April 2014: The New York Issue

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VOLUME 46 | ISSUE 7 | APRIL 2014

MASTHEAD

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FIT

Fernanda DeSouza Editor–in–Chief Dianna Mazzone Hermina Sobhraj Deputy Editors Megan Venere Executive Editor

Letter from the Editor

Dara Kenigsberg Christina Macaluso Senior Editors Dara Kenigsberg Managing Editor Britt Bivens Copy Editor Dana Heyward Treasurer

W27Newspaper.com Mollie Yarsike Community Manager Zach Rosenbaum Online Editor

ADVERTISING Lilian Minchala Advertising Manager

Art Kevin Braine Art Director Kelly Millington Courtney Wall Senior Designers

“It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck. No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky.”

This line of E.B. White’s essay, “Here is New York,” accurately sums up my feelings about New York.

New York’s middle name is Opportunity and many of us migrate to this cultural hub to fulfill a variety of desires. We see, time and again, people from all corners of the world, swarm Manhattan with their ambitions— some come out victorious and others scurry away, defeated.

I hate New York. I hate the rats that squeal in the garbage bins outside my apartment building; summer in New York is

Courtney Wall Jessica Farkas Photographers

what I imagine Hell to be like; I hate “IT’S SHOW TIME!” on the subways; I hate that, albeit the fact that millions of people inhabit this city, it is easy to meet loneliness along the way.

But I also love New York.

I love that I can buy a $1 pizza at 3 a.m.;I love how spoiled we are with a 24/7 subway system is another excuse not to get my license; I love that my waiter turns out to be a world famous graffiti artist; and I love that I can escape from one neighborhood to the next and feel like I’m in a different world. But most importantly, I love feeling a sense of belonging.

At 13 years old, I was mortified to leave my

Chloe Dewberry Fashion Editor

Contributors Yesica Balderrama Rachel Basel Britt Bivens Molly Clarke Ileana de Hoyos Sarah Fielding Pari Heidari Dana Heyward Cassandra Laper Christina Macaluso Sarah Malmgren Ciara McManus Marissa Mule Desiree Perez Zach Rosenbaum Aaron Valentic Venus Wong John Simone Editorial Faculty Advisor Albert Romano Advertising Faculty Advisor

SPONSORED BY FIT STUDENT ASSOCIATION ON THE COVER: W27 is PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER. PLEASE RECYCLE YOUR COPY AFTER READING.

Deep in the heart of NYC’s subway system, photographer Courtney Wall captured model Gabriela Moran wearing Opening Ceremony, as styled

by Chloe Dewberry.

quaint Virginia town to move to New York. Being my fifth move in six years, I didn’t want to leave everything behind—again— and start over. Looking back at my journal entries now, I laugh at my younger self. But I was just afraid—who isn’t, when they’re moving to NEW YORK? It welcomed me with open arms and said, “Come, I’ve got you.” New York has helped to mold me into the person that I am. It gave me an identity.

And if it hadn’t been for New York, who would I be today? Nobody. New York is alive, New York is ever changing, New York is me, and I will love nothing nor anybody as much as I’ve loved New York.

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CONTENTS On The Block 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 7 8

We Are the Champions: FIT Wins Fusion Fashion Show “There Are Sports at FIT?” All Hail the Queen, Miss FIT Lafayette 148 Hosts Alumni Event for FIT Graduates Future Mode: Yukiko Nakamura The Great Elegance of the Great Depression What the Health?

Founding Fathers of Fashion Faculty Spotlight: Andrew Weinstein

Dear Industry 9 10 11 11

The Real Way to Make It in New York Career N Coffee: Connie Wang, Style Director at Refinery29 Beauty Buzz: NYC Born & Bred Creativity Gets Down to Business At the The Wall Street Journal

Feature 12 13 14 15 16 18 18 19 19

New York, Home of the Brave, Land of the Unequal A Tale of Two Cities Will the Real New Yorker Please Stand Up? You Live in a What? Recycling New York City Landmarks Fashion Editorial: The (New) New Yorker Forgotten Memoirs of 1914 New Immigrants Stir NYC’s Melting Pot Cashing In On Culture: A Look at the Evolution of the Financial District Vanishing Ethiopia, A Documentation

lETTER FROM THE art Director

Haute Culture 20 21 22 23 24 24 25 25 26 26 28 29

Happy Days Are Beer Again: The Underground World of New York Speakeasies A Playlist for Your Empire State of Mind The Kings of Aerosol Food Truck Renaissance L’Wren Scott: Life, Love and Loss Book Review: New York Jackie Concert Review: Classixx & Gems Theater Review: Of Mice and Men Movie Review: Captain America: The Winter Soldier New York is such an Month in Review amazing place for art Following the Steps of a New York Past and design. New York is Outside Your Borough: Hidden Gems in NYC home to an incredible

FIT Speaks 30

A New York State of Mind

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Style on 27

The Fashion Design Club is putting on its annual exhibition Thursday, April 10, with the theme of “Alaia N’ Instinct.” The contest will be judged by industry professionals who will being giving out awards to the top 5 winners. The event will take place between 6:30–9:30 p.m. in The Great Hall and all who attend are able to submit votes for the “Fan Favorite Award” and have a chance to win raffles prizes.

Get Involved with W27 Art W27 is looking for junior designers to contribute to the paper starting with the April 2014 issue. Interested students can contact Art Director Kevin Braine by emailing w27art@gmail.com.

amount of museums and I will never take for granted the convenience of being able to run to MoMA for an afternoon.

We’re in this great city and need to remember to explore what’s available.

I’ll admit to my own faults of not getting to museums as much as I want to. I missed the Magritte exhibit at MoMA by one week and never made it the Guggenheim for Christopher Wool’s show.

Hopefully, this will inspire me to finally get over to the Whitney Biennial, but we’ll see how that goes.

Aside from the museums, New York has so much art and culture all around. I love the amount of artistic stimulation I encounter on a walk anywhere around the city and think it’s extremely important to try and find the beauty of art in everything. One of my favorite things to do is examine signage for typography along the street. Even in something that might be ugly, there’s beauty in the craft. New York provides the mix of modernist machine aesthetic with hand

craftsmanship that I so greatly desire.

I’ll be the first to talk about how New York is too expensive and stressful. But the city can also provide countless sources of inspiration. We often focus on how much the city drains us but we should remember to take advantage of what we have here.

New York also caters to a variety of people and their interests.

Everyone has his or her favorite things about the city, my favorite place being John’s Pizza on Bleeker Street. Aside from the phenomenal pizza, the inside of the restaurant provides a great atmosphere. The first room is completely covered in carved booths that show an amazing history of visitors. I can always go there and I know I’ll have a positive experience. I hope everyone can find a John’s Pizza of your own in New York.

ON THE BLOCK We are the Champions: FIT Wins Fusion Fashion Show

by Christina Macaluso

On the evening of March 9 at the final showing of the Fusion Fashion Show competition, judges revealed that FIT was indeed the best overall school for the second year in a row.

The Fusion Fashion Show is a fashion design competition held annually between freshman and sophomore students at FIT and Parsons. From the winning FIT design team, Fashion Design major Joshua Homic was voted best overall designer of the competition. W27 spoke with Josh about his experience as an up–and–coming fashion designer as well as the Fusion competition.

CM: What was the most challenging part about preparing for the Fusion show?

Photo courtesy of Fusion Fashion Show

Christina Macaluso: What made you audition for fusion?

Joshua Homic: I submitted my portfolio to Fusion for the opportunity to show my work in a public venue.

CM: Why did you chose FIT? Did you consider Parsons or any other fashion school?

JH: Parsons and FIT were the two main schools on my list of possible colleges. I chose FIT in the end because I wanted to focus on the technical aspects of fashion; construction, flat pattern and draping techniques. I had a portfolio interview with Parsons representatives at MCAD (Minneapolis College of Art and Design) and was able to decipher a vibe from the school, but however inspiring the campus, I did not believe in their curriculum.

JH: The most challenging part before the show was styling. I didn’t want the collection to look unachievable or removed from culture, yet I didn’t want the collection to look too street either. In the end, it was really a balance of accessories and attitude.

Besides styling, I felt the most stress the night before the show at the run through.

I can say that almost all of the designers were panicked about the show after the run through, because so many things went wrong. Thanks to Jimmy Ramey and Mariel Gurriere, the Director and Assistant Director of the show, everyone looked towards the positive and everything worked out for the final fashion shows.

In my collection “Monolia” there is a focus on how two dimensional silhouettes interact with the human body. I appreciate how a pentagon for instance breaks the expected form of the jacket, and how the

fashion. The designs are more than austere black silhouettes, they are a retaliation on the norm – evolving the lifestyle of HOMIC and what it looks like to be a part of it. This being said, I don’t want people to think its simply political; fashion is supposed to be fun and my designs are me having fun in the fashion playground with everyone who wants to join the me!

“My design aesthetic is guided by three main ideas – androgyny, geometry and minimalism.

I do not design a collection with a single idea in mind”

CM: What inspired your designs?

JH: My design aesthetic is guided by three main ideas – androgyny, geometry and minimalism. I do not design a collection with a single idea in mind, it is a more of an expansion on the endless storyline that the HOMIC [my brand] lifestyle defines.

same pentagon cut in bias velvet defines a vertical proportion. The color scheme was inspired by the operatic landscapes of the coastal regions in Ireland and Scotland. I thought that the designs should be equal in scale to this environment.

CM: How do you want people to perceive your designs?

JH: I want people to perceive my designs as a new perspective on tomorrow’s

CM: You won fusion...now what?

JH: Right now I am focusing on a film venture with a colleague of mine, which focuses on the different creative processes we have. Separately, I am also pursuing a lead on an endeavour that will further my brand, HOMIC. Besides all of that, in my free time I spend too much money on yards of double faced satin. Hopefully something fantastic will come from it!

CM: What are your plans after graduation?

JH: Post FIT, I will be launching my own label. I truly believe that if one doesn’t do it early rather than later, it becomes less important and the professional work one is involved in then dictates one’s schedule not intuition.

“There Are Sports at FIT?”

by Ileana De Hoyos

Yes, there are sports at FIT. “You might have a national champion sitting next to you in your jewelry design class, but you don’t know who they are, it’s kind of a cool thing,”Director of Athletics and Recreation Department, Kerri–Ann McTiernan said.

For those of us not directly involved in the athletic department, this might be not so

Photo courtesy of Carrie Thomas

obvious. And guess what? We’re actually pretty good. “Our student athletes are like hidden gems here,” McTiernan added.

And they definitely deserve some recognition, as this has been a very successful year for FIT athletes.

This fall season, FIT finished with All Americans named and four teams that finished top 10 in the country. These included Women’s Tennis (2nd), Cross Country(5th), Volleyball (7th) and Half Marathon (10th). There were swimmers that finished with all time best competing against Division I and finishing 5th in the NJCAA (National Junior College Athletic Association). “Two swimmers, Emily Mance and Katie VanBeek, did an unbelievable job, they set personal best records and finished in the top ten in the country in several events,” added McTiernan.

As for this Spring season, the Outdoor Track team has started with one competition down and three athletes have already qualified for nationals. The Men’s Tennis team have already clinched their first match against Kingsborough Community College and the Dance Company will be performing their spring showcase May 7 through 9.

“The term ‘student athlete’ gets overused in a lot of schools it almost gets to be cliché, but when you talk about student athletes at FIT, they are students first, and they are also a hell of an athlete.” said McTiernan.

“The athlete’s GPAs are off the charts! In more than 10 years that I’ve been here, it’s been rare that I have a student that has a GPA lower than a three, most of the teams’ GPA is usually more than a 3.5. I mean they’re the cream of the crop,” she

Photo courtesy of David Hildebrand

remarked. “These athletes are out there competing in FIT colors, doing an unbelievable job in classroom as students and as athletes in pools and courts.”

For more information on the athletics department and game dates, visit http:// fitnyc.edu/athletics.asp.

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All Hail The Queen, Miss FIT

by Cassandra Laper

At the Fashion Institute of Technology, we all know that we’re fabulous but some are just born with a little more sparkle than others. In order to decide the fiercest of us all, we host the duel of all fabulous duels: FIT’s Drag Pageant. The pageant took place March 20 and a new Queen of FIT was crowned with 12 inches (check out the picture of the crowned beauty, ya nastys). And for the record, no shade was thrown in the making of this article.

Viki Villainess won the title of Miss FIT with a number of outstanding performances. For opening number, Villainess emerged wearing a horned headdress and fitted, black, mermaid dress. The themed wardrobe continued with her first performance as she started her solo number with a cape bearing horned shoulders, as she owned the stage to Nicki Minaj’s verse in “Monster.” Villainess has been competing for three years in drag shows and when asked about how it feels to be Miss FIT, she said, “It’s so freaking cool!

I worked my butt off and I was really excited to perform. I’m just happy someone noticed!”

Although Villainess brought home the crown, the other girls put on one hell of a show. Runner–up, Ava Patron, had the

fiercest headpiece I’ve ever witnessed.

She wore a full cover, crystal headdress with a crystal spear on top. The headdress accompanied a flowing, white goddess–esque dress with a sparkling belt.

Everything in the wardrobe was custom Marc Bouwer. This was Patron’s first time competing for Miss FIT. Anita Biskuit and BibleGirl666 stunned the audience as well. Anita had the entire Creative Movement team shaking it for her solo performance and BibleGirl666 did Britney Spears proud. The entire experience was excellent and well worth the months of practice that went into creating this night. The audience was just as invested as the performers so the energy throughout the auditorium was fantastic the entire night. Did I forget to mention purple glow sticks were given out? One of the hosts, Scarlett Envy, was a competitor the last three years in Miss. FIT. She is the star of “Jacob’s Envy,” which the audience got a sneak peak viewing of during the pageant.

All in all, the night was a success night.

So, let’s welcome the new Queen of FIT in our best Beyoncé voice: “Heeeeyyyyyy Miss Viki!”

Photography by Cassandra Laper

Lafayette 148 Hosts Alumni Event for FIT Graduates

by Megan Venere

“Hi, my name is” are the four words that begin everyone’s favorite ice breaker activity. Gathered together in a large circle at a retail space in lower Manhattan, FIT graduates came together and introduced themselves and their major; although not everyone was willing to offer their graduation year. Those five minutes of introduction were an eye–opening experience for everyone in the room as they realized that although they come from different backgrounds, they all began their professional lives at the same place: the Fashion Institute of Technology.

On March 19, Lafayette 148, in partnership with the FIT Alumni Affairs, hosted a special FIT Alumni event at the Lafayette 148 downtown VIP studio.

The event was hosted specifically for the 24 employees working at Lafayette 148

who are graduates of FIT. The event was part of a series being hosted by the FIT Alumni Affairs office to celebrate FIT alumni working at prestigious companies in the industry, including Estee Lauder and Ralph Lauren. Along with the alumni present for the event, President Brown, Deans Arbuckle and Frumkin also were in attendance.

A small presentation was given at the event, led by President Brown and Deirdre Quinn, co–founder of Lafayette 148.

Quinn currently sits on the FIT Board of Trustees and has been a long time supporter of FIT. Quinn introduced the event, describing how incredible it is to be connected with FIT, and how inspiring the college is while President Brown spoke about how all FIT graduates and their successes are a “walking advertisement” for

FIT. She then presented a short video of students and faculty sharing their experiences at FIT. The event brought together alumni from all majors, and many of the guests did not realize how many of their co–workers came from the same alma mater. Ana Swarup, former FIT Student Association President, currently works at Lafayette 148 as an assistant to the VP of Sales and VP of Retail services. After visiting Lafayette 148 on a class tour during her senior year, Swarup was impressed by the atmosphere and energy of the company.

After interning for the company post– graduation, she assumed her position.

“The company is growing so much, and it’s great to be working for a company with such driven and dedicated people” Swarup stated. Swarup also works on the

Alumni Affairs team at FIT. Deirdre Quinn was excited that Lafayette 148 was chosen to host the event and said, “It was a great opportunity for our employees who are alums of the school to hear how things have progressed at FIT since the time they attended, and to learn about training and events which are available to them now.” When asked what attracts FIT graduates to come and work at Lafayette 148, Quinn stated, “[FIT graduates’] excitement about Lafayette 148 comes down to our culture, values and work environment. Our people care about one another, they are the heart of our organization,” she said. “Working on great product here is, of course, very exciting to them as well, but even that can lose its appeal when the culture isn’t in sync with your value.”

ON THE BLOCK

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The Great Elegance of The Great Depression

by Aaron Valentic

America in the 1930s – those who were alive to be witness to this decade remember it as a dark, dismal time known simply as the Great Depression. A time when

Photo courtesy of Rooms Magazine

the stock market crash of 1929 ruined the economic stability of the once glittering nation and millions of Americans lost their jobs and money became tighter than

ever in most households. The future itself was not looking bright, nor optimistic.

Despite the gloom, the fashions of the 1930s became a shining beacon of light for those dealing with unsettling circumstances. “Elegance in an Age of Crisis: Fashions of the 1930s,” the latest exhibit at the Museum at The Fashion Institute of Technology, sets out to uncover the unusual paradox of beautiful, elegant clothing during a time of economic restlessness.

The exhibition is split into five subsections covering all aspects of fashion and style in the 1930s, through displays featuring active wear, tailoring developments, formal wear, leisurewear and accessories. The era became a time for designers to enhance design techniques and to drastically change the looks that women and men were accustomed to, in addition to adding personalized flares to their ensembles.

The exhibition houses over 80 ensembles and over 30 accessories on display for the public. Themes focused on include a push on tailored clothing, as well as the idea of

escapism, in which most people wanted to escape from their everyday miseries brought on by the Great Depression. From a silk organza gown done in lace from Vionnet to a Munchen swimsuit in wool, techniques, as well as styles, have never quite been seen like this before.

Not only are the individual garments the highlight of the show, but some of the most prized items include shoes from Fred Astaire’s personal wardrobe (he had over 80 pairs), one of Katharine Hepburn’s gold embellished gowns, as well as a suit from the wardrobe of Edward VII, also known as The Duke of Windsor. The usage of celebrities in the exhibition help to showcase that the cinema, along with movie stars, helped ordinary people cope with the stresses of the day. Whether or not from the wardrobe of a celebrity, the additional pieces carefully selected for the exhibition tell a story all their own.

A time of significant rethinking, the Great Depression brought about new ways of accomplishing things in terms of business and economics, in order to help America salvage itself. In terms of

Photo courtesy of Retrospectivemodernism.wordpress.com

the fashion, designers rethought ordinary concepts and in turn brought new and innovative ideas to give consumers.

Whether a sense of imagination, escapism or simply how the garment is worn, the fashion of the 1930s helped to the pave way for many modern fashion concepts in use to this day. “Elegance in an Age of Crisis: Fashion of the 1930s” runs through April 19 at the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Future Mode:

Yukiko Nakamura

by Marissa Mule

Jackson Pollock once said, “Painting is self–discovery,” and for most visual artists, discovering oneself allows for an emotional connection to their work. The

to the art world. Nakamura is currently an intern for artist Bill Jensen, famed for his abstract and expressionist work, while working on her senior thesis with a concentration on abstract painting. The artist, as such, is also working on her solo exhibition at the Japanese Consulate of New York.

Bold, vibrant and related to tension, Nakamura's work stems back to her Japanese culture. Born and raised in Tokyo, the artist’s first memory related to the art world came as a result of color.

Beginning her career drawing solely with

In combining themes of nature, the universe, emotional and conceptual exploration, Nakamura communicates differently with her audience. Painting, being a connection to her life, has allowed the artist to express suppressed feelings deep within herself. Contributing to society non–objectively, the artist’s work is something of a conversation between the viewer and herself. “The process of making 'conversations' with my work, the viewer and myself allow my paintings to sense truth. My paintings are truthful to my intuition –the best way to express my concept and feelings,” she said.

“I feel abstract form is true to my feelings that cannot be expressed verbally.”

Photo courtesy of yukiwhite.com

visual arts world, comprised of painters, sculptors, printmakers and illustrators alike, is an expression of personalities – a glimpse into the artists life. This month, I sat down with 8th semester Fine Arts major, Yukiko Nakamura, as we discussed her expressionist paintings, visual language and deep connection

colored pencils, Nakamura then became interested in other aspects of the art world. “My first step in the decision to become interested in the art world started with a coloring book. I was almost always coloring and drawing in a coloring book,” she said. “Later on, I decided to try and make a living as an abstract artist. I feel abstract form is true to my feelings that cannot be expressed verbally.”

Nakamura moved to New York, on her own, after the decision to study art.

Having been inspired by the subway system and New York as a whole, the artist brings “new life” into her thesis.

In between stretching four 30”x40” linen canvases, she depicts bright and dark aspects of human life and culture.

Working best in oil paints, acrylic and Sumi ink, Nakamura also primes and

Photo courtesy of yukiwhite.com

staples her canvas so that each corner is perfectly adapt, allowing for the medium to stand out. The artist mentioned her love for the Chelsea Galleries and inspiring walks over to Midtown's most noted art hot spot. While living in New york, Nakamura's work has been featured in numerous galleries and group shows, such as the 440 Gallery, Jeffrey Leder Gallery, and Miami's own group show at SCOPE, Miami Beach.

The artist not only allowed a look–see into her life as an abstract painter, but also had some inspiration to share. “Make the most out of being an artist and do your best,” she said. “ But, don't forget to take a rest!”

After graduation, Nakamura plans to keep improving her work and live her life as an artist. You can purchase her work on Amazon Art from the Jeffrey Leder Gallery.

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What the Health?

How Filthy Is the Subway?

by Desiree Perez

Next time you’re on the subway, you may want to reconsider that hand sanitizer sale going on at Bath and Body Works.

Just like there doesn’t have to be a party for every morning gathering of train commuters, there doesn’t have to be a disease outbreak to catch a ride with a diverse population of bacteria. And the bacteria we’re referring to are not just the ones the rodents leave behind, but also the ones New Yorkers bring right from their home.

Culprit: Fecal Poles In November of last year, Weill Cornell Medical College came up with a project called PathoMap. The project’s purpose was to map pathogenic microbes in order to reduce public health threats.

“I envision these types of data, and automating these types of analyses to make them happen overnight would create a very smart city,” said Christopher Mason, the leader of PathoMap and an assistant professor at the Institute for Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell.

One of the most expected but not greatly accepted bacteria found was Enterococcus which is predominantly found in fecal matter; commuters aren’t washing their hands enough after using the restroom. Another bacteria type found was Streptococcus, the main culprit for strep throat, pink eye, meningitis and flesh–eating diseases like erysipelas and necrotizing fasciitis. These aren’t exactly

ideal microbes anyone would like to come into contact with while turning a turnstile or swiping a metrocard.

Solution: Subway Mittens

everyone was panicking because it was no secret that they carry infectious diseases.

Just by leaving behind feces and urine they can contaminate a person with hantavirus and the fatal virus can cause fever, swelling and diarrhea.

With the way the rodents climb stairs and benches, it’s safe to say they may be leaving behind traces of urine and feces that can easily come into contact with humans.

So, what’s being done about it?

Back in 2005, Emily A. Beck, founder of the product design firm LuLu Brands, attempted to protect transit riders from any pretentious germs and bacteria that are patiently waiting to go home with you by creating City Mitts anti–bacterial gloves. They were made of a microfiber that incorporates silver ions, the same ingredient that anti–bacterial Photo courtesy of flickr.com sanitizers and soaps Solution: Sterilizing Rodents contain. In 2011, another company called MetroMitt released a plastic disposable Early last year, the MTA decided that since glove for subway pole grabbing. Although poisoning rats was not sufficient to externot as fashionable as the City Mitts, minate them, they should instead think of MetroMitts are still available today for the the future by sterilizing the female rats. health conscious.

The chemical used was Contrapest which targets the ovarian follicles. Targeting the Culprit: Rising Rodents ovarian follicles allows for the chemical to transfer to fetuses of the pregnant rodents.

Remember that rodent crisis we went through after Hurricane Sandy? They were floating out of the underground and

Culprit: Airborne Microbes Norman R. Pace, a microbiologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, conducted a study on seven New York City subway stations to discover the different kinds of airborne microbes we come into contact with and to determine whether they’re harmful or not. At each station, two samples of five to six cubic meters of air were collected; that’s equivalent to the amount of air the average person breathes daily. Pace also collected samples from the above ground mezzanines.

While it’s good to know about the harmful bacteria lingering in the underground air, it’s also necessary to know that its population of microbes was found to be similar to the ones in the air we breathe outside. The only difference is that underground has higher loads of fungus. “We saw nothing unusual, certainly nothing threatening,” Dr. Pace said. “At least, no more threatening than the people standing next to you on the platform.”

Overall Solution Since the level of microbes in the NYC subway has yet to be reduced and the transit riders haven’t stopped littering, we should take it upon ourselves to protect our health. A lot of us can’t say farewell to our subway commute to school and work so we must be precautious by washing our hands regularly after using the restroom and using mitts for poles. You don’t want to have a pink eye or do you?

Founding Fathers of Fashion

by Sarah Fielding and Rachel Basel

In 1944, a select group of industry professionals led by Mortimer C. Ritter and Max Meyer sought to bring a greater level of education to workers in the fashion industry. They opened what was then known as The Fashion Institute of Technology and Design on the upper floors of the High School of Needle Trades, accommodating only one hundred students. Since its move in 1959 to Seventh Avenue, it has evolved into the institution it is today. But as a SUNY community college with only two majors available back then, design and scientific management, it was still recognized as one of the most innovative schools of its kind.

The Fashion Institute of Technology comes with an impressive list of founders and original board members. Many of these names are recognizable by the buildings dedicated to them. Mortimer C. Ritter, one of the main players in rallying for the creation of the school, was the first director and president of FIT. Max Meyer, Ritter’s partner and founder of the Educational Foundation, was the first chairman as well as having served as president for a short time. Morris Haft raised the necessary amount of funds to jumpstart FIT. He also served

as chairman and was on the Board of Trustees. At the time, Union Activist David Dubinsky was the president and Isadore Nagler was the vice president of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union. Nagler also served on the Board of Trustees. The last two founders were Abraham Potofsky and Andrew Goodman, a vice–chairman of the Board of Trustees.

Although not founders, many other influential people including Marvin Feldman, Gladys Marcus and Shirley Goodman were also played important roles in shaping FIT. Feldman was the longest serving president of FIT, holding that position between the years of 1971 and 1992.

During his time at FIT the college went through many advances: enrollment rose from 5,000 to 12,000, many more courses became available and the number of buildings expanded from two to eight.

Additionally, FIT began to offer Bachelor’s programs in 1975 and Master’s programs in 1979. Gladys Marcus originally was a professor at FIT and later became the Dean of the Liberal Arts School. She expanded the number of classes offered and initiated overseas curricula. Marvin Feldman stated, “If there is a single

person whose vision and guidance have been most influential in shaping FIT., that person is Shirley Goodman.” Since the beginning, Goodman had pushed the fashion industry to open its doors to the students of FIT, offering showroom visits and lectures.

Fast–forward to the year 2014 and FIT’s list of accomplishments, impressive alumni and industry respect is widely acknowledged. The school is frequently ranked as one of the top five fashion schools in the world while still maintaining affordable tuition for students. Today, twenty–nine unique and specialized majors, including the only toy design program in the country, make up FIT’s undergraduate program. The campus provides state of the art labs including those for the departments of Cosmetics and Fragrance, Textiles Technology, Jewelry Design and a broadcast studio among others. FIT puts a lot of effort into giving its students every chance to get involved, not only in school, but also in New York City–based industries. Multiple student clubs and the career services and internship center give students unique opportunities available only at FIT. The school has produced many talented alumni throughout the

years such as Michael Kors, who is easily recognized as one of the top designers in today’s contemporary fashion industry. In fact, Kors still makes an effort to come speak at his alma mater to help the younger generations succeed in the fashion industry. Nina Garcia is currently the creative director of Marie Claire where she has been for the past five years.

Garcia is also recognizably known for her spot on “Project Runway” as a judge, where she used to sit beside fellow alum Michael Kors. Calvin Klein is one of the more recent big names that comes to mind instantly when thinking about FIT alumni.

Since his departure from the institution he has received an honorary doctorate from the school and has gone on to become a renowned classic American designer.

The Fashion Institute of Technology has always been ahead of its time. Since its founding the mission has always been to educate, prepare and connect students with the fashion industry and allow them to explore its many career options.

Thanks to people such as Mortimer C. Ritter and Max Meyer, people interested in fashion have a college they can attend and receive a premier education at an affordable price.

ON THE BLOCK

FIT

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Faculty Spotlight: Andrew Weinstein

by Zach Rosenbaum

Andrew Weinstein is a trove of information on New York City history!

We’re lucky to have him at FIT to teach us all he knows about the Big Apple. When he’s not busy working with school– wide committees or giving lectures at renowned institutions, he’s teaching classes like Art in New York, Avant–Garde Film, Dada and Surrealism, New York Architecture and History of Industrial Design (and that’s not even half of the courses he teaches). He’s the perfect candidate to tell us all about art and architecture in New York, so W27 sat down with Weinstein to learn a little more about New York, our school and our surroundings.

Zach Rosenbaum: What initially drew you to the city?

Andrew Weinstein: From the time I was in high school in New Jersey, bookstores were a fascination of mine. At that time, there were many used bookstores in the city, many more than just The Strand.

There were small stashes of books just about everywhere in the East Village.

They originally catered to students at Cooper Union, Parsons and NYU. And back in the ‘20s through the ‘60s there had even been more. I was in heaven in those dusty places. After a Saturday, I’d come home with shopping bags of all kinds of books, “Best American” story collections, books on Surrealism, Beckett plays. Theaters in the same neighborhood also interested me—Classic Stage Company (one of the more traditional off–off Broadway theaters) and the Jean Cocteau Repertory Theatre and lots of much tinier start–ups that opened my eyes to a world I didn’t know in New Jersey.

ZR: Is the “downtown” culture changing or disappearing?

AW: I was just downtown yesterday, having coffee with an artist who’s lived in that neighborhood since the early ‘70s. It was on 2nd Avenue and 5th Street where we met, and interestingly enough, because I hadn’t been on that stretch of the avenue for a while, it occurred to me that it looks just like it did when I first came to visit the city. Not much has changed in the streetscape. My friend and I talked about this. He pointed out that you can see the change in the prices in the posted menus—because the restaurants are a lot fancier. At a glance you don’t see this. You don’t see how rents have risen and much wealthier people have moved in.

It’s the Manhattan story you hear over and over. Real estate values have increased and increased to the point where it’s hard

to survive in Manhattan unless you’re a millionaire. There has never been such a wide gap as there is today between the rich and the rest, not even during the Gilded Age. Manhattan is so expensive that only fancy restaurants and boutiques can do well here. Manhattan’s actually becoming a little boring.

ZR: How has the increase of prices in New York affected the art scene?

AW: They discourage interesting, risky things from happening. It’s not possible anymore to do something like stage an avant–garde play for two months in a vacant storefront, not in Manhattan at least. And, in fact for many people who come to New York, their destination is not Manhattan anymore—it’s other boroughs. Many young people with dreams of making it big in art or theater head first to Brooklyn. It’s an amazing shift from Manhattan as the de facto center of the city’s cultural life. And now even Brooklyn is becoming expensive.

ZR: So as prices increase, thus decreases “underground art?”

AW: You bet. How can young artists do cutting edge, experimental work if they have to spend their time worrying about making enough money to pay some ridiculously high rent? If you look at the history of the city, and you look at the different bohemias—Greenwich Village, Soho, the East Village, Williamsburg— each of them started cheap but have become prohibitively expensive for artists. Fourty–five years ago it cost next to nothing to live in Soho. Young artists could share a loft and support themselves with just a part–time job. And although they might have been living there illegally (because loft buildings were zoned as commercial, not residential), they had vast spaces where they could do any kind of work they wanted. But then the fact of all those artists concentrated in Soho, what used to be called “Hell’s Hundred Acres,” made that neighborhood trendy. New York Magazine ran a special on the real estate possibilities in 1974 and instantly prices skyrocketed. Artists who had bought their spaces lucked out, but many of the rest who were renting couldn’t afford the neighborhood anymore, so they packed up and moved on. Over and over, the same thing has happened. The artists gentrified one neighborhood after another, which was a great favor for real estate developers.

By now, even the latest bohemia, Bushwick, is starting to become rather appealing, so its days are numbered.

ZR: Have you seen any art movements occur in New York?

AW: Since I came to the city in the late ‘80s, I’ve seen a lot going on, but not so much within movements. Instead you’ve had artists exploring, really continuing to explore, new themes and issues, especially ones that challenge authority. Identity was a big theme when I came to New York, racial and ethnic and gender identity, for example. Artists focused on their own identities, ones that the mainstream

culture had marginalized one way or another. Another trend was the challenge to older distinctions between so–called “high art” and “low culture.” Some artists started taking inspiration from “low” things like comics (of course Pop art had started this in the early ‘60s). At the 14th Street & 8th Avenue subway stop, you see Tom Otterness’s sculptures, which are basically comic figures cast in bronze, a strange combination. I myself was very interested in the ‘90s in Art Spiegelman, who makes comics (or co–mix, as he calls them, for their mix of words and pictures). He created Maus, which won a Pulitzer Prize, about his father’s experience in the Holocaust. Then there was (and still is) street art, which challenged authority in a more public way.

That said, it helps to know a fair amount of postmodern theory to really come to terms with contemporary art.

ZR: Why was New York built on a grid system?

AW: The grid is really something. It dates back to 1811, and it was very influential.

It was imitated in Brooklyn and other cities in the US. The grid was all about real estate development. It allowed having lots in a standard size, 25 feet wide by 100 feet deep, which meant developers could understand and compare land values more easily. Also they could hire just one architect to make one plan that they could replicate in one rectangular lot after another. It was really all about money. The straight streets help to move people and goods back and forth, cheaply and swiftly.

Later on, it also made it possible to build a subway relatively cheaply because all they had to do was dig up the streets and cover them, instead of boring deep tunnels under buildings, the way they had to in London, for example.

ZR: What are some of the greatest architectural feats of New York?

AW: Central Park, started in 1858, is maybe the greatest, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. It had been a fairly derelict area filled with tanneries and dumps and shacks and fields. Olmsted crafted it into what he thought of as a kind of Utopia— as a Garden of Eden with four walls. It was designed as a refuge, especially for the poor who couldn’t afford to leave the city the way the rich could. It was a refuge from all of the trauma and insult of modern urban life that New Yorkers already hated by the 1850s.

The Brooklyn Bridge is an amazing achievement, too. They decided to build it after a really harsh winter when the East River froze and stopped ferry service. When it was finished in 1883, it had the longest span in the world at 1,595 feet with towers that are 276 feet high, using technology that a lot of people at the time thought would not work at that scale. In fact, when they finished it, a lot of people were afraid to cross in case it would collapse. So P. T. Barnum ran a caravan of elephants over the bridge to show how strong the bridge was, and then people trusted it. Digging down to bedrock

under water was another remarkable technical challenge. Men died in the process. Actually, they never reached bedrock under the Manhattan tower. If you can believe it, it’s built on sand. The two towers were the second tallest structures in the city, after the spire of Trinity Church, which the bridge designers didn’t want to upstage.

The development of skyscrapers is equally impressive. After all, it’s the incredible skyline of New York that people think about when they think about the city.

During most of the 20th century, New York set the record over and over for tallest building in the world. One of my favorites was the Singer Building for the Singer sewing machine company from 1908, a really beautiful building that was 612 feet high. Then in 1968 it set another record when it became the tallest building up to that time ever to be demolished.

ZR: Being the melting pot that it is, where does New York draw its deep architectural roots from?

AW: From the Dutch, who founded the city in 1625, there’s nothing, just the lay of the streets at the tip of Manhattan – though, come to think of it, maybe the spirit of the city is really Dutch, the “live and let live” attitude you still find in Amsterdam today, do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody. A few early buildings show the British influence with the Georgian and Federal styles. The grand brownstones you find from say the 1850s are Italianate style, though their architects were actually copying British buildings that looked Italian.

The biggest source of inspiration has been French architecture. From the Civil War to World War One, American architects made a point of studying in Paris. The Gilsey Hotel from 1867 just around the corner on Broadway and 29th Street is very French, with the same kind of mansard roof that the Singer Building had. For that matter, the Gilsey Hotel is very New York, too, because it’s cast iron, which you might not know unless you hold a magnet up to it. Rockefeller Center is deeply French, too. The promenade that leads down from Fifth Avenue has buildings that are the same height on both sides, and it leads to a big, important building that closes the view in the distance. In these ways it’s like the Champs–Élysées leading to the Arc de Triomphe.

ZR: Can you tell us a little about the architecture of FIT? AW: The fact that the buildings are eclectic and different is kind of interesting. Why impose conformity, especially at a school like FIT, where creativity and heterogeneity are important? This was an intentional decision to make them different from one another, since almost all the buildings on campus were by the same architects, de Young, Moscowitz & Rosenberg.

The stamped metal façade of the Feldman

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Center, or C building, as we used to call it, imitated the Mobil Building from 1956, on 42nd Street at Lexington Avenue, right across from the Chrysler Building. It’s a huge building made with these stamped aluminum pieces that were supposed to be self–cleaning, with the way that rain water pours down them. Whether or not de Young, Moscowitz & Rosenberg were buying into this same idea I don’t know (because our façade is not very clean).

They probably just liked the trendiness of it, and how it looks like a fabric pattern.

The ultimate model for most campus buildings would be Le Corbusier’s La Tourette, near Lyon, France. That building was a monastery, which I suppose is a good theme for a place of study. More to the point, La Tourette has giant reinforced concrete slabs like columns holding it up which are similar to ours.The bridge/ walkway on Seventh Avenue between the Goodman and Pomeranz Centers, or E and D Buildings, is probably making an allusion to the design of the Bauhaus.

AW: I was an adjunct professor here for a long time. At various times at the beginning, I was also teaching at BMCC, NYU and the Cooper Union. I liked places I could walk to from my apartment in the West Village—initially that was my criterion [laughs]. But I’ve come to appreciate FIT’s many qualities and am very happy to work here. It’s quite special and increasingly rare these days for faculty and administrators to work together to make school policies the way they do at FIT. FIT has a great art history department, with an excellent digital image library. But most of all the students are so interesting. It’s a quirky school, as we all know, with students who come from so many different backgrounds, a real expression of New York City. And while they’re often overworked, I find that the students are highly motivated and always visually sensitive. When we look at artworks in class, they often point out things I didn’t see. It makes it fun and rewarding to teach here.

Photography by Zach Rosenbaum

ZR: How did you arrive at FIT?

dear industry The Real Way to Make It in New York

by Britt Bivens Kate O’Riley: It may sound immature to say that I was sick of working for other people, but it was a bigger sense of that.

I worked for someone for ten years and made my way up from his design assistant to VP of the company. Over those years, I learned a lot and realized that, between that, and the freelance that followed after that company went out of business; I knew enough about the industry and had the contacts to do it for myself.

Photo courtesy of Line and Label

On the border Williamsburg and Greenpoint, near trendy outposts like OAK and Five Leaves, Kate O’Riley opened her store, Line & Label, almost a year ago. A veteran of the New York fashion industry, O’Riley used everything that she learned since fashion school, and launched not only her store, but also a collection in a neighborhood that is rapidly changing. W27 sat down to speak with her and talk about how both the New York fashion industry and her own neighborhood shaped who she is as a designer and retailer.

Britt Bivens: What made you go out on your own and what made you feel that you were ready to do so?

I had this AHA! moment when I was in a fitting at my last job where everyone was looking at me for all this guidance and expertise. They were asking me questions about the garment, ‘Why is it doing this, how do we fix it?’ and it was then that I realized just how much I knew.

It took me back to when I would watch Charles (Charles Chang–Lima, whom O’Riley worked for) do fittings, taking notes of things we were changing and discussing. He did very high–end gowns that sold all over the world and we would have market weeks where 30 percent of the year’s income was dependent on those appointments being successful.

Everything had to be perfect.

and luckily, they did. You have to show that you really want to make it, that you’ll do anything.

Ever since I was in middle school I wanted to be a designer. I loved fashion.

But the design part seemed to be something really different, and even though I’d gained all of this experience, I still questioned if I had the talent to do it. I looked at the business part of it and realized that I was really good at organizing and managing, and I knew how crucial that is. It’s actually helped me a lot in taking the next steps.

BB: Shows like “Project Runway” lead many aspiring designers to believe it’s not that hard to get instant success. What steps did you take to set yourself up right?

KO: I was in the industry for 14 years before I opened my shop and I don’t even think that’s very long! I had good jobs with good salaries so that allowed me to save some money to help me get started.

BB: Now you’re a designer and also a retailer. Was this your dream as a kid and your reason for going to fashion school?

I did a lot of prep to open this place.

First of all, I thought about what was more financially viable– opening a store or producing a line. I concluded that opening a store was a better option because although you’re making some of the merchandise, you’re also buying some to add variety. I currently make about 30 percent of the apparel and about 50 percent of the bags in my store. Having both was always part of my plan and the inspiration for my name– I would have my line but also carry labels.

KO: I’ve only just started thinking of myself as a designer. I went to fashion school in Chicago and then moved here because I wanted to get into the industry.

Needless to say, my first job came about through an unpaid internship. I figured if I proved myself to them, they’d hire me

I made a business plan and worked with a financial advisor as well as a business advisor who helped me get a small business loan. I also have family members with business backgrounds which definitely worked in my favor.

When I worked with Charles I did

Later, I freelanced for Lisa Perry in production and ended up at Fashion Haus, a German company that brought me in to help them set up all of its manufacturing processes. I ended up staying there for two years.

the bookkeeping, so that helped me understand how it all works. I learned how to be organized financially, and that is a necessity. I also learned about merchandising, which means having all the key pieces in the collection and they’re principles that I bring into my business as a retailer.

BB: Why Greenpoint? How do you feel about the change that’s taking place in the area?

KO: When I first moved here from Chicago in 2000 I was working with a realtor. She told me that I had to look out of the city to be able to afford anything with a bit of space. She also said that because I was young , I could manage the (long) walk to the L train to get into the city for work. The first year was about adapting, but I got so used to it and I really love the neighborhood and can’t imagine being anywhere else.

Now there have been so many people that have moved into the neighborhood.

When I thought about a store, I felt that I wanted to have a place that people would want to come into that was right in your neighborhood and represented the local style. Williamsburg is saturated now and so much of the merchandise in the stores looks the same, so I saw a space in the market.

I wanted to carry things that I would wear, that my friends would wear, more of a cool feminine look without being hipster. Then this space opened up and it had the design space in the back– which was crucial– and that was it. The neighborhood is growing around me, which will bring more people into my store, which is great. Line & Label is at 568 Manhattan Ave or www. lineandlabel.com

DEAR INDUSTRY

FIT

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Career N Coffee: Connie Wang, Style Director at Refinery29

by Venus Wong

look for a job or I’d have to move home.

At the three–month mark, a position at Refinery29 opened up. Being that the economy was in such a horrible state, I believe that the stars really aligned for me to get this job. Christene [Barberich, the editor–in–chief] took a leap of faith in hiring me because I was so new to the city, but I think she saw that there was a lot of room for me to grow as an editor.

VW: What is your day–to–day like?

Photo courtesy of Venus Wong

Connie Wang is hardly your typical style director.

Such a distinguished job title typically conjures the image of a straight–faced, stiletto–clad editrix storming in and out of her office, iPhone in one hand and skim latte in the other. But with her laid–back outfit, affable personality and game–for–anything attitude, Wang could not be more atypical.

Her unconventionality is befitting for her job at Refinery29, the popular NYC–based fashion website, which has been seen as a game–changing force in digital media. As style director, Wang’s duties range from covering Fashion Week to oil pulling (a new beauty fad of holding a tablespoon of coconut inside one’s mouth for 20 minutes to clean out toxins in the body) on camera for the site’s beauty video series.

Here, she opens up about her early years as a fashion– depraved suburban teen, her first run–in with Anna Wintour and how to keep up in this ever–evolving city.

Venus Wong: Tell us a little bit about your background, and how you got interested in fashion.

Connie Wang: I grew up predominantly in the suburbs of Minnesota. There wasn’t really a fashion scene. I didn’t want to buy clothes that everybody else was already wearing, so my outlet was mainly thrift shopping. Much of my daily fashion inspiration came from magazine editorials, which, needless to say, didn’t exactly win me ‘Best Dressed’ in high school. Fashion didn’t seem like a tangible career, as looked nothing like the rich and perfectly–primed women on the society pages. But Jane really presented me a new guard of editors that were relatable and approachable, and it became my bible. The show, “The Hills” was also becoming this huge phenomenon at the time, and it exposed to me the whole ‘internship–to–job’ process in the industry I wanted to work in.. I really looked up to Whitney [Port] and Emily [Weiss] on the show for their work ethic.

VW: What was the first big break in your career?

CW: My first internship was at Glam Media, and I commuted an hour and

a half daily. I got a lot of SEO training, and it was interesting to learn the strategic side of content publishing. The next summer, I applied for an online internship at Teen Vogue, and was over the moon when I got an interview. I remember being in the Condé Nast elevator and suddenly regretting my decision to wear socks under my sandals.

Just as I was struggling to take them off, the elevator stopped, and Anna Wintour walked in! I figured that nothing worse could happen, so all my nerves that I previously had about the interview disappeared. I got the offer and began interning simultaneously at the now–defunct Radar. Having the best of both worlds, doing an online and print internship, was instrumental in helping me figure out that I preferred working in the digital medium.

VW: How did you eventually transition to your job at Refinery29?

CW: After graduating from UC Berkeley, I worked at Chictopia for about a year. I started as an intern, and then filled in as the editor of Everybody Is Ugly. It was a great learning experience, but I didn’t like working in San Francisco, so I moved to NYC. My parents gave me six months to

CW: I work a lot on the big newsletter features, and make sure I direct and shape them properly. I do everything from finding the perfect freelancer, to making sure that the artwork matches the message, to ensuring that the articles are meeting our marketing and ad sales goals. It’s as much about maintenance as building something new. I also meet with new designers, publications and app creators to find out what’s next–to–know for our readers.

VW: Do you have any advice for aspiring fashion writers, in relation to your own approach to working in this field?

CW: It’s important to have something that sets you apart from the crowd. For me, it was my relatable voice. Reading a lot of the stuff that’s out there is also key, that’s the only way you’ll know where you stand as a writer. Tavi [Gevinson] once said something along the lines of ‘Writing is 90% vomit, 10% edit’ and I completely agree. When it comes to online writing, my gut–reaction is usually what I go with. The more you write, the more you hone your instincts and know which angles to use to make the content most engaging. Eventually, you will have an approach where everything you do is for the greater good of the publication. Every place has their show ponies, but you should always strive to be the work horse, not the show pony.

VW: Looking back at when you first moved to the city as a summer intern, and your incredible career now, what can you tell us about your growth as a New Yorker?

CW: I think it’s essential for anyone that’s broke and starting out in the city to still go out and have fun with your friends.

Once you’re a working, responsible adult, you can’t revert to that stage anymore.

You have to live through those years of slumming it in the living room, spending your entire paycheck on rent, and having dollar pizza for dinner to really have that ‘New York’ experience and appreciate what the city has to offer. That vulnerable feeling of loneliness and rejection just kicks you in the ass and makes you understand that no one will hand you anything, and you have to take all the opportunities you get. Figuring out what you want in life and coming into your own in this amazing city is the ultimate New York experience.

Follow Connie on Twitter at @conniewang

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Beauty Buzz:

NYC Born & Bred: Beauty Edition

by Dianna Mazzone

We love beauty so much, we’d be willing to cross time zones, borders and even oceans in pursuit of the perfect product. But, lucky for us, as NYC–dwellers, we don’t have to: Some of the most innovative cosmetics in the world were born and bred in our own backyard. And, in honor of our New York City issue, we’ve rounded up our favorites – all from brands based right here in the heart of NYC. 1. SW Basics Brooklyn’s SW Basics is niche beauty at its best. The eco–conscious skincare brand uses simple, wholesome ingredients to craft potent products that truly work. The company is of the mindset that less is more. They preach that using fewer ingredients lessens the chance for skin irritation – and of course, the ecological impact of production on the whole. Packaged in glass bottles and created in small batches once a week, SW Basics’ products are the definition of sustainable beauty. Our pick?

The brand’s all–natural makeup remover, formulated with sweet almond, olive and jojoba oils.

2. Bond No. 9 Bond No. 9’s entire business is centered upon the brand’s NYC roots. Created and founded in 2003, its flagship boutique is located at – you guessed it – 9 Bond Street in NoHo. A pioneer within the scent space, Bond No. 9 is on a mission to restore artistry to perfumery and mark every New York neighborhood with a fragrance of its own. And, with eau de parfums available in iterations including

Bryant Park, Chinatown, Astor Place and Coney Island, the brand is well on its way to achieving its goal. FIT students may find themselves drawn to a dewy, citrus–y scent, called, of course, Fashion Avenue.

3. Malin + Goetz A celebrated unisex skin care brand, Malin + Goetz has made major strides in streamlining and simplifying the way people care for and cleanse their faces and bodies. Launched first as an apothecary just streets away from FIT, the brand has since expanded, opening a second location on the Upper West Side just last year.

Though Malin + Goetz’s bread and butter may be skin care, the label has grown to include hair products, candles and fragrances – all formulated in New York City and its surrounding areas. As for us, we’re big fans of the brand’s rum body wash.

It’s natural, hydrating and boasts of spicy, one–a–kind scent.

making a name for itself as the go–to nail salon for editors, celebrities and insiders alike. With three diverse locations (in TriBeCa, SoHo, and Midtown), the salon continues to cultivate a serious following – and for good reason. Tenoverten is committed to bringing back the “simple pleasure” in getting a mani or pedi, providing an experience that feels anything but cramped, crowded, or rushed. As if that’s not enough to love, the brand’s own polishes are both five–free and cruelty– free. We’ll be wearing Rivington, a bright turquoise, all summer long.

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3 Photos courtesy of SW Basics, Bond NO.9, Malin + Goetz, and Tentoverten

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4. Tenoverten Tenoverten’s namesake line of lacquer may be sold in Sephora stores nationwide, but the brand got its start right here in NYC,

Creativity Gets Down to Business At the The Wall Street Journal

by Aaron Valentic

Professor John Simone’s Journalism class has officially reached a new milestone.

In the past, Professor Simone’s class has toured The New York Times offices in Midtown, but due to more restrictive policy changes, student tours have been all but discontinued. This allowed for a new tradition for his class – a chance to receive the official tour of The Wall Street Journal’s midtown headquarters.

Located at 1211 Sixth Avenue in Midtown, The Wall Street Journal’s office is a modern business and technological epicenter– housed on multiple floors within the building, broken up into vast subsections based on the different sections of the publication.

The Journal is published six times a week and is the nation’s largest circulation daily with just over three million combined readers including digital–only readership.

The Wall Street Journal was founded in 1882, followed by its sister publication, Barron’s, in 1922 (which tends to focus

even more so on finance and investments).

Today, there are over 2,000 reporters working diligently to bring news to their readers. The offices feature large expanses of walls and are home to writers who have won Pulitzer Prizes and created the Journal’s inimitable headlines.

Students were greeted in the office by Marina and Jackie, the official tour guides for the newspaper and were quickly ushered into one of many conference rooms.

It was here that students were met by Fashion Assistant, Ray Mosci, who works for the weekend edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Mosci spoke about her prior work experiences in the fashion industry, as well as what a typical week is like for her at WSJ. As the former assistant to Senior Fashion Editor Zanna Roberts Rassi at Marie Claire, Mosci curates timely fashion

spreads for the weekend edition (which is published every Saturday) for both men and women.

“The youth and freshness of the weekend page is meant to draw in a younger audience, but keep the essence of The Journal,” said Mosci in regards to the changing demographics as well as the overall visual appeal of the fashion section.”As to the content of the lifestyle features, no matter if it is a new shoe or a new fur, it has to matter to the reader in order for them to want to purchase it right then and there, Mosci explained.

“Everything must be newsworthy and if the topic has been covered by other publications, the WSJ will reject it in favor of unique stories,” noted Mosci, “And it has to be interesting; it can’t just be something beautiful. There has to be a second element, something unique to everything.”

Yet, Mosci wouldn’t have landed her dream job in New York if it had not been for internships within the fashion industry (with companies such as Los Angeles Magazine, The LA Times, Flaunt Magazine and Marie Claire). She noted that internships at The Wall Street Journal are in fact paid and held during the summer months.

After a quick meeting with Mosci, the students were shown the other floors of the publication, from editorial to broadcast television, filled with endless rows of desks with editors hunched over their desktop computers typing away on their next story.

The first trip to the WSJ gave students valuable insight into the daily workings of a prominent news publication located a few just a few subway stops north of the FIT campus. It is virtually certain that there are destined to be more visits in the future.

FEATURE New York, Home of the Brave, Land of the Unequal

by Yesica Balderrama

The costs of rent, property and living expenses in New York City continue their relentless rise. Scenes of Manhattan a few decades ago show graffiti ridden trains, vacant factories in midtown, a destitute West Village and abandoned tenement buildings in the East Village. Today, name brand stores, high–rise buildings and an influx of settlers have replaced the old nitty gritty scenes.

Brooklyn, the second borough to experience gentrification, is home to four of 25 top gentrified zip codes in the nation: 11205, 11206, 11237 and 11238. These include parts of Clinton Hill, Williamsburg, Fort Greene, East Williamsburg, Bushwick, Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and Bedford– Stuyvesant. Rent increases are pushing Brooklyn residents deeper into the interior, or to the edge of Queens, to uptown Manhattan, and the Bronx, to name a few.

Rent prices have increased while the earnings have decreased. The average rent price increased 8.6 percent inversely with median income, which decreased by 6.8 percent between 2007 and 2011. Census data shows Manhattan’s average annual income is only $66,000, Brooklyn’s is $44, 850, Queens’ is $54, 373 and Staten Island’s is $70, 295. Manhattan has a median monthly rent of $3,100, and Brooklyn a median rent of $2,800. How do New Yorkers pay their rent? About 24 percent of New Yorkers spend 30 percent to 50 percent of their income on rent, with 31 percent of New Yorkers spend over 50 percent. Rent in Brooklyn is now the second highest in the country after Manhattan.

Rent prices in Harlem have been rising for the past four years, and the South Bronx is now a target for its cheap rent prices in which developers are eyeing to build and establish new homes and businesses in. The average income in Harlem and the South Bronx rose 15 percent from 2005 to 2010 with a rent increase of 10 percent over the last decade. The Economic Development Corporation unveiled a $6 million plan to revamp the Metro–North Station in Harlem, with restaurants, urban furniture, a farmer’s market, renovations, safety improvements and clearing the streets of trash by 2016.

Another major plan is the $700 million East Harlem Media, Entertainment and Cultural Center approved in 2008.

In Queens, the Flushing Landmark building, a 92,500 square–foot structure is on the market for $92 million. The area has attracted and prompted companies such as HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and Nordstrom to open branches. A parking lot space in Flushing Commons will be converted into a residential and business project for the price of $850 million and The Fleet Financial Company will be building a hotel and a building in Corona, Queens.

Photo courtesy of NYdailynews.com

The Willets Point Project in Flushing, Queens will include new businesses and rents on a site across from Citi Field.

Other projects include the 5Pointz luxury towers, the 7 train extension and the redevelopment of the USTA Tennis Center.

About 80 percent of businesses in this area are small businesses and are at risk of being priced out. An insurance broker, Eduardo Giraldo, sees an investment potential, “Roosevelt is not a goldmine, Roosevelt Avenue is a rough diamond.

Once it’s polished, it’s going to be priceless.” Even Astoria has recently established its first Kaufman Arts District, a cultural art hub hoping to attract film enthusiasts.

These costs have pushed New Yorkers who cannot afford to keep their homes, to shelters or the streets. In 2004 the city initiated a program, Homebase, with the goal of reducing homelessness by providing rental assistance and social services.

The goal was to reduce the city’s homeless population by two–thirds during a period of five years. Families now spend 22.6 fewer nights in homeless shelters because of it. However, 71,000 people, 21,000 of whom are children, still spend their nights in homeless shelters.

Multiple minimum wage jobs do not provide enough funds to afford to leave the shelter. More than half of people in homeless shelters are educated, up to college level, and 79 percent have a work history. A program backed by federal and state funds that provided rent subsidies for up to two years was withdrawn in 2011 after depleted resources. Between 2003 and 2010 $1.7 billion was spent for affordable housing creating 108,683 units for an estimated 220,000 people.

Another issue is the growing income gap between the poor and the affluent, with the latter earning a third of the city’s income. The average middle income is about $49,000, the affluent income is $800,000 and the poor income is $10,000. An estimated 47 percent of New Yorkers make less than 150 percent of the poverty threshold, meaning they are barely getting by. In Brooklyn, one in five people are below the poverty line, and

a quarter receives food stamps. Limited space, zoning rules, rent control, property taxes, high construction costs, affordable housing–set asides and minimum parking requirements are other contributors to unaffordable housing.

More programs exist offering affordable housing to those who need it, but resources are limited. The Mitchell–Lama program, created in the mid–20th century, is a tax incentive used to create 44,600 units of affordable housing. The New York Housing Authority provides housing vouchers to 7 percent of New Yorkers; they spend no more than 30 percent of their income on rent. There are currently 160,000 people on this waiting list. Josh Barro from Business Insider comments, “There are lots of cheap apartments in New York. You just can’t get any of them.”

Housing analysts promote rent regulation and housing subsidies to provide affordable housing for low–income earners and preserve the mixed culture of NYC. Inclusionary zoning, a law requiring luxury buildings to make 20 percent of their units affordable for the median income of the area, has helped create affordable housing. However, this rule applies to new buildings and does not include existing property. It is a minor solution to a much larger problem. Mayor Bloomberg proposed upzoning part of Midtown in the East Side last year during his term, which would charge new buildings developmental inclusionary zoning fees. The plan would amass millions of dollars in funds to create more affordable housing units. Current plans include pushing back on rising rents and increasing taxes for the wealthy.

Gentrification has unfortunately caused thousands of people to lose their homes and businesses. However, crime rates are lower, the streets are cleaner, incomes are higher and these changes have paved the way for new businesses, creating new jobs and homes in the process. Mayor Bill de Blasio plans to create 200,000 units of affordable housing over the next decade, with the goal of keeping NYC affordable to all.

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A Tale of Two Cities

by Dara Kenigsberg

When de Blasio was running platforms was based on the fact that the city is increasingly vdivided between the rich and poor; he called it, “a tale of two cities.” On his campaign website he states, “Nearly 400,000 millionaires call New York home, while nearly half of our neighbors live at or near the poverty line.

Our middle class isn’t just shrinking; it’s in danger of vanishing altogether.

Addressing the crisis of income inequality isn’t a small task. But if we are to thrive as a city, it must be at the very center of our vision for the next four years.”

While the recession has passed, according to data released by the Census Bureau in 2013, the poverty rate in the city continues to rise and the disparity between the rich and the poor remains obstinately large. According to the New York Times, David R. Jones, president of the Community Service Society, a research and advocacy group, said, “We’re three years into a recovery and the poverty rate is creeping upward. I don’t think this has to mean an all–out call for class warfare, but it’s a serious threat to the viability of the city of New York. This is going to drag us all down.”

The executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, Joel Berg, believes that the increase in food stamp recipients could have to do with government policies such as the shortening of application forms and the fact that they no longer need finger imaging. However, he told the New York Times, “One million New Yorkers on Medicaid are not getting food stamps and a large number would be eligible.”

The gap between the rich and poor proves that wealth has remained within a very small percentage of the population, leaving New York City stratified. Among all five boroughs, the average income of the lowest fifth was $8,993, while the highest fifth made $222,871. The top 5 percent made $436,931, which is just below 50 times as much as those with the lowest income. The New York Times said,

“Manhattan maintained the dubious distinction of having the biggest income gap of any big city in the country. The mean income of the lowest fifth was $9,635, compared with $389,007 for the top fifth and $799,969 for the top 5 percent — more than an eightyfold difference between bottom and top.”

City, there were also massive discrepancies. The poverty rate in Manhattan in 2012 was about 18 percent and 31 percent of all Bronx residents lived below the poverty line. The median household income in the Bronx was $32,460, while the median household income in Manhattan was over $67,000.

Unfortunately, this is not just happening in New York. The American middle class is getting smaller, and despite economic growth, income inequality is getting wider. According to USA Today, “Cities with high income inequality also included extremely wealthy areas like

De Blasio blamed the growing income gap on Mayor Bloomberg. He believed that because Bloomberg was a billionaire, those were the people he was looking out for, not for the “average Joes.”

However, according to NYSUN.com, “A Congressional Budget Office study showed that household income for the wealthiest one percent nearly tripled between 1979 and 2007 while the bottom 20 percent of the population saw its income grow by less than 20 percent.”

This shift is believed to be caused by a growing wage gap and fluctuating social structures, especially since the rise of single–parent households.

“Nearly 400,000 millionaires call New York home, while nearly half of our neighbors live at or near the poverty line” the Bridgeport–Stamford metro area in Connecticut, or the New York City metro area, which have among the wealthiest populations in the country.” There is an extreme disproportionality between the extremely wealthy and the extremely poor.

In 2012, 11 percent of household incomes were above $200,000, which is almost double the national rate. According to USA Today, “However, the lower 60 percent of households by income accounted for less than a quarter of the area’s annual total, and together earned less than the top 5 percent of households.” In New York

Studies have found that unequal incomes reduce happiness and cause jealousy and envy. These are basic emotions that can develop at as early as four months of age.

There is evidence, according to zoologists and biologists, demonstrating that even great apes loathe inequality, proving that our emotions towards income inequality are derived from our primal instincts.

Unfortunately, the discussion about the growing gap between the rich and poor is narrowly focused. According to The New York Times, “our outrage at the top one percent is distracting us from the problem that we should really care about: how to create opportunities and ensure a reasonable standard of living for the bottom 20 percent…We should try to ensure that everyone has a fair opportunity to find a great life.” The article continues, “It’s a quest that will require political will and ingenious policies. President Obama’s proposed expansion of the earned– income tax credit goes in this direction, but we need more.”

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Will the Real New Yorker Please Stand Up?

by Dara Kenigsberg

I am a real New Yorker. Not a transplant.

Not someone who moved here when they were young, but a New Yorker through and through. I was born at Lenox Hill Hospital and raised on the Upper West Side, where I lived for the first 18 years of my life. But I have lived all over this great city: on the Upper East Side, in Gramercy, the West Village and Murray Hill. I love everything about it and hold it very close to my heart. It is a part of me. This city has shaped the person I have become and the person I will be. I am a New Yorker and will never leave this magnificent city because it is who I am.

I come from a family of New Yorkers, going back four generations, and we are all very proud of this. When my mother’s friends left to raise their children in Westchester so they could have backyards and bicycles, my mom wanted theater, architecture and music. Being raised here, I was not deprived of anything. I got the bicycle (and rollerblades) and instead of a backyard, I had Riverside and Central Park, which are definitely bigger than any backyard in Westchester. I had all of these things and more. I had culture.

I had fine dining. I went to musicals. I saw the Nutcracker at Lincoln Center and danced outside of it. I built my first snowman on my terrace when I was two years old. I went to art shows. Beautiful things and extraordinary architecture constantly surrounded me. Every year, after the Thanksgiving Day Parade, we gave food to the homeless. Growing up here taught me so many things that I never would have learned anywhere else because I never would have gotten the chance to experience what I did.

things and knowing that I am one of a select few that was born here and still live here, that makes me believe that everyone else is just visiting.

I recently read an article in The Huffington Post titled “How to Spot a New Yorker.” Laden with quotes like, “We treat sidewalks like highways,” “We’re not in Times Square. No New Yorker, except people who are forced to go there for their jobs, are there” and “We’re wearing black somewhere on our person,” the article was spot on. Not many people can say that they are a real New Yorker, and unfortunately we are a dying breed. But I am one of the lucky ones; I am a real New Yorker.

by Yessica Balderrama

The memories of when I walked the fields of my grandparents’ grain fields are vague.

I remember clear streams, the mountains peering behind my grandmother’s house, our tangerine tree, singing in choir, the multi–colored lights at las posadas, and the silver foil white–feathered angel wings mother made for me. I moved to New York City with my parents when I was five years old from Morelos, Mexico.

Growing up I went to school with friends who also came from distant places. They came from India, China, Iran, Egypt, Colombia, Greece, and Venezuela, to name a few. I learned bits of Urdu, Hindi, Farsi, the difference between Cantonese &

Mandarin Chinese and Spanish dialects, and about my friends’ cultures by visiting their homes. I admired the heavily beaded colorful saris my friends wore, my friend April’s Filipino accent and the red envelopes exchanged at Chinese New Year. I’m grateful for this exposure and the way it opened my mind to different ways of living and understanding life.

As a teenager I spent hours aimlessly wandering by myself. I purposely got lost, talked to strangers and went to places I typically would not enter. NYC was an orange I took in my hands, dug my fingers into, and pulped. I savored every drop of juice that flowed from it. I questioned and learned about life from café windows, stoops, balconies, and inside clubs, libraries, and museums. The city was a friend, a teacher, and a confidant during a time of confusion. One can learn a lot by simply stopping to observe from any corner, at any time.

My childhood friends and I are about to enter our respective fields, and are thankful for growing up in this city. I’m reluctant to identify as anything, but I do not hesitate calling myself a “New Yorker.”

This is the closest place to home and each time I leave I want to return to the grimy streets, the hoards of people, the taxicab horns, the rocking of the subway trains, the Brooklyn Bridge during inky winter nights, and the glass–littered Coney Island sand. I’m dependent on the constant energy and the ceaseless go–go–go mentality.

Weekend nights are the best cup of coffee.

My origins are too distant for me to remember clearly. What matters is now, and now I’m here. Will I still live here forty years from now? I might become enamored with another place and move there.

Regardless of where I live, NYC will always flow in my veins; it has been the ground I walked on, the rails I held, the words I couldn’t say, the eyes I peered into, the hands I held, the windows I looked out from, the waves I jumped into, the stone I cast, the zipper I couldn’t mend and the gum stuck on the bottom of my sneakers.

I walked to school with my friends who were all born here. We were part of a club that not many got to be a part of. We got to see firsthand what was going on in the world. I went horseback riding in Central Park, did gymnastics at Chelsea Piers and played soccer at Riverbank. I did everything a child living in the suburbs did, but I also got to experience what this city had to offer; things most children, and even some adults, didn’t get to do.

But it wasn’t just the experiences, it was how they made me feel, the intangibles, that make me a real New Yorker. There is something about living through these Photo courtesy of The New Yorker

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You Live in a What?

Recycling New York City Landmarks

by Zach Rosenbaum

You never know what can happen in a New York minute. Things change in the Big Apple twice as rapidly as the rest of the world it seems—especially in real estate. Rents in the city have been skyrocketing incessantly (surprise), but it’s gotten to a point where original New Yorkers are being ousted from Manhattan because of absurd prices.

Costs have increased 5.9 percent in the last two years, according to New York Magazine. Real estate is catering to that 1 percent who are rolling in the dough, leaving average–income New Yorkers to scramble for funds.

building’s front window, you’ll see the spiral staircase that is so characteristic of old–time firehouses.

On another note, New York is known for its many landmarks buildings— the Empire State building, The New York Public Library, Grand Central.

But sadly, many important landmarks Photo courtesy of Wikipedia did not make it to see the 21st cenAlso in the West Village is what was once tury. The old Penn Station, a spectacular Beaux–Arts building designed by McKim, St. Vincent’s Hospital, founded in 1849.

It’s one of the oldest hospital buildings Mead and White, served as a train stain the city, but closed down and ceased tion from 1910 until the early 60s—it’s a operations a few years ago. To the dismay crime that it was razed to the ground to of many West Villagers, the building is be replaced by the frightening pit of a hub undergoing major revamping. The new that it is now. Madison Square Garden, “Greenwich is a massive, Lane” will have dark and loommultiple aparting structure. It ment buildings, was once propfive town houses erly located in and a $29 milMadison Square lion penthouse.

Park, and was The New York quite lovely.

Times says the Before Lincoln prices are “the Center, The highest for new Metropolitan condos downOpera House town was on 39th and Broadway.

Photo courtesy of Creative Time and well above average for developments in the Yet, we are lucky have plenty of landcity.” Additionally, a former conmarks to admire today, and a number of vent in Greenwich Village has just them have been appropriately converted been placed on the market. The into quirky, unique and untouchably price tag is almost $15 million. pricey homes.

At 70 Barrow Street in the West Village stands a former firehouse, built in 1883.

It served its original purpose for only 14 years before closing and being converted into an apartment building. Upon first glance, one wouldn’t assume that it was an original Empire Hose Volunteer Fire Station, but if you peep through the

Located in the Upper West Side, Ansonia Hotel was once one of the finest hotels in the city. At 18 stories, it was the first hotel in New York to have air conditioning.

There was a farm on the roof (you better believe it), and libraries, parlors and social rooms for the elite to reside. Today, it is a

high–priced condo complex, there is no agriculture on the roof and the once spacious rooms and halls have been turned into smaller, more practical units.

If you like to live on the spooky side, there’s a spot for you in luxury apartment complex The Octagon on Roosevelt Island. They say it’s haunted, but the only remains of the old insane asylum by the same name is the entrance—a historic, octagon shaped structure that shouts: “BOO!” The website will states, however, that it is a “beautifully designed island retreat,” and that its now “one of Manhattan’s most elegant and distinctive buildings.”

Another striking real–estate development is the replacement of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s apartment (the one he died in) on the market. Known as the Pickwick House, it was originally a printing plant built in the latter years of the 19th century.

But the real talk of the town is all about the Domino Sugar Factory. It sits just some yards north of the Williamsburg Bridge, on the waterfront facing Manhattan. It’s currently defunct, but a $1.5 billion redevelopment plan is in the works which will dramatically change the multi–acre piece of land on which it now sits. Negotiations took place between the firm Two Perhaps the Trees (who most intriguing transformed of landmarks– DUMBO) and turned–luxuMayor Bill de ry–real estate Blasio, to incorstories is that of porate a school, the old Police a park, 1,600 Headquarters, luxury apartlocated at 240 ments and 700 Centre Street. apartments for It’s certainly low to moderregal in appearate income ance, and there families. Mayor Photo courtesy of crainsnewyork.com is a peculiarity de Blasio has about that type of building being residenbeen pushing for mostly two to three tial (and in Little Italy, nonetheless). It bedroom apartments, a very practical took four years to design; initially the plan approach. This is the change we’ve been was devised around the central gym for looking for; the last thing New York policemen. Designed by Hoppin & Koen needs is more ludicrous prices. The new in the early 1900s, the Beaux–Arts strucdevelopment will have several sleek towture has a pronounced dome adorned ers that will bring many new residents to with four clock–faces. In the 80s, it was the Williamsburg waterfront, calling for decidedly turned into extraordinarily new zoning measures. The infrastructure of the original refinery plant will be kept and inside it will be offices for tech companies.

Photo courtesy of octagonnyc.com

high–priced apartments. It is in incredible condition (especially the jaw–droppingly gorgeous grand lobby).

The Domino Sugar Factory was at one time the biggest sugar refinery in the world, employing over 4,000 people and producing three million pounds of sugar daily. By keeping it, we kill multiple birds with one stone. Williamsburg will welcome a lump sum of new mixed–income residents. We let those who can afford to live in luxury have their cake and eat it too. And ultimately, we hang on to at least a sliver of the old icon of a factory. We hope to see more end results that look as sweet as these transformations!

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Model: Gabriela Moran Clothing: Opening Ceremony Stylist’s Own Hair & Makeup: Jennifer Jocelyn Ruvalcaba

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Life moves fast in the city that never sleeps.

So much so, its inhabitants forget to stop and smell the roses in the form of all the little things that make Gotham City so undeniably unique.

Here’s to shifting your New York State of mind.

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Forgotten Memoirs of 1914

by Hermina Sobhraj

Today New York City is a rapidly industrialized metro filled with skyscrapers and larger than life personalities. Exactly one hundred years ago, this city was at the mercy of anarchy, nearly falling to its knees amidst political rallies and radical union strikes. Below is a photographic timeline, detailing some of the significant events that shaped this city a century ago.

Pictured here is a 1914 Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) demonstration in the streets of New York City. Infamously known as the Wobblies, the IWW was a radical, grassroots organization that promoted the end of capitalism and the abolishment of wage labor. Throughout the 1910s and ‘20s, New York City would see a handful of these unstable, political movements.

Seen here is the original New York Times article releasing news of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria on June 28, 1914, which precipitated the onset of World War I. The article begins, “Two attacks in a day. Archduke saves his life first time by knocking aside a bomb hurled at auto.

Slain in second attempt.” Conscription quickly spread throughout New York; women were enlisted to fill jobs vacated by men and were largely employed by munitions factories. Over 2 million American soldiers had served under President Woodrow Wilson’s on the battlefields of Western Europe, with some 500,000 lives lost.

Pictured are Suffrage Marchers in downtown Buffalo on June 9, 1914, with signs reading “Mrs. Corbin petitioned for right to vote” and “Emma Willard opened school for girls 1809.”

The signs pay homage to significant women in the fight to vote. New York served as a battlefield for Suffrage Marchers, women’s rights activists and conservatives opposed to the idea at all. The movement saw open hostility, physical attacks and general brutality on routs of women across the state.

Eugenie Mary “May” Ladenburg Davie was a noted Republican activist in New York during the early 20th century.

This picture taken in 1914 shows her in conversation with two ladies presumably part of the Pioneer Fund, a non–profit organization founded to “advance the scientific study of heredity and human differences.” Dressed in an all fur coat, Davie serves as a memoir of prominent women activists who enjoyed opulence and a glaring public spotlight amongst the political unrest of this era.

Vogue throws the first fashion show in New York City. The “Fashion Fete,” now known as Fashion Week, was fabricated by a Vogue editor, Edna Woolman Chase.

The event was concocted in order to raise benefits for French war relief. And with French designers forced to close their showrooms in Paris during World War I, the Fashion Fete served as a perfect backdrop for these designers collections.

1914 On July 11, 1914, over 5,000 people attended this mass anarchist rally in wake of Berg, Hanson, and Caron, three anarchists who were killed during the Lexington Avenue bombing, part of a plot to bomb John D. Rockefeller’s home.

Seen in the far, back center with a raised fist is Alexander Berkman, leader of the anarchist movement in New York City.

These types of rallies were the product of social unrest that had erupted earlier during 1914. This would eventually lead to the beginnings of The Red Scare, a widespread, national hunt for radicals and anarchists of all kinds.

Photo courtesy of, 1: kids.britannica.com, 2: Idaily.com, 3: kennedy–center.org, 4: Libcom.org, 5: wnyheritagepress.org, 6: encore–editions.com

New Immigrants Stir NYC’s Melting Pot

by Yesica Balderrama A ride on the subway reveals a mosaic of faces, languages and clothes. Thousands of people ride the New York City buses, trains cars, and taxis to work and school every morning. Doors are slammed, seats are taken and some haphazardly reach the doors before they close. Hundreds of newcomers join the mix every year. NYC has long been a magnet for immigrants from all over the globe.

The latest version of the “The Newest New Yorkers,” a detailed 235–page statistics report about NYC’s immigrant population, was released in 2013. Facts include information about new and previous homes, economic effects and employment facts. The immigrant population of NYC accounts for about 38 percent of the population, an estimated three million out of eight million. About 32 percent are from Latin America, 26 percent from Asia, 17 percent from Europe, 4 percent from Africa, and 2 percent from non–Hispanic nations.

These statistics show NYC had the largest population increase in the metropolitan area for the third consecutive year. Recent Census data reveals more people are coming to the city than leaving. As of July 1, 2013, 73,000 arrived, while 67,000 left to other states, pushing the total population to 8.4 million. This population increase was larger than the 178,000 predicted for the decade of 2000–2010. Surrounding cities, such as Buffalo, Hartford, Paterson

and Syracuse have experienced declines.

The population increase is estimated to be 2.8 percent, with Brooklyn and Manhattan ranking as the boroughs with top gains, and the Bronx ranking nearly as high as both. Birth rates compensated for the population lost to migration in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The number of migrants lost to other states decreased by 50 percent during the past decade. This is the first time since the mid–20th century that the migration was positive or marginal.

The largest NYC immigrant group numbering at 380,200 residents are Dominicans, followed by tvvvvwhe Chinese at 350,200, a group that keeps growing at a rapid rate with a 34 percent population increase in the last decade. From 2002 to 2011 NYC granted asylum to more than 40 percent of immigrants from China, making them largest portion of legally admitted immigrants. Mexicans show the largest population increase, 52 percent, followed by immigrants from Guyana, Jamaica, Ecuador, Trinidad, Tobago, India and Russia.

A bulk of newcomers settled in Brooklyn and Queens, making the latter borough the third most popular to attract immigrants. About half of Queens’ population is comprised of immigrants, followed by Brooklyn, with 946,500 immigrants, 37% of the population. Staten Island showed the greatest increase with 36 percent. The Bensonhurst (Brooklyn), Washington

Heights (Manhattan) and Elmhurst (Queens) neighborhoods have the greatest immigrant populations in the city, and Bushwick had the greatest immigrant population with an increase of 21 percent.

The European immigrant enclaves have disappeared, and in their place are immigrants from Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean and Africa forming ethnic communities throughout the boroughs.

Immigrants from Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, Yemen and Morocco have created a community near Bay Ridge in Brooklyn.

Bangladeshi immigrants have formed communities in Kensington, Roosevelt, and Parkchester. A Chinese population has been growing in between Sheepshead Bay and Homecrest, and in Roosevelt, a growing population of Ecuadorian immigrants is taking over the neighborhood.

Alongside economic improvements, the arrival of immigrants has increased the average life expectancy of New Yorkers.

In the past decade, the life expectancy of New Yorkers increased 1.9 years. For men and women the life expectancies have increased by 10.5 years and 6.3 years, up to 78 and 83. This increase has been attributed to decreases in homicide, lower ratios of AIDS deaths and smoking. The 9 percent increase in foreign–born immigrants lowered the average life expectancy.

Those born in foreign countries have lower mortality rates and longer life spans.

Efforts to increase NYC’s immigrant population began decades ago. Immigrants from Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean were allowed entry after a 1965 immigration law and during the 1970s, the city went through an economic decline after the city’s population decreased by 10 percent. The arrival of immigrants boosted the economy making room for economic growth, and set the stage for the restoration of NYC and the changes that have taken place today.

The New York Office of Immigrant Affairs accommodates the growing diverse immigrant population, connecting with more than twenty cities around the world. States and municipalities are managing immigration on their own, since the Obama administration has not reached a consensus about national immigration reform. NYC is one of the most immigrant friendly cities in the country, and the NYOIA is responsible in providing services ranging from English–language programs, business support and training and health care access.

Immigrants continue to arrive in NYC, contributing to improve the economy by creating more jobs, and bringing issues of immigration reform to the forefront.

Clutters of immigrants scattered throughout the city have formed their own communities and continue to preserve the diversity NYC is well known for.

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Cashing In On Culture: A Look at the Evolution of the Financial District

by Sarah Malmgren Watch out, Williamsburg. There’s a new neighborhood in town.

A walk through southern Manhattan’s Financial District is like an anthropological study; there is history, business, industry and an escalating hint of change all happening at once within the city’s economic hub. What was once an area used strictly for banking and trading is slowly but surely becoming a neighborhood rich in culture.

Throughout the years, the words “Financial District” have usually brought to mind a picture of well–groomed businessmen in tailored suits shuffling down Wall Street with expensive briefcases in one hand and cups of designer coffee in the other. These are professionals associated with wealth, power, greed and sometimes scandal, and these words have come to define the FiDi area as well.

Over the past few decades, though, the famous Financial District has started to follow a similar path as various other NYC neighborhoods. The same streets once crowded exclusively by stockbrokers and bankers are now strolled by well–dressed

mothers pushing baby strollers. Tourists are flocking there not only to survey some of the oldest and most important financial institutions in the country, but also to observe the new emerging culture.

In the past, the Financial District was only alive between the hours of nine and five. A 1961 report in The New York Times described “a deathlike stillness that settles on the district after 5:30 and all day Saturday and Sunday.”

“The area dies at night,” noted another New York Times report. “It needs a neighborhood, a community.” During the last two decades, the region has begun to develop just that. Where once the district knew only commuters traveling in and out for business hours, it now sees a huge influx of new residents.

Centuries–old office buildings are being converted into condos and high–rises are becoming homes.

With this surge of new FiDi dwellers has come an increased demand for local resources and entertainment. New restaurants, stores and amenities have popped

up, giving the after–work crowd places to go and things to do. Now, there is a barber shop right across the street from the New York Stock Exchange, and there are museums nestled in between the very buildings that inspire their exhibits.

This trend began taking place prior to the September 11th attacks and has since continued. While the years immediately following the tragedy were marked by recovery and rebuilding, the overall growth in number of residential units has been remarkable, from 13,000 in 2001 to over 27,000 in 2009. Today, the Financial District has an estimated resident population of 28,942.

What stands out about this new generation of downtown inhabitants is that it is an unexpected variety given the region’s history. Formerly, the only Financial District residents were young, single and working their way up the corporate ladder. Today, families are starting to settle in, as banks and offices move uptown or out–of–state. In fact, 34.5 percent of the district’s population is married and 13.6 percent of its homes have children.

The evolution of the Financial District has been so notable that a recent movement has developed to rename the neighborhood SoMa, short for Southern Manhattan. Residents are insisting that the age of finance in FiDi is over, and now it is time to recognize the area for what it has become. “There is a lot of excitement,” remarked Sundeep Bhan, Financial District resident and leader of the SoMa cause. “There is this energy about all these things that are happening.”

Perhaps the catalyst responsible for turning the Financial District into a social and residential neighborhood is the very thing that kept it a part–time ghost town for so long: its history. After the workday comes to a close, people can appreciate knocking beers back in the very tavern where George Washington once relaxed with his cohorts.

It is this past–meets–present juxtaposition, and the district’s gradual reinvention, that has families flocking and hipsters heading downtown on the weekends.

Who knows? Maybe we’ll all be heading to SoMa soon.

Vanishing Ethiopia, A Documentation

by Christina Macaluso The Feldman lobby was home to a photo exhibit produced by two FIT fourth semester photography students from March 21 to April 4. The exhibit showcased the work of students Trupal Pandya and Alexander Papakonstadinou, who spent their winter break traveling to the Omo Valley in Ethiopia. Pandya and Papakonstadinou embarked on their journey to document the vanishing tribes of the Omo Valley, who are being viewed as victims of westernization and globalization.

Photography by Trupal Pandya

Pandya got the idea and inspiration for the trip from working with photographer Steve McCurry, who frequently travels to the Omo Valley. Pandya and Papakonstadinou spent ten days living and traveling with the Benna, Mursi, Hamar, Arbore and Ari tribes. It was there that they were exposed to the unique culture of the land and its people, who live a very “traditional” lifestyle. In a statement made to the FIT School of Art and Design blog, Pandya expressed, “Visually the tribe members were very beautiful to us. We wanted to document that before it vanished. It is already under stress from globalization and development. Dress is changing, customs dying.”

The distinctive way of life for the tribes of the Omo Valley inspired both students differently in their approach to

their photography. Pandya took a modern approach to this project, wanting to capture modern style portraits of the tribes.

On the other hand, Papakonstadinou chose to shoot his photos with black and white 35mm film. In a statement made to the FIT School of Art and Design blog, Papakonstadinou stated, “My way of shooting was more documentary. What’s happening in their everyday life, capturing their expressions without them knowing, focusing on details, finding patterns. It helped me realize how uncluttered their life is. There’s no materialistic pleasure.

It’s peaceful.” Before returning to New York, the students were able to share some of the photographs with the tribe members.

The photos documenting their winter trip were held in high regard and recommended for a campus exhibit by the faculty of the Photography department. The exhibit displayed forty photographs in which the two students wanted to showcase raw beauty in its most natural form. Both students are very appreciative to the faculty of the photography department, who both inspired and mentored the students. An informal reception was held on March 25 to celebrate the achievements made by both photographers and their distinguished photographs.

Photography by Alexander Papakonstadinou

HAUTE CULTURE Speakeasies in NYC

by Dara Kenigsberg, Hermina Sobhraj and Ileana De Hoyos

Attaboy

Words by: Dara Kenigsberg Speakeasies used to be a thing of the past, a place of refuge for the many drinkers during prohibition. However, the city has made them popular again. The original, and most famous of them all was Milk and Honey. To the dismay of many New Yorkers, it closed on New Year’s of 2012. Luckily, two of their mixologists decided to reopen it and call it Attaboy.

134 Eldridge Street

When it comes to drinks, there is no menu and they will make you whatever your heart desires. My drink had rum and berries in it and was absolute heaven in a cup; Hermina’s drink was also to die for. You tell the bartender what you are in the mood for, either by describing the type of flavor you want or by telling him what kind of liquor you prefer. Cocktails are $16, wine starts at $12 and beer starts at $9.

Photo courtesy of newyork.com

On a deserted street on the Lower East Side, we came to an unmarked steel door, set back from the sidewalk. It reads “Please Knock Gently,” in block letters.

Soon after doing so, a bartender came out, took down our names and told us it would be a few minutes wait. Upon entering, we walked past the bar and sat at a booth with a group of three strangers (but didn’t want to stand at the bar and so we made a new group of friends). This never would have happened in the Milk and Honey days; they had rules that had to be followed and they did not warrant

The Back Room 102 Norfolk Words by: Hermina Sobhraj I’ve always felt a strong connection with the 1920s in New York City. The Prohibition Era was a time when mobsters ruled the city from underground. They didn’t play by the rules, they made them.

Spotting The Back Room is almost impossible without some insider information.

Once you’ve find the unmarked door, the doorman will point you towards what looks like an endless, dark tunnel. You’ll then have to trek down a flight of stairs, through a shadowy alleyway and up a second flight of stairs only to come to another door. In true speakeasy fashion, the entrance is protected by children’s toy cars that sit unassumingly on its window’s shelves. But once you’ve found it, you’ve just stepped into the same establishment where Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky and Lucky Luciano held their secret meetings– doesn’t get much more 1920s than that!

The Back Room’s ambiance is its strong suit. Its authentic paintings and red velvet couches mixed with subtle jazz and swing music in the background makes this place a living, breathing memorial of the Roaring 20s. Its moderately sized seating

mingling with other guests. The flickering candles and amber ambience conjure up the feeling of being inside a lair that has been there for decades. The crowd is a combination of high heels and hoodies and we even saw a dreaded trucker’s hat (which, yes, I commented on).

Though we could hear the music, it wasn’t so loud that we were unable to get to know our newfound friends. The playlist was soulful and the DJ takes requests.

Unlike the original Milk and Honey, Attaboy does not take reservations. At Milk and Honey, whose number was unlisted (as is Attaboy’s number) you had to know someone, who knew someone, who knew the number, etc., in order to get make a reservation; you get the picture. If you do arrive at Attaboy on a busy night, then they will tell you approximately how long the wait is; take down your number, and text you when seating for your party has become available.

We had an incredible time and incredible drinks; if you don’t mind the wait, we would definitely recommend going.

area can easily accommodate larger groups so don’t hesitate to come with more than a few friends.

The Blind Barber

Much to my disappointment, the cocktail menu is overloaded with gin specialty drinks. But their bartenders, true mixologists, are willing to concoct whatever your taste buds fantasize. Another plus is, drinks are served in tea cups, a nostalgic nod to the raids and vice squads of the Prohibition Era.

Words by: Ileana De Hoyos

You can trade in a night of DJs and house beats for gramophones and sultry, swing music here; who knows what you’ll find next? *25 on weekends.

Photo courtesy of NY Magazine

Photo courtesy of Joonbug

339 E. 10th Street

only have great names but offered more than your typical gin and tonic. They consisted of ingredients like jalapeno infused tequila, amber agave and coconut extract.

It was a mixologist’s dream.

After finally finding a speakeasy that wasn’t did not require reservations, we arrived at the Blind Barber.We wore our night out in the city attire: something black, tights, heels, and lipstick. As the bouncer lifted the velvet rope to let us in, we could feel the bitter looks from the guys who were arguing with the bouncer about their “reserved table.” They were bad liars with bad haircuts.

It was definitely better than a shitty seven dollar beer, and worth the wait.

The inside looked like an Esquire editorial, “The Place Gentlemen Get Haircuts,” I could see it now. We smiled as we showed our IDs, and another door opened. The music then burst from the dark room packed with well dressed and seemingly attractive people. There were black and white photographs of 1920s personas in suits and mustaches surrounded by vintage picture frames.

Photo courtesy of blindbarber.com

Apart from the aesthetic, it was mostly a typical lounge bar with decent music.

There were still girls fighting in the restroom and people pushing at the bar.

The bar served cocktails with names like Sweeney Todd, Smoke & Dagger, and Velvet Underground. The drinks didn’t

Photo courtesy of timeoutNY Magazine

A Playlist for Your Empire State of Mind

by Ileana De Hoyos

There have been hundreds of songs created based upon the inspiration that New York has instilled within legendary artists from around the world. Songs of love, money, power, heartbreak, drugs and the inevitable loneliness of the city. We all know the classics, Frank Sinatra’s “New York New York,” Billy Joel’s “New York State of Mind,” and the list goes on. They’re all great of course, but now let’s move on to other New York–centric songs that also represent the feelings of being in our iconic city.

1. “Walk on the Wild Side”/”I’m Waiting for the Man” – Lou Reed/The Velvet Underground Both these songs capture the essence of the cool, funky feeling of downtown NYC, where you can be whoever you want to be. You can jam these songs when you’re doing something new and a little scary, like going on your first OkCupid date, sampling “street meat” or jumping the turnstile because your metrocard just expired and you hear the train coming.

There’s always room for a walk on the wild side of the city.

2. “Manhattan” – Cat Power Everybody needs a little Cat Power in their lives, and this song is perfect.. The chorus of “You can never be, never be Manhattan,” is a little harsh but totally true. No matter who you are, whether you live in the Upper East Side, are a model in Greenwich Village with a DJ boyfriend or own a house in the Hamptons, you will never be as great as the city itself.

3. “Empire State of Mind” – Jay Z & Alicia Keys This song had to be on the playlist; it’s our generation’s anthem to New York and reminds us every time just how deep and how hard New York goes and how proud we should be to be a part its greatness.

Especially when you’re actually a native New Yorker. It is literally the place dreams are made of and there’s nothing you can’t do. Represent!

4. “Carmen” – Lana Del Rey The music video for this song is pure beauty. It’s the story of a lonely and beautiful 17–year–old girl from New York.

She’s a sad Coney Island Queen who plays with life because she has nothing else to do and overdoses. Listen to this when you feel like the city has let you down.

5. “Lua” – Bright Eyes There’s no doubt that this is one of those really good, really depressing songs about a night in the city. But it’s the perfect song to listen to on your way home on the train after a one night stand. You feel really lonely and depressed, but it’s okay because Conor Oberst experienced the exact same feelings.

6. “Juicy” – Biggie Smalls

11. “Chelsea Girls” – Nico

Biggie hit it hard in the right spot with this song in 1994. Growing up rough in Bed–Stuy, Brooklyn, he describes everything he was struggling with and experiencing while hustling and trying to get out of the hood, which he eventually did.

This song and album changed his music career and rap music history. Bump this song when you feel like a G and are going out for a night out in Brooklyn.

If you want to pretend it’s still the late 1960s and Studio 54 is still around, listen to this song and take a stroll into the Chelsea Hotel. Nico often came into the rooms and sang this song, even in her late years, in memory of the Warhol Factory days. “I’m the Chelsea girl,” she would say.

7. “Rockaway Beach” – The Ramones Born and raised in Forest Hills, Queens, The Ramones wrote this perfectly simple summer song about hitching a ride to Rockaway Beach, because that was the only thing bored kids could afford to do on a hot summer day. Relive your high school days and head to the beach with this one.

8. “The Only Living Boy In New York” – Simon and Garfunkel Loneliness isn’t a stranger to New Yorkers; we all experience the feeling once in a while. This song depicts exactly that, capturing the feeling of isolation even when you’re among a million people.

9. “Spanish Harlem” – Rebecca Pigeon (original by Ben E. King)

12. “New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down” – LCD Soundsystem There’s no getting away from being angry with the city sometimes. It often tears you down, eats you up and spits you out. But that’s the whole point after all, to become stronger with the city and fight against the harsh waves it pulls over you. LCD Soundsystem gets it right.

13. “I Love Livin’ In the City” – FEAR This song is definitely as dirty as the city, or at least as dirty as it once was. It goes back to a time when Alphabet City streets were filled with heroin abusers and crack addicts that were literally dying on the street from drug abuse. It’s a song of the disgust and filth within the city in the late 70s. This punk rock song gives sickening details while embracing the filth of it all.

14. “Ludlow St.” – Julian Casablancas

“Spanish Harlem” was released in 1960

by Ben E. King and has since been covered

by Aretha Franklin and many others. This version by Rebecca Pigeon is my personal favorite, as it captures that subtle beauty of the Harlem neighborhood. It is a great song to listen to on a beautiful morning, when you feel like a diamond in the rough

The changes that New York goes through seem to be growing every year. Whether it’s your rent or the skin colors of the people that inhibit the neighborhoods, it just keeps changing, ‘it started back in 1624.’

10. “Back in the New York Groove” – Ace Frehley

There’s actually a boy in this crazed city that loves you, and he feels like everything because of you. So do The Crystals, anyhow.

Turn up the volume on your flight back into the city, because even though you enjoyed your vacation, you can’t wait to get crammed back into the subways – this song captures it all.

15. “Uptown” – The Crystals

You can listen to the extended playlist of great New York songs on Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/user/126447659/ playlist/1DzFEcY25svnuYCYP8J8Pi

HAUTE CULTURE

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FIT

The Kings of Aerosol

by Yesica Balderrama

A glance outside a subway window in the tunnels of the system reveals graffiti scrawls, whether they are recent or remnants of a previous time is debatable.

The New York City subway system is over a 1,000 miles long in tracks, transports millions of people every day and also serves as a cultural playground for the performing and visual arts. Mosaics, sculptures and magnificent dated architecture embellish interiors, graffiti long wiped off from the list.

Graffiti developed as an art form in NYC during the ‘70s and ‘80s with hip–hop and rap. It decorated spaces of the city, and subway cars were no exception. These vibrant snakes made their way around the city with murals of words and images adorning their sides, painted illegally by street artists using pseudonyms.

Graffiti sought to defy cultural and commercial institutions of the time period and was done in secrecy in the dark of the night, with teenage “writers” using names such as Daze and Crash. Graffiti slowly vanished from subway trains after Mayor Ed Koch’s fight against vandalism during the 1980s. In 1984, the New York City Transit Authority began a five–year program to get rid of graffiti.

Both subway interiors and exteriors were cleaned after the city acquired the financial resources and preventive methods such as razor wire and the use of guard dogs, making subways difficult to paint on. The last graffiti painted subway train was removed from service in 1989. Notable photographers who captured works by Tracy 168, Dondi, Brim, Blo, Futura and Julio 204

include Henry Charlie Ahearn, Martha Cooper and Jon Naa. Writers left the underground train system to find new outlets for their spray paintings. In 1995, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani retaliated with an “Anti–Graffiti task force,” in charge of combating graffiti vandals. A law was passed that same year prohibiting the sale of spray paint to persons under the age of 18. In 2006, an attempt to raise the minimum age to 21 years of age was rebuked. The graffiti movement left its influence with the emergence of artists Keith Haring and later Banksy and Shepard Fairey.

Despite preventive efforts, NYC subway graffiti art is not totally obsolete or unseen; bystanders have shot and documented spraypainted subway cars before they were removed from service.

The most recent incident occurred earlier this month when a spray painted M train arrived at the Myrtle–Broadway stop in Brooklyn. A spectator recalls, “I was on my way home from Manhattan late Friday night around 2am and I had to transfer from the J to the M at Myrtle–Broadway.

As I was standing on the platform the M shuttle rolled in and I could immediately smell the aerosol. “ Photos can be found in social networking sites, such as Instagram and Flickr.

Today graffiti is no longer present in the subways cars. In fact, it is immediately removed as soon as it appears. Persisting reports show this art is not dead and continues to live on as it started, in secrecy and obscurity.

Photos courtesy of mymodernmet.com

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Food Truck Renaissance It’s easy enough to find a great meal in NYC, but after exploring the city’s top food trucks, it’s safe to say there’s a definite thrill – and satisfaction – in the hunt. We took to Twitter, Facebook and all other sorts of social media to track down the best mobile meals the Big Apple has to offer. Here, our top truck picks for all types of cuisine.

Taim Falafel

By Cassandra Laper First things first: to get the best falafel you’ll ever have the pleasure of tasting – you head over to 20th Street and 5th Avenue between 11am and 3pm. They don’t offer the full menu that the brick–and– mortar locations do, but damn, they make a good falafel sandwich. The smoothies are good too but a little pulpy for my taste.

I tried the strawberry, raspberry and Thai basil smoothie. The first few sips were refreshing but it quickly separated. I appreciated the separation because it proved, to me at least, how fresh the ingredients were. However, I’m not a fan of continually shaking my own smoothie.

Though Milk Truck’s grilled cheese may be the main attraction, its award–winning mac and cheese alone is worth a visit. The Village Voice named it the best mac and cheese of 2013 – and for good reason. Try it firsthand by following @milktrucknyc on Twitter and visiting one of its daily locations.

By Molly Clarke When a food establishment has the word “super” in their name, sometimes the results are not so super. However, at Super Tacos, this was not the case. I ventured to the Upper West Side on 96th St. and Broadway to see if these tacos were indeed a cut above. The verdict is yes! Super Tacos does in fact live up to its name. For one, tacos were $2 a piece, which is an absolute steal, and you had plenty of options to chose from. I ordered the Barbacoa de Pollo (BBQ chicken), straying away from anything too spicy.

The taco came with a hearty amount of chicken and just the perfect amount of sauce. Super Taco also makes their own hot sauces, which I would’ve tried if I wasn’t impartial to anything hot.

Photo courtesy of newyorkstreetfood.com

Chipsy King

By Megan Venere

Milk Truck

By Dianna Mazzone Whether you’re five or 95, you owe it to yourself (and your taste buds) to check out Milk Truck. The mobile mega–hit has taken the city by storm since its 2010 debut at Brooklyn Flea. The secret ingredient in its recipe for success? Cheese. That’s right –Milk Truck is devoted to all things ooey, gooey and cheesy. The truck has gained city–wide acclaim thanks to its deliciously decadent menu, which includes a mouth watering selection of gourmet grilled cheese sandwiches for grownups (think aged Wisconsin gruyere in place of American cheese).

Our pick? The Bacon Cheddar Blue, featuring thick sliced double smoked bacon, New York State cheddar and Wisconsin blue – all stuffed comfortably between two slices of rosemary bread. At roughly $7 a pop, these savory sandwiches are a serious bang for your buck. Ingredients

Photo courtesy of seriouseats.com

Super Tacos

As for the main course, I got the green falafel sandwich (with pickles and hot sauce, naturally). They’re notorious for this lunchtime fave and for good reason.

The falafel was crispy but fresh, along with the cabbage and Israeli salad. The sandwich filled me up but didn’t leave a bloated feeling. As far as mobile food goes, it’s a great alternative to fast, fatty foods. Their storefront locations are at 222 Waverly Pl. and 45 Spring St. So if you don’t have time to hunt down the truck, stop by one of those to grab some falafel goodness.

Photo courtesy of foodandwine.com

is stationed in eight different locations around the city. Starting with a desire to produce their hometown cuisine, three brothers began operating one of the first taco trucks in New York City with Californian and Mexican–inspired flavors. Since becoming an instant success, the brothers evolved Calexico and its menu, making for one of the top listed food trucks in city today.

are fresh, wholesome and – did we mention? – totally delectable.

I’m usually not one to eat at food carts to be perfectly honest and I wouldn’t exactly consider myself a “foodie” but I usually eat something if it smells good. So when I was walking through SoHo (at Broadway and Spring St.) with my sister and friend and smelled the Chipsy King from half a block away, I knew I had to stop and try them.

Chipsy King specializes in one menu item; the Belgian fry. The vendor has several free standing stores in the Netherlands and just opened this food cart this past year as part of their cross– Atlantic expansion. With 20 sauces to choose from (three of which are complementary), Chipsy King brings the quintessential European fry experience to the U.S. We shared an order of Belgian fries with a side of classic ketchup (a popular sauce flavor is the rosemary garlic mayo). The experience was probably one of the tastiest fry eating experiences I have ever had (it could also be because it was so cold out and they warmed me up). This tasty treat will make you several dollars poorer, but since you get such a large serving, share them with friends for a snack. Or eat what you can and take the rest home.

The staff was very friendly and the food was cooked incredibly quick. If you’re a bit timid about ordering in English, don’t be with Super Tacos, although online reviews state speaking in Spanish may earn you an extra taco. The truck is open until 2 a.m. on the weekends, and for those who crave a late night dollar horchata (beverages made from ground almonds, sesame seeds, rice, barley or tigernuts) and delicious tacos, this is the place to go.

So the next time you’re in dire need of a cheap taco, make Super Tacos the first place on your list.

Photo courtesy of glenwoodnyc.com

Calexico Food Truck Rachel Basel Who doesn’t love a great burrito? And how about some chips and salsa to go with it? Calexico food truck has all these delightful things and more and

Calexico offers all the great Mexican staples including savory quesadillas, enchiladas, burritos, nachos, and of course, tacos. And, depending on the location, they offer chicken wings, fries and salads as well. Fresh, flavorful ingredients and perfectly cooked meat really keeps their business going. When asked what he would recommend, the employee taking orders said, “Pork, done any way.”

Pulled pork seems to be their specialty and the “Chipotle Pork” with rice, beans, pico de gallo, pickled red onions and sour cream makes for a fantastic lunch choice.

Chicken, beef and fish are also offered in their deliciously crafted burritos, tacos and more. Starters range from $4–$13, tacos from $3–$4.50, burritos from $8–$10 and enchiladas and quesadillas from $7–$14. Although some items can be pricey, it’s worth the splurge on a great spring or summer day.

Calexico truck locations include Park Slope, Lower East Side, Greenpoint, Red Hook, Soho and the Flatiron around the corner in the beautiful Madison Square Park. The creators pride themselves on continuing to make great Western food for New Yorkers. On their website they state, “We still wake up every day and make the kind of food we like to eat: fresh, flavorful and satisfying. People seem to like it.” So from anyone craving Mexican food in the days to come, skip Chipotle and take a trip to one of the Calexico trucks, especially since spring has sprung! It’s tasty, authentic and highly recommended.

HAUTE CULTURE

FIT

24

L’Wren Scott: Life, Love and Loss

by Ciara McManus

Sudden and shocking alerts of death come as nothing new in today’s age of tweets, posts and statuses. Whether it’s a talented singer, an actor from car racing movies or an iconic fashion designer – the victim’s name will be plastered on every news outlet within hours of the incident.

Fashion designer L’Wren Scott’s death was no exception.

Earlier last month, Scott’s assistant received a morning text message from the designer, which was nothing out of the ordinary, requesting she stop by her home. The assistant arrived to find Scott hanging lifeless from a door handle, and immediately called 911. Police officials ruled Scott’s death a suicide. The designer presumably strangled herself with a scarf tied to the handle of her balcony door.

The elegant 49–year–old former model, who stood at six–foot–three, was found on March 17 in her double story Chelsea condo estimated at $8 million, just blocks away from FIT’s campus.

This desperate attempt to escape her current condition shattered and revealed Scott’s hidden feelings, which were buried behind an elaborate (but fabulously alluring) façade. Scott was reported to be in distress over the desperate financial state of her company, which was said to be in debt of more than $6 million. Back

in February of this year, Scott abruptly cancelled her fashion show during fall London Fashion Week because of production delays that had affected key pieces of her collection. Scott had made her debut at LFW in 2013, previously showing at New York Fashion Week, despite her studio being located in London. The late designer – whose frequent clientele included Sarah Jessica Parker, Madonna, Michelle Obama and Angelina Jolie – was planning to announce the closing of her eight–year–old design business the week of her death.

The LFW cancellation fueled rumors of Scott’s business being in danger, but those close to her didn’t seem to understand the magnitude of her monetary issues or how considerably depressed the designer may have been. Since 2003, Scott had been seemingly in love while dating the Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger, 70, who distraughtly rushed back to Manhattan from a tour in Australia once he heard the devastating news. The Stones frontman posted a statement about his late girlfriend’s death on his website earlier last month: “I am still struggling to understand how my lover and best friend could end her life in this tragic way.

We spent many wonderful years together and had made a great life for ourselves.

She had great presence and her talent was

much admired, not least by me.”

If there was trouble in the more than decade long relationship between the designer and rock star, no one was aware of it. Close friends of Scott described her personality as funny and outgoing, but with a certain reserve. Celebrity stylist and friend Christina Ehrlich said, “[L’Wren Scott] was incredibly, incredibly private. I never sensed from her a darkness or an unhappiness. But then again, you never really know.” Scott seemed more than happy vacationing with her boyfriend in India, stretched out in a private jet and lounging poolside in designer sunglasses; all scenes posted publicly onto the designer’s carefully edited Instagram account. Stylist Phillip Bloch told WWD, “Ironically, last week I said to three different people, ‘I wish I had her life, look at her life – she’s always somewhere fabulous and fancy. You think, here’s someone who has it all. You just never know.”

The fashion industry itself has a way of covering up darkness. Although it looks fabulous and luxurious to those flicking through this month’s issue of Vogue, with Kim K and Kanye on the cover in all their glory, those inside the industry can find it tough to survive. The industry can be superficial with a drastic and significant gap between image and reality. Runway

models may find themselves starved, addicted to drugs and out of work by their late twenties and notorious photographers are being accused of sexual assault of the young and naïve. The continuously rising prices of imported textiles and overseas production tragedies have caused many designers to file for bankruptcy or be bought out by another design house.

Often many of those who seek positions in the highly competitive fashion world confuse the glamour of the industry with the harsh reality of its business side. Crushed by financial debt and the merciless competitiveness of the fashion industry, sometimes there seems like no way out.

And suicide knows no boundaries; it is an immutable escape from one’s own personal turmoil regardless of social or economic status, gender or age, race or ethnicity.

The reasons are intangible; not always known or seen, nor can they be proven.

The fashion industry is cutthroat and when your clothes aren’t selling and business is severely declining, it takes a lot of hard work, heart and passion to figure out relevance, viability and sustainability. The pressure of being in such close proximity to wealth and fame comes with its own set of obstacles; hurdles that only very few of us will ever fully understand.

Book Review:

New York Jackie: The Big Apple’s Most Glamorous Icon

by Aaron Valentic

There are certain things that just set New Yorkers apart from the rest of the world.

Apart from having some of the worlds’ most expensive rental rates, lavish cuisine and otherworldly shopping, we’re pretty lucky – even when it comes to those inhabiting this great island.

Some of the world’s most famous individuals walk side–by–side with regular pedestrians like you and me on the streets every day. And when we recognize them, it can be a rather exciting moment.

If you were a New Yorker in the late 1960s, even up until the early 1990s, you may have been lucky enough to catch a glimpse of former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. With her signature bouffant and black and white ensembles paired with oversized sunglasses, Jackie was certainly a standout in any crowd of people, making her instantly recognizable wherever she went in the city.

In a new book out this month entitled “New York Jackie: Pictures From Her Life in the City,” by Bridget Watson Payne

(with a foreword by Jackie’s longtime friend Nan A. Talese), three decades of Jackie’s NYC life is documented and celebrated through a collection of photographs depicting the former First Lady in her daily routines.

Although the child of an ugly divorce, the born–and–raised New Yorker spent her childhood at lavish addresses all over the East Coast, with homes in the Hamptons, Washington D.C., Newport, and 740 Park Avenue, favoring her time with her father here in New York City. It wasn’t until the 1960 Presidential Campaign for husband John F. Kennedy, that Jackie frequented the city again, both for campaigning, and personal fun. In true Jackie fashion, visits included a stay at The Carlyle Hotel and dinners at The Colony Club.

When President John F. Kennedy was tragically assassinated in 1963, Jackie quickly moved out of the White House and into a brownstone in Georgetown.

When news broke that this would be her new residence, admirers and super– fans quickly flocked to the steps of her

home. Feeling unsafe among the herds of people, Jackie moved her family to the city she always felt comfortable and knew she could garner some anonymity. Jackie purchased the fifteenth–floor apartment at 1040 Fifth Avenue, which came with a view of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Central Park.

Jackie so desperately hoped to have her, and her family’s, privacy respected but that sadly was not always the case. Jackie was hounded by paparazzo Ron Galella, who took some of the most famous photographs of her all over New York City.

Demanding her right to privacy, Jackie eventually took Galella to court and won her case against him, forcing him to remain one hundred feet away from her, her children and her home.

After marrying Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis in 1968, she remained primarily in New York City in order for her children to be close to their paternal side of the family, as well as having an uninterrupted school schedule.

Following the death of Onassis, Jackie

returned to New York with $26 million from Aristotle Onassis’ will, and with the help of her connections, became a well–respected book editor for Viking Press, later moving to the publishers house DoubleDay editing over one hundred books during her tenure . She also devoted a great amount of her time helping to preserve the many great landmarks and buildings within the city, including Columbus Circle and Grand Central Terminal.

On May 19, 1994, Jackie Kennedy Onassis died, aged 64 , at her Fifth Avenue apartment after a long and strenuous battle with non–Hodgkin’s lymphoma. A symbol of grace, elegance and style, she remains a poignant symbol for the city of New York, as one of its most iconic inhabitants. Even amid the hustle and bustle of the city, Jackie Kennedy adored her privacy, solitude and above all, her anonymity.

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Concert Review: Classixx & Gems

by Zach Rosenbaum I arrived at the Music Hall of Williamsburg ready to boogie. For live– music lovers, nothing beats an inexpensive indie show, and Classixx, the LA– based electro–pop duo, properly rocked the house.

their best–known song “Medusa,” hands reached to the ceiling, a very low–pitched bass reverberated and heads gently banged (listen to the song to understand). Check out their mysteriously artsy Instagram for black and whites of the pair.

Pop music is dominating the commercial music market, but it’s pioneers like Classixx that take pop and make it heartier, more substantial and give it a little twist. The venue was nothing special (the Bowery Presents–owned music hall didn’t have coat–check, so I was left to dance in my parka), but the artists undoubtedly made the show.

When Classixx took the stage, they revealed their eye–catching set piece— a giant white television set, displaying psychedelic and transcendent visuals—I couldn’t take my eyes off it. The first song they played was the title track from their sole studio album Hanging Gardens. The music began subtly, then more and more layers of synth were added until my head was spinning and the music just took over. A hypnotizing melody trills over a booming house beat, and the dancing just came—the music moves your body for you.

Openers Gems set the bar, channeling The XX with some added dimensionality in pitches and their charming romantic appeal. Hailing from Washington D.C., they’re similar to Classixx in that they’re an electro–pop twosome. Tall and lanky Clifford Usher juxtaposes petite bombshell Lindsay Pitts, and when they performed

After that, they played some of their more chill tracks, such as “Dominoes” and “Borderline” (featuring Jesse Kivel of Kisses). Band members Michael David

and Tyler Blake don’t sing, so they often have accompanying vocals to bring their music to a new level. “Rhythm Santa Clara” began the progression of faster– tempo beats, and eventually they brought the crowd to euphoria playing jams like “All You’re Waiting For” and my personal favorite, “Holding On.” Classixx is wonderful because along with their original material, they incorporate remixes of better–known pop songs that include Phoenix’s “Lisztomania” and “Psychic City” by Yacht. It brought familiarity and newness together, in a funky, nostalgic way.

It was a short show, and I screamed for an encore to no avail. They left the stage quickly, without playing any cool–down music. I danced my way out of the music hall because I was not ready to stop. In fact, I can still hear the effervescence in my head—Classixx and Gems are feel–good, up and coming musicians to look out for!

Photography by Zach Rosenbaum

Theater Review:

of mice and men

by Ciara McManus

Tony Award winning director Anna D. Shapiro’s production “Of Mice And Men” captures John Steinbeck’s tragic tale of two itinerant ranch workers seeking new opportunities during the Great Depression in rural California. George (James Franco) is the wiry, uneducated but quick–witted friend and protector of simple–minded Lennie (Chris O’Dowd), a gentle lumbering man ignorant of his own physical strength.

The acting pair, Franco and O’Dowd, had not met before rehearsals began, but bonded instantly. Their chemistry was apparent on stage where the two brought energy, passion and genuine humor to a story based on their friendship. O’Dowd – who had a truly stand– out performance – transformed and committed completely to his role as a dependent man with a mild mental disability, simultaneously bringing a lighthearted laugh to the audience when appearing on stage. When George and Lennie arrive at the farm, the other

men become suspicious of the close relationship they share. One farmhand comments, “I never seen one guy do so much nice for another fellow.” But if readers during the 1930s had inferred a homosexual relationship between the pair, Steinbeck dismissed the idea by foregrounding George’s, and the other farmhands, interest in female companionship in serial brothel visits.

The limited and antagonistic portrayal of women in the novella was reinforced during Shapiro’s adaptation, with a single female actress cast. Leighton Meester plays Curley’s wife, the young and desperately lonely victim who represents the temptation of female sexuality, dressed in conservative floral print dresses wearing a deadly shade of alluring red lipstick. After Curley’s wife slinks outside the bunkhouse, the temporary home to the farmhands and where she tempts companionship, the lead duo characterize her. George distastefully calls her a tramp and Lennie

Photo courtesy of Of Mice and Men/Broadway

repeatedly says, “Gosh, she’s purty” while watching through the slim window in the door as she leaves. What the farmhands don’t realize is Curley’s wife is just like them, isolated and alienated, with shattered dreams of a better life.

As a reader of the book, the ending scene was anticipated but dauntingly thrilling and incredibly executed, sending a cold collective chilling gasp through the theater.

HAUTE CULTURE

FIT

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Movie Review:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

by Ileana De Hoyos

comic character movie thrills. “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” includeed explosions, action sequences, car chases, the strong and attractive female partner, and yes, Samuel L. Jackson.

Otherwise it’s still a pretty good movie for non–Marvel fans. You get to see Scarlett Johansson, who plays the Black Widow, in a leather spandex and Steve Rogers (played by Chris Evans) shirtless.

Photo courtesy of imdb.com

For those of you who are comic book and Marvel fans, this highly anticipated sequel to Captain America fulfills all

Captain America (Steve Rogers), is thawed 70 years after World War II; he wakes up in the 21st century and is both amazed and confused by the modern world. He is thankful for the Internet and Marvin Gaye, but is confused about what he is still fighting for. Following orders from Uncle Sam doesn’t feel right anymore.

Captain America, The Black Widow, and a new partner, Falcon join together to find the truth behind S.H.I.E.L.D. and Project Insight, which is highly protected

by Alexander Pierced, played by Robert Redford. SHIELD is no longer what Captain America had been fighting for, it has become his enemy that has been infiltrated by an organization called HYDRA. The interesting factor of this movie is that the good guys of SHIELD(espionage and law–enforcement agency in the Marvel Comics Universe), are not only fighting fiction fantasy villains with red faces, but a real government threatening organization within the law enforcement.

of today rather than the 1940s. It brings up an uncomfortable feeling of paranoia among the viewers about government conspiracy and a new world order.

Although this movie is in fact still within the superhero fantasy genre, we see a new angle of Captain America that is fighting in our own world. He remains the sweet and strong Captain America that Stan Lee created, but is now fighting in a world outside of the comic book pages. He is a sophisticated superhero with means of capturing the corrupted villains in the government. To the excitement and screams within the movie theatre audience, the movie teases a premise for an enticing third movie.

Compared to the first movie, “The First Avenger,” this sequel touches upon issues

MONTH IN REVIEW

by Dara Kenigsberg

The Search for Flight 370 On Mar. 8, something inexplicable occurred: a Boeing 777–200ER, en route from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport disappeared. The plane, operated by Malaysia Airlines, made its last contact with air traffic control an hour after take off. There were 12 crew members, along with 227 passengers on board from 14 different nations. No distress signal was issued, and the pilots failed to notify air traffic control of changing course, even though according to CNN, Malaysian military officials, “cite radar data as suggesting the plane might have changed course.” Unfortunately, it is still a mystery as to what happened to the flight and there has been a plethora of conjectures about the fate of the plane. Some speculate hijackers, others say the pilots were behind it; the theories are endless. One thing is for sure, the search is widening.

Authorities continue to search countries such as China, India, Myanmar, Pakistan, Thailand and the other 18 nations that are north of Kazakhstan and south to the Indian Ocean. Barbara Starr, CNN correspondent stated, “Does anybody really think that a large aircraft went into one of these areas without them noticing? They find it very hard to believe that it could have gone into one of these land areas and not been noticed, not been picked up by somebody.”

Because so little is known, and as speculations continue to rise, authorities are increasingly scrutinizing the pilots and searching their homes for clues. During the investigation, authorities found a flight simulator in the home of pilot Captain Zaherie Ahmed Shah.

Authorities have also began interviewing the engineers who were in contact with the flight before it took off, all of which has been described as normal procedure.

Photo courtesy of people.com

Photo courtesy of gawker.com

According to CNN, “A study of the flight’s cargo manifest showed there were no dangerous materials on board that concerned investigators.” U.S. Intelligence officials are inclined to believe that the people responsible for this calamity are the captain and/or co–pilot. Although no official conclusions have been made, a hijacking has not been ruled out. However, the clues add up to a potential hijacking– the first being when the plane made a sharp and deliberate turn just after its last communication with air traffic control. ABC News reported that the “left turn was preprogrammed into the plane’s navigation computer. It’s a task that would have required extensive piloting experience” and that the plane performed “tactical evasion maneuvers.”

Time is of the essence even more so, because if this was a deliberate plan and the plane is to somehow be used as a weapon, then, according to CNN, “what’s next is anyone’s guess.”

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APRIL 2014

Westboro Church Leader Dies at Age 84 On March 19, Fred Phelps, founding pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, died at the age of 84.

According to CNN, the church, which was

family–based cult, as many members of his small congregation were related to him through blood or by marriage.

A week following his death, the church expressed their disapproval of the “world– wide media for gleefully anticipating his death,” stated CNN. Phelps was such a bigot that he was even able to offend the Ku Klux Klan, who protested his church’s demonstrations at military funerals.

Phelps was often called the most hated man in America, and the church had picketed over 53,000 events ranging from funerals for slain soldiers to Lady Gaga concerts. The church has even been known to have members, sometimes including young children, wield signs saying “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God for Dead Soldiers.”

Photo courtesy of kansascity.com

founded in 1955, is “known for its virulently anti–gay protests at public events, including military funerals.” He passed away of natural causes at 11:15 pm.

The Washington Post reported Rev. Phelps as “an ordained Baptist minister, a disbarred Kansas lawyer and, according to a BBC documentary, the patriarch of the ‘most hated family in America.’”

His church has been described as a

Under his leadership, the Westboro Church claimed that all tragedies, whether it be a natural disaster or a school shooting is God’s way of punishing the country for accepting homosexuality.

Phelps even promoted the deaths of gays and lesbians. His anti–gay protests started in Wichita, Kansas in 1991, after having complained that the city had declined to end gay activities in a public park. In 1998, he became nationally infamous when members of his church picketed

the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a Wyoming student who had been tormented and killed because he was gay. Phelps, along with his church members, carried signs stating that Shepard was rotting in hell. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Westboro Baptist Church is “arguably the most obnoxious and rabid hate group in America.”

Although in 2011 the church was allowed the right under the free speech amendment to picket military funerals, over 367,000 people called on the White House and signed a petition in 2013 that would make Westboro Church a legally recognized hate group. According to CNN, “The White House called Westboro’s protests ‘reprehensible’ but said that ‘as a matter of practice, the federal government doesn’t maintain a list of hate groups.’”

Photo courtesy of nydailynews.com

any official Baptist church, began its rise to infamy in the early 90s, and according to The Washington Post, “The church’s rise coincided with changing attitudes and policies toward the gay community, including President Bill Clinton’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy for gays in the military.” He once told the Religion News Service that the slogan, “God Loves You” was a diabolical lie from hell without biblical warrant.

His church, which had no affiliation with

East Harlem Explosion Kills 8

Photo courtesy of nydailynews.com

An explosion in East Harlem leveled two 5–story buildings, reducing them to rubble on Mar. 12, 2014 with approximately 200 firefighters sent to control the blast that occurred at 9:31 a.m..

According to a CNN report, “One minute, Colin Patterson was watching TV. The next, he saw pianos flying through the air in the shop where he works as an explosion tore through the building.” He told CNN affiliate WABC that the piano flew off the ground and he managed to escape unharmed by crawling through the debris.

overnight. Three bodies were found Wednesday following the massive explosion at Park Avenue and E. 116th Street.

Fire officials said at least 60 people were hurt in the fiery blast that erupted about 15 minutes after a neighboring resident reported smelling natural gas.” According to CNN, “the eighth body was recovered Thursday evening.”

Another passerby was Desiree Thompson.

She was walking along Park Avenue with her friend when glass began to fly by them. They thought that the Metro–North commuter train had crashed. According to USA Today, “Normally, Thompson walks on the side of the street from the apartment buildings, but for no particular reason decided to walk on the other side of the street this morning. ‘If I had been over there, I would be dead.’”

Bob McGee, a Con Ed spokesman, said they received a call reporting a gas leak around 9:13 a.m. from a resident of the newer buildings on Park Avenue.

Although a truck was dispatched after that phone call, it arrived after the explosion.

Some of the neighbors who live in the area said that the explosion sounded like a bomb and it actually shook Manhattan for blocks. Of the two 5–story apartment buildings that collapsed, one had a Latino evangelical church on the first floor and the other a piano store on the first floor.

According to CNN, “As Detective Martin Speechly, a New York police spokesman, put it: ‘1644 Park Avenue appears not to be there anymore.’”

Elhadj Sylia was about a block away at 8:45 a.m., when he faintly smelled gas.

He rushed outside after hearing a massive explosion, but was not able to see anything due to the thick air. He told USA Today, “It was very dark. There

“I thought it was the end of the world, I thought my life was ending."

USA Today reported that “...a seventh victim early Thursday [was discovered] as they continued to search for more missing people. New York Fire Department spokesman Danny Glover said Thursday morning the body was the fourth found

was smoke, dust. I thought maybe the train was coming down (referring to the Metro–North commuter railroad elevated tracks across the street on Park Avenue).

I thought it was the end of the world, I thought my life was ending.”

Photo courtesy of newyorker.com

HAUTE CULTURE

FIT

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Following the Steps of a New York Past Catcher in the Rye

by Fernanda DeSouza

I finished reading “Catcher in the Rye” for the first time on the steps of the New York City Public Library. I was 14 years old and hooked to every goddamn word that spilled from Holden’s mouth. I wanted to find the ducks in Central Park, sip a Jack and Coke in a steamy Village jazz club and roam the halls of the Natural History Museum with my little sister. I have since read the book three times and followed the footsteps of Holden through the help of his creator.

Central Park Zoo: “I knew she’d follow me, so I started walking downtown toward the zoo, on the park side of the street, and she started walking downtown on the other side of the street. She wouldn’t look over at me at all, but I could see she was probably watching me out of the corner of her crazy eye to see where I was going and all.

Anyway, we kept walking that way all the way to the zoo.” –Page 208–9 Museum of Natural History: “Even though it was Sunday and Phoebe wouldn’t be there with her class or anything, and even though it was so damp and lousy out, I walked all the way through the park over to the Museum of Natural History. I knew that was the museum the kid with the skate key meant. I knew that whole museum routine like a book.”–Page 119

The Carousel: “Anyway, we kept getting closer and closer to the carousel and you could start to hear that nutty music it always plays. It was playing ‘Oh Marie!’

It played the same song about fifty years ago when I was a little kid. that’s one nice thing about carousels, they always play the same songs.” –Page 210 Edmont Hotel (likely the New Yorker): “I walked all the way back to the hotel.

Forty–one gorgeous blocks. I didn’t do it because I felt like walking or anything. It was more because I didn’t feel like getting in and out of another taxicab.” –Page 88

Photography by Fernanda DeSouza

Grand Central Terminal: “So finally all I did was I walked over to Lexington and took the subway down to Grand Central. My bags were there and all, and I figured I’d sleep in that crazy waiting room where all the benches are. So that’s what I did.”

–Page 194

Breakfast at Tiffany’s

by Molly Clarke

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the story of a young socialite, Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) who is a mystery to everyone. Holly, a carefree spirit, frequently aims for rich, older men, who in turn shower her with gifts and money. Holly’s independence comes to an end when she meets Paul, a writer who is suffering from writers block and has secrets of his own. The two fall in love, and their love is tested when the truth about Holly’s past is brought to light.

Tiffany’s, 5th Avenue: “Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany’s. Calms me down right away. The quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there.”

New York City Public Library, 5th Avenue at 42nd Street: “What are you doing?” “Reading.” “South America: Land of Wealth and Promise?”

“It’s interesting.”

Holly’s apartment, East 71st Street: “If I could find a real–life place that’d make me feel like Tiffany’s, then – then I’d buy some furniture and give the cat a name!”

Photography by Molly Clarke

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APRIL 2014

KIDS

by Ciara McManus

KIDS, a 90s cult classic, follows raw New York City teens during a golden era of depravity, drugs, sex, and skateboarding. The film, written by 18–year–old Harmony Kane, captures the decade– defining generation of youth debauchery.

Models: Devin Ocasio, Chimaobi Anakwenze “Three pennies and a ball of lint.”

“When you wake up it’s the same thing.

It’s there in your face. You can’t escape it.

Sometimes when you’re young the only place to go is inside.”

“Butterscotch, yo. That’s the best.”

Photography by Ciara McManus

“When you’re young, not much matters.

When you find something that you care about, that’s all you got.”

“Jesus Christ, what happened?”

oyb:

Hidden Gems in NYC

by Dana Heyward

Oh, New York. You can be such a wonderful place sometimes and make people question why they would ever want to leave you. And then there are the times when the LCD Soundsystem classic “New York I Love You, But You’re Bringing Me Down” sums up your entire feeling towards life in the Big Apple. But with New York being that mysterious place it is, it is full of things and places that can make you fall in love New York all over again.

Whispering Halls at Grand Central Terminal, Midtown

NY Public Library Branch Right off 51st Street on 6 Train

This isn’t just an old wives tale. In Grand Central Terminal right in front of the Oyster Bar and Restaurant are two diagonal archways. Grab a friend and lean in on opposite archways and you can hear each other’s whispers through the arch.

In case you didn’t know, there’s a NYPL branch tucked away next to a subway entrance. This location is small but that just makes it all the more charming. The entrance is currently closed due to construction, but if you’re looking for a go–to location to cuddle up with some books this summer, this could be your new spot.

Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel, Midtown Although this place is a tourist spot to some, it can be very unassuming (a lot of native New Yorkers have not even heard

Pomander Walk, Upper East Side This 27 building apartment complex is designed to resemble English Tudor homes. Though it was built in the 1920s, it gives New York a little taste of Old English life. The property sits on a hill and is surrounded by a high wrought iron gate and unfortunately the only way you can get in here is if you have a key or know someone with a key. But it’s nice to dream.

Prosperity Dumpling, Chinatown This hole–in–the–wall spot is up an alley–like street right up from Columbus Park. For $1 you can get five tasty fried pork dumplings or a pork bun. If you’re feeling a little fancy you can up the ante and pay an extra 50 cents for a sesame pancake. Food that’s this cheap and is actually good seems to be a lost art in NYC. of it) and you’ll probably have to ask a hotel employee the exact location of the restaurant inside the hotel. Once you’re past the grandiose lobby you’ll see a dark narrow hallway with a neon burger sign at the end of it. Just to the right of it is the small eatery, Burger Joint, with burgers comparable to Shake Shack...but maybe a little bit better.

Ace Hotel lobby, Flatiron OK, this isn’t exactly a hidden gem, but who knew a hotel lobby could be so golden for studying or just meeting up with some friends? The modern décor, with hints of antique sensibilities and dim lighting, along with their cozy furniture will make you want to stay for hours on end. Plus there’s a bar in the back and a Stumptown Coffee in the front, so they have you covered for any time of the day.

The Ravine, Central Park Central Park is huge so it’s natural for it to be full of secret nooks and spots. But The Ravine is one of the spots that’s truly beautiful year–round. This stream valley (the only one in Central Park), creates a natural, cascading waterfall.

Photography by Dana Heward

Photos courtesy of empireguides.com, tumblr. com, fiestyfoodie.com, nytimes.com

Berlin Wall on Madison Ave., Upper West Side This spot is relatively easy to miss whether you’ve heard of its existence or not. Right off Madison Ave in a small public plaza is home to five slabs from the Berlin Wall decorated by German artists, Thierry Noir and Kiddy Citny. Its public art at it’s finest.

FIT SPEAKS New York State of Mind

by Pari Heidari

Photo courtesy of webartcalpoly.com

It came as quite a shock. Despite all the movies I’d seen and all I’d read about LA, it was nothing like I’d expected. Instead of palm tree–bordered boulevards, fancy mansions and celebrities on every corner, I was faced with dirty streets, pollution and homelessness. “Smog” soon became a familiar part of my vocabulary. My plan for Leo DiCaprio to meet me, and fall deeply in love with me, crashed faster than the cars on the I–10 freeway.

Within the first couple of weeks I realized I had very little in common with the Angelenos and that adapting to life in LA was going to be much more difficult than I’d expected. Their “no worries” attitude sure wasn’t for me. “What do you mean, I worry too much? You can never worry too much. I worry just the right amount.”

But I have to hand it to them; Angelenos are completely free of fear and apprehension, in a social context that is. Complete strangers would come up to me and give me random advice, compliment me on my outfit or just shoot me a smile. I’d never met such pleasant people in my life.

Making friends was going to be easy, or so I thought.

I shortly discovered that LA society functioned through the exchanging of insincere compliments. I’m not calling them liars per se (though I swear, I’ve never met so many fake people in my life ;and I’m not just talking breast implants and Botox injections here) but there seems to be an expectation of Angelenos to always

Photo courtesy of packgraphics.com

be congenial and happy. And so, they put on a show, and really, what could be more natural for people born and bred in the world of movies?

The semester hadn’t even started when I decided I’d transfer to New York after a year. I could see myself so clearly in the hustle and bustle of New York City; Starbucks cup in hand while I whistle

“I’d rather be cold and miserable in New York, than warm and worry–free anywhere else” for a cab. Most people I met in LA were dumbfounded by my decision. Many were genuinely worried. The weather was naturally an issue, but they also wondered whether or not I was scared to move to a city full of rude (if not full–on crazy) Robert De Niro look–a–likes? “No”, I said, dismissively; but, of course, I was scared out of my mind. I was quite convinced I’d be scammed, robbed and a tragic victim

of a drive–by shooting before I had even left the airport. I’m proud to say that as of yet, I haven’t been scammed, robbed or shot at; and not once has a cabbie yelled at me or asked me if I’m “talkin’ to him.”

Unlike LA, it didn’t take long for me to feel at home in New York. After the third week, I felt as if I’d always lived here, a consequence I’m sure, of having seen so many movies and shows take place here.

But even here I was met with surprises.

I have often heard that people in New York never get to know their neighbors.

Coming here, I expected it to be quite the faux pas to talk to anyone unless absolutely necessary (as in the, “excuse me but you’re sitting on my baby” type of necessary). But lo and behold, New Yorkers were perfectly able and willing to speak to me. While they aren’t always the sunniest of people, they are still nice, helpful and perfectly sociable when they feel like it.

And although people in LA will confess to love you within five minutes of meeting you, I for one, prefer the genuine, albeit at times irritable, disposition of New Yorkers. Because really, who can be happy and carefree all the time?

I must confess, this past winter put my love for the city to the test, and in my weakest moments made me secretly doubt my decision to leave sunny California. But it seems to me that cold winters are the only chink in New York’s otherwise quite fabulous armor, and honestly I’d rather be cold and miserable in New York, than warm and worry–free anywhere else.

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Zoe Fernandez | FMM | Bryant Park

Ecem Bozkurt | Fashion Design | Central Park

APRIL 2014

Amy Campbell | Fashion Design | Milon Indian Restaurant

style on 27 Photography by Jessica Farkas

Although Fashion Week has come and gone, New York City is a fashion capital year round. And FIT students know how to deliver when it comes to style. Living in the heart of Manhattan exposes us to the many diverse and eclectic neighborhoods of the five boroughs. As students move through their FIT careers, they find their own spot that makes Manhattan special for them. We asked: what’s your favorite spot in New York?

Yang Jiao | Fashion Design | Chelsea Market

Olivia Yaket | Fashion Design | St. Marks

Estevon Garcia | Fine Arts | Funkbox NYC

Ngozi Odege | Accessories Design | St. Marks

Yulia Swonova | Fashion Design | G8R Fabric Store