into how you look. So I think that’ll be eye opening.” —Chloe
DAMIAN: I would say for illustration it really just depends on who your audience is. The images you make for a children’s book are going to be very different from like a political editorial. It’s always going to be
different. So in both [fields], we’re like delivering to someone.
STAND OUT: Does your work have a distinctive “voice”?
DAMIAN: I feel that everyone has a fingerprint. We could all draw this flower together but everyone’s going to have their own rendition of it. If you know someone well enough, you’re gonna be like, oh, so and so did this.
CHLOE: In [my field] it’s not as direct. This program has made me realize what my strengths and my weaknesses are. I’m a very detail oriented person. That’s good. But it’s also taught me that I need to look at the bigger picture more often. It’s hard to have a very individualized touch, because you’re making it for a consumer.
DAMIAN: I feel like that fingerprint is always in your work, whether or not you see it. No matter how much you try to detach from it, it’s always going to be there.
really interesting.
DAMIAN: I grew up in New York too. I spent a little bit of time in Philly and Jersey. AfroLatino on both sides. My dad’s Dominican, my mom’s of Puerto Rican, Mexican, and Cherokee descent. So it’s a very interesting mix. But in the illustration field, I feel like there are not many Afro-Latinos. There are a lot of Spanish speaking illustrators for sure. But as a first generation immigrant on my dad’s side, when I told [my parents I was] pursuing art they were like, oh hell no. They’re like, what are you doing?
STAND OUT: In closing, what have you learned about each other’s major?
Chloe’s hands
CHLOE: There are definitely ways in marketing, PR, and advertising to think out of the box, and maybe that’s not so straightforward in terms of creativity. For example, I don’t know if you saw the Michael Cera beauty campaign during the Super Bowl?
DAMIAN: I did not, I didn’t even know Michael Cera was in a campaign.
CHLOE: Yeah, it really was a creative way to capture the audience’s attention because it was so unexpected.
STAND OUT: How do culture or cultural differences affect your work?
CHLOE: I was born and raised in New York, but my mom was raised in France, and my dad was born in the Philippines. So I’ve always been in a multicultural environment. And the beauty industry specifically is very French dominated. So that’s been a big advantage for myself speaking French and knowing the culture. But I think working for an Asian company has been very special to me, because all of my grandparents are Chinese. So having those brand values linked back to East Asian culture is very inspiring. Obviously in terms of business, there’s a lot of cultural differences, but I think learning how to navigate those moments is
DAMIAN: I definitely learned that we both have to accommodate the audience that we’re reaching for, but your audience has a much bigger pull in how you create and what you’re marketing for, and how you’re creating this project for the masses while still maintaining brand integrity and authenticity. So I definitely see it as very challenging to give up a little bit of the creative reins to make sure it appeals to the masses.
CHLOE: And I think for you it’s a more individualized experience, but I thought it was really interesting how these different projects from FIT enabled you to discover and focus on what your preferences are, and your true style.
This interview has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.
“Teaching also reminds me: Don’t be precious.”
—Damian
Chloe’s field study: Chloe’s CFMM class did a field study of the cosmetics industry in India, which included "academic engagements" and "cultural immersion" activities. At a textile factory, they saw both dyeing and hand printing. And then they hand printed their own scarves.
“Our Job Is to Reach People on a Human Level”
Sketch by Roy
Laura De Alvear, Art Market Studies, talks to Sven Johnson, Exhibition and Experience Design.
STAND OUT: How did you find your way to FIT?
SVEN: I’m obviously coming to this master’s degree a bit later in life. Most of the folks in my cohort are in their 20s or 30s, but I’ve already had a career as an illustrator or design visualizer with architects and interior designers who were my clients, and I have my own studio in Brooklyn. I was teaching in FIT’s Interior Design Department. One day, I was having a talk with the chair, and she said, “You should look at the Exhibition and Experience Design Program, because there’s a lot of art involved and it blends together with spatial design.”
LAURA: I feel like the art market needs people like you to create such things as exhibitions, ‘cause we wouldn’t be anywhere without you guys. I’m from Madrid. I’ve known FIT since I was about 6 years old, and actually my grandmother always told me, “You should apply for Fulbright and go to FIT”–and I did.
SVEN: You must have a great passion to draw you to studying [this field]. I’m also a watercolor painter and an artist. And I’m wondering if you are, too?
LAURA: Actually, I’ve never painted and I don’t think I’m able to be an artist. I’m just able to appraise art. My previous master’s was in appraisal and my bachelor’s was art history. My family and my friends are all lawyers. So when I said, I wanna do art, They were like, you’re crazy. So I took a leap of faith.
value is the main thing.
SVEN: I’ve developed a theory of certain universal principles of beauty. I think that human beings are sort of wired to accept beauty and we share a passion for beauty, which is beyond any one particular era or trend or movement.
LAURA: A lot of contemporary art has deliberately gone into concept art, which is either rebelling against aesthetics or deliberately ignoring them. I have to mention the banana from Maurizio Cattelan. [Comedian, from 2019, consists of a fresh banana duct taped to a wall.] The starting price was $800,000, and the hammer price was $6 million.
SVEN: What did you think about that?
Laura’s work:
Laura’s thesis compares the prices of two Spanish painters who lived in New York during the Spanish Civil War to American Abstract Expressionists.
LAURA: What I think about that artwork is that it’s not the artwork itself, it was the media around it. I don’t even think of that as art as much as some people getting carried away with market dynamics and trying to make a purchase that makes a statement.
SVEN: Do you feel like you’re participating in the process of solidifying the understanding of what makes art valuable and who makes valuable art?
LAURA: For contemporary art, especially in New York, I feel like art as an investment is going to go further. What I want to do is to help people invest in art, but also maintain aesthetic value. Art is always going to be seen as an investment, but the aesthetic
SVEN: And I just look at it from a completely different point of view ‘cause I’m a creator, right? So I’m preoccupied with creating something that’s meaningful and moves people. When I see something that’s a simple experiment and then people make a big investment in it, I just see it as them trying to say, I’ve got the power to put this on a pedestal.
LAURA: Can you tell me about your program?
SVEN: The way I look at it, our job is to take space and bring out its ability to reach people on a human level. (Which is not typically the preoccupation of interior designers or architects, who are concerned
Esteban Vicente Segovia 1903-2001
Untitled. 1995 Oil on canvas
Signed, titled, and dated on the reverse, 1995
Dimensions: 126 × 106 cm
Certificate of provenance: The Harriet & Esteban Vicente Foundation, New York
Hammer price: $60,000
Sold from Subastas Segre, Laura’s previous workplace, in September 2024.
Laura’s hands
with function first.) That could be through having immersive or artistic experiences. Or it could be about teaching people, which is the job of museums. So that’s like trying to do a public good in a way. But you could almost look at the commercial side of our business as marketing brought into physical space. I think that will grow tremendously in the next 25 to 50 years.
STAND OUT: Wait, why?
SVEN: Because there are so many [privately owned] public spaces, which will be exploited by large-scale commercial operations. For example, if you get off the train on 34th Street and Seventh Avenue, the new Penn Station, there’s this new, two-block long, cantilevered plaza with an ambient light show on the underside of the canopy. And they just threw a very primitive bunch of blade signs with little LED advertisements that are so elementary.
That is an incredible public space, right in the heart of New York City. And if you put a high-quality design firm on top of utilizing that space, you could create the equivalent of a Walt Disney world for New York City. What is the number one thing that you would love to be able to explore more in your course?
Sven’s work:
LAURA: Right now, I have a class that’s about sustainability in art, about how museums are using sustainability to change the way we create exhibitions or spaces for people to visit. The way museums [leave the lights on] for 24 hours. I would
For a design studio class, Sven created a pop-up temporary exhibition concept to be sited in Madison Square Park: The Mushroom Powder Pavilion is a playful forest adventure combined with learning activities. His presentation made extensive use of the AI visualization tool Mid Journey, which turned his sketches into full-blown watercolor illustrations
love it if it was a bigger class.
STAND OUT: Can each of you describe your thesis project?
SVEN: As my daughter was growing up—she’s 19 now—she became very interested in heavy metal music, and there’s a lot of misunderstanding about [heavy metal being] socalled satanic music. And trying to wrap my head around that cultural question led me back to some thoughts I’ve been having about society for a long time, which are: How is feminine mysticism and feminine divinity, which tends to be very engaged with planetary awareness or the cycles of nature, in my opinion, how are they oppressed by forms of religion, which
are patriarchal or more top-down forms? And then how has that come out in sort of cultural terrorism of the persecution of witches in Europe from the 12th century onwards? And in America we had the Salem witch trials. And I came to look at that whole thing as a way for a patriarchal society to keep women in their place. So I want to do an exhibition that covers that dynamic, but then also shows the way that that dynamic actually offers women, paradoxically, a way to reclaim their divinity, through resisting. And also showing that all that sort of negative force is actually a way to push women to become aware again of that divine nature, which goes back eons. That’s my narrative arc that I’m developing for the exhibition.
“Our job is to take space and bring out its ability to reach people on a human level.” —Sven
Sven’s hands
LAURA: Wow, I love how you brought the past to the present. The objective of my thesis is to talk about identity and how people are included in a group or not. During the Civil War in Spain, there were two painters called Esteban Vicente and Jose Guerrero, who decided to move to New York. Vicente stayed here, and he actually died in New York, and Guerrero decided to go back to Spain. There has been a lot of investigation of their art in Spain and their art in the U.S., but not the change. And I think that’s when identity comes in: how their identity of Spain came to New York and how they changed their way of painting and to see if they were included in the New York School—you know, Rothko, Pollock, and Newman. They were the cool ones. When [the two Spanish artists] appeared here, were they included, were they exhibited at the same level, were their prices of their
Granada 1914-1992
Red and Yellow Stripe. 1975
Oil on canvas
Signed, titled, and dated on the reverse, 1975
Dimensions: 177 × 152 cm
PROVENANCE
Hoover Gallery, San Francisco
Private collection, San Francisco
Mr. and Mrs. John D. Schiller Jr. Collection
Galería Cayón, Madrid
Private collection
Starting price: $110,000
primary market at the same level? Or on the other hand, were they always considered Hispanic [artists]? It’s very interesting actually, ‘cause Rothko was from Russia. Right? I’m going to see if this happened because they were part of the second generation of Abstract Expressionist painters, or if they were included in the first one? If the first generation of painters were the ones who decided who was going to belong to the group. And as I’m sure you know, these artists have achieved amazing prices. And I’m going to see if the prices of Este are in the same way, similar, which I know they’re not, but I’m gonna study also if they’re a sign of luxury, like having a Rothko in your house. So it’s a lot of things, a lot to cover. And what I wanted to do was to bring something from my culture, Spain, and bring it into New York. And I think it’s the perfect bridge between Spain and New York.
STAND OUT: How is Artificial Intelligence entering your respective fields?
SVEN: For my thesis, I’m envisioning an immersive experience where you walk into a circle of LCD panels and you’re in the middle of a pagan ritual. Instead of having a film production budget of $50,000 and a crew to make that, with AI tools I’m now able to essentially storyboard and make a short movie completely from nothing. So I’m working around the clock to try to get these tools under control and into my thesis because I know they’re going to transform the way art is presented and the way that experiences are presented.
LAURA: It’s so different in my field. Mostly I think AI right now is affecting the art market in the ways that we appraise art. For example, imagine that we have a color field painting here from Esteban Vicente, who is from Madrid, Spain. Using AI, I can say, tell me all of the prices [of his works sold] in the last 20 years. It’s so interesting how you mentioned that your project is immersive. Right now, exhibitions are super immersive. Almost all of them have a section where you can engage with the work of art.
SVEN: That’s an example of our field literally being at the service of your field. A lot of these traditions of going to The Met or going to a gallery may be becoming a bit old fashioned. I don’t know how the younger generations necessarily look at those things.
LAURA: I feel like people from my parents’ generation were more excited to see art and just see it. In our age, I think people want to become part of the work of art. Almost merge with it somehow.
STAND OUT: What have you guys learned about each other’s major?
LAURA: I’ve learned about the amazing idea you have for your thesis. And I’ve also learned a lot about exhibition design and how you’re incorporating AI. I would never have thought that AI is such a big tool for your field.
SVEN: I’m really impressed with the sort of methodical approach to your research. It’s not just purely commercial, it’s not just how much is it gonna sell for when the hammer drops, but it’s really all about the larger context of society, and what were these artists thinking when they had to come to a completely different place. And these are really big human questions, right? This interview has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity.
“In our age, I think people want to become part of the work of art.
Almost merge with it somehow.” —Laura
José Guerrero
A conversation between the 2024-2025 Dean’s Fellows Roy Luo, Fashion Design
MFA, and Iemi Hernandez-Kim, Global Fashion Management.
STAND OUT: What have you learned from working together?
ROY: I’ve learned a lot working with you.
The amount of organization and consideration that you put into our meetings and timeline. Between our programs and work experiences, we face turnarounds differently. It’s cool to see how that translated into this zine project.
There were times when you had a different opinion from me and that broadened my vision.
ROY: The biggest thing you learn in design school is that critique is never purely negative nor positive, and it’s never something you have to implement. Conceptualizing this took a lot of hearing out and design-solutions that require different means of thinking. It’s a left brain and right brain divide and we fill in each other’s gaps.
IEMI: I also learned a lot from you. You definitely took much more of a creative role.
STAND OUT: What’s the most exciting project you’ve done in your program?
ROY: I’ve been fortunate to access a lot of cool technology here. My favorite project was a capsule collection I did on plastiglomerates. These are geological plastic formations in our oceans that are microplastics melted together. They’re the direct artifacts of human intervention on Earth. I was relating that to our idea of fashion consumption; plastics are so prominent in our clothing, in our everything. A lot of our plastics are recyclable but the issue lies in the process of organizing and sorting.
Often with clothes, a polyester thread holds together cotton fabric, and these blended garments are one of the biggest barriers to recycling. I used the MFA program’s sonobond machine, which bonds seams using heat and pressure, not thread, and created an airy, light garment with an original print. The
bonded seams were a translation of the plastiglomerate inspiration, and allowed me to make a completely stitchless and threadless garment.
IEMI: The most exciting project is my capstone, Icon Access. My teammate, Luji Qiu, and I are describing it as Yelp for accessibility. We’re developing an app that’ll allow people to rate how accessible businesses are.
ROY: Did you have this idea before you came into the program?
STAND OUT: What do you hope readers will get out of the zine?
IEMI: The same week I was accepted to FIT, a family member was diagnosed with breast cancer. I was getting ready for graduate school and this breast cancer stuff was
ROY: I hope they’ll get a deeper picture of our programs. They’re a lot more interdisciplinary than one expects. People often have a stereotypical idea of fashion design because it’s so dominant in the media.
I think there’s a lot more complexity in terms of research and thesis creation that I hope people can learn from.
IEMI: I hope that this is the start of a
Roy’s work:
For Roy’s genderless collection, they made an organdy jacket and panty-briefs digitally printed using sublimation, a process that fuses dye directly into the fabric.
Iemi’s work:
People with disabilities have diverse needs–a blind person’s requirements will be very different from a deaf person’s. It can be a complicated and time consuming process to plan going out. Through crowdsource user insights, Icon Access will help make the process easier for disabled individuals to find places to enjoy.
happening. When I started, I knew I was going to focus on the disabled community. I believe there’s a reason why I was accepted the same week as the diagnosis. Without school, it would’ve just been like a very personal story. Now, I’m becoming more educated on disability rights. How did ADA laws start in America? How will medicaid get affected with new tax laws?
tradition. The orientation started because of the graduate fellows – I want the zine to be an addition to that. We honored our previous fellows with the masthead layout. I saw some of the participants from this zine talking with each other during the graduation ceremony. I want students to carry on this legacy. This interview has been condensed and edited for brevity and clarity. Iemi’s hands
