Special Collections and College Archives (SPARC) at the Fashion Institute of Technology, a unit of Gladys Marcus Library, is a highly-specialized repository of primary source research materials related to the fields of fashion and design.
The videos on this channel are a part of the Oral History project. The Oral History Project of the Fashion Industries contains over 300 interviews by prominent 20th-century fashion industry insiders. In-depth interviews with individuals in every segment of the fashion business create a broad historical record that is drawn directly from the knowledgeable, informal, and often, colorful verbalization of its practitioners. The Oral History Project is a unique record of facts, ways and means, points of view, practice and personality that could be preserved in no other way.
Judy Ellis is an amazing teacher and force in the world. She was my teacher at Parson's School of Design back in 1979, and as she says in this interview, she treats her students as family. Her support of me in a difficult time helped me to succeed emotionally and professionally. She took me out to dinner and asked me to teach her High School Saturday program at FIT, which I was honored to do. That was many years ago, but I often think of her and am grateful for all that she is. Thank you Judy, hugs to you from Jean Brady.
Two years, more like soon to be 3 years and no comments? April's Presentation deserves a decent camera with ND and Polarizing Filters and a Lapel Microphone. Then these presentations should be promoted for wider Distibution. There are many more people that would enjoy this fabulous content. Since some of these portfolios are falling apart anyway and April was wearing gloves there would be no harm to remove the photos and illustrations for the brief time it would take to photograph or video them, so you don't have that reflection. Otherwise, the ND and Polarizing Filter on an actual camera not a phone. Please take this constructively. I love the content and the presentation style.
so good to find this. I knew Al as he was a visiting artist when I was a greduate student in painting at Parsons. A great teacher , painter and friend...miss him. Thank you for this interview.
I had the displeasure of being a student under Jack Rittenberg in the early 1990s. I was much older than the other students in my division, Illustration, and was being bullied by three students who were at least 10 years younger than me. When I got punched in the face after 1-1/2 years of bullying by one of the students, and then the threat of being beaten up by one of the other three, I went to Rittenberg. Rittenberg and his misguided, lousy little assistant blamed me for the bullying. It was not at all my fault. The ringleader of the three bullies was jealous of me as I was winning most of the contests for students at F.I.T. The things he said to me were horrible. He was a horrible person. In 1992 I had occasion to run into him. He smiled at me, not remembering who I was. I glared at him angrily, and watched as his face fell and a chill went through him when he realized who I was. I can only hope that hastened his death. What a toxic bag of proteins this guy was. I had been at F.I.T. many years before and was not able to finish due to not being able to afford the tuition and supplies, so I had to drop out. I was finally able to go straight through from 1988 - 1991 and graduated with a B.F.A. and a 3.67 GPA. F.I.T. made sure they withheld .03 points off my GPA so I could not graduate Summa Cum Laude, which I had worked hard for and earned. I was fortunate to be at F.I.T. years earlier when Dean Streiter was there in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Streiter was a great Dean, and a truly caring person. I feel confident that if he had been Dean while these three girls were bullying me, that they would have been shut down, and quickly.
Dear Ms. Friedman: I am so very sorry for any pain this interview caused you. Please know that we completely appreciate and validate your memories. We are thrilled that you were clearly able to more than rise above the trauma to graduate and with such a stellar record of achievement. If you are local or ever in the area, we would love to host your visit to the Library Special Collections. Thank you for your candid response, which is now a part of our historical record.
I used to work for Dressbarn. I always enjoyed telling the story and very proud to work for the company as an Assistant manager . So sorry the stores had to close. I miss my store.
Wish we could answer that question. Many of the older interviews we have are cut off somewhere in the recording. The ending may never have been caught on tape, or maybe the copy we digitized back in 2014 got snipped...there's no way of knowing.
What a great time capsule. I came to your channel and RU-vid generally to hear the history of Bergdorf building from it's inception but this was very interesting as well. Still haven't found what I came here for though.
We have more Bergdorf records in our archive. If you're in NYC, you're welcome to make an appointment to view them. Records relating to Bergdorf: atom-sparc.fitnyc.edu/informationobject/browse?topLod=0&query=bergdorf+goodman Research hours: www.fitnyc.edu/academics/library/sparc/visit/
@@fitspecialcollections Oh this is great! I'm not sure why I didn't get an alert about your message and only seeing this a year later. I'm glad I came back to re-listen! I will definitely do so. I work for Van Cleef & Arpels and am always looking for more information on our connection to BG. Many thanks.
Thanks for your comment! Digitizing this rare material is actually one of our greatest challenges. We are slowly transferring it, but as Zoe mentions in her report, it needs to move more quickly before it becomes inaccessible.
I want to congratulate Dr. Oliva on his Retirement and wish him continued success and happiness, as he continues his adventures! I was one of the Educators, from his time at Morris Hills and other venues in NJ Music Education. This was a wonderful interview, and a glimpse into the life of not only a talented musician, but a person who had the courage and vision to expand his horizons, take risks and assist many others to follow their dreams. I happen to be in NYC when Jack first got the FIT position. It is heartwarming to see him again after he has accomplished and succeeded in making an impact on this highly prestigious institution. I know he will continue to give of himself as he goes on in life! Thank you, Francesca Kubian-Geidel
It is certainly frustrating, and we don't know why the videographer didn't know to mic the interviewer as well as the interviewee. The closed captions are helpful in this case.
Love her!! I am , who I am as a designer and professor in a large part because of Linda! She taught the boy from Catholic school to draw and think like a designer! Shmatita's 4 ever! XXOO
Interviewer Rebecca Arnold appears not to have had any plan for getting through this interview. It's all over the place. Pity. Perhaps 'I'll just wing it' isn't the best approach to a one hour interview. Mr. Losey is remarkably patient.
She was from the East Falls section of Philadelphia. She didn’t like her Philadelphia accent and worked hard to eradicate it. The pseudo- British accent was a bit much.
