SCHOOL OF THE ART INSTITUTE OF CHICAGO'S FASHION SHOW
RETURNS TO MILLENNIUM PARK THURSDAY, APRIL 19
2012 SAIC
Legend of Fashion Honorees Bill Powers and
Cynthia Rowley (SAIC 1978-81) with SAIC Fashion Design Chair
Nick Cave
Photo: William Eadon
SAIC Alumna Cynthia Rowley
and Husband Bill Powers to Receive
SAIC Legend of Fashion Award at THE
WALK 2012 Annual Benefit Gala
Tickets to daytime shows on
sale now via
saic.edu/fashionshow
CHICAGO—Nick Cave, professor and chair of the School of
the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Fashion Design
department, proudly announces that SAIC will present its
78th annual fashion show,
Fashion 2012, on
Thursday, April 19.
Presented for the second consecutive year against the
backdrop of beautiful Millennium Park, the show will be
presented three times throughout the day before a final
evening presentation during
THE WALK 2012,
SAIC's annual benefit gala supporting the production of
student work and scholarships. This year's runway show
will conclude with the elaborate and diverse creations
of more than 40 seniors,
the largest graduating class in SAIC Fashion Design
history. Taking place a full three weeks earlier than in
2011, Fashion 2012 is one of several significant
year-end happenings at SAIC, which also hosts the annual
Graduate Exhibition in SAIC's Sullivan Galleries April
28–May 18.
Fashion and art lovers from around the world will
experience a stunning runway show at these events,
featuring more than 300 original garments created by
undergraduate students in SAIC's internationally
renowned Fashion Design program, which boasts such
distinguished alumni as Halston, Cynthia Rowley, Gary
Graham, J. Morgan Puett, Lawrence Steele, and Maria
Pinto.
"SAIC's full day of year-end fashion events is great for
our students and the vibrancy of our city," says SAIC
President Walter Massey.
"As a flagship event on Chicago's cultural calendar,
this show provides our talented fashion design students
a platform to share their innovative work and gives a
sophisticated, creative audience a glimpse of the future
of fashion and the next generation of designers. I am
delighted that we were able to welcome more than 2,400
guests to our shows last year and eager to welcome them
back to Millennium Park once again, along with new
friends."
Fashion 2012
delivers all the elements of a professional fashion
runway show—stunning design, intriguing soundscapes,
exquisite garments, and cutting-edge looks—by
incorporating and combining techniques from the fields
of sculpture, performance, design, technology,
architecture, and installation. Seniors in SAIC's
acclaimed Fashion Design department will create complete
collections of five garments; Juniors will show three
complete designs from their collection; and each
Sophomore will present one avant-garde look in muslin.
Behind-the-scenes photos from students and other
insights into their creative process are online and
updated regularly at
facebook.com/saic.fashionshow.
More than 70 models from
Factor Runway will wear designs down a 90-foot
runway inside a 15,000-square-foot tent on Chase
Promenade, a three-block-long, tree-lined walkway
centrally located in Millennium Park. Hairstyling is
provided by Aveda
Institute Chicago; make-up services are provided
by Chicago Emerging
Artists. Capitalizing on the success of Fashion
2011, Creative Director of Brooklyn-based WAAVES Studio
Skooby Laposky—a
past collaborator with designers including Gemma Kahng,
Conny Groenewegen, and Jason Wu—will again lend his
creative expertise to the sound and musical
accompaniment that serves as the backdrop for the show.
Fashion 2012 is produced by SAIC faculty member
Conrad Hamather,
Graduate Coordinator of the Master of Design in Fashion
Body & Garment program.
THE WALK 2012: APRIL 19,
6:00 P.M.
SAIC is also proud to host
THE WALK 2012,
the annual scholarship benefit gala held in conjunction
with the fashion show. The event is made possible in
part by presenting sponsor
Swarovski,
returning for its second consecutive year of support.
This year's chairs are
Kate Neisser and
John Jones of Chicago. Neisser is the chair of
the board of trustees of the Erikson Institute,
immediate past president of Snow City Arts, and is a
member of the SAIC Fashion Committee. She also
co-chaired THE WALK 2011. As a freelance writer, her
work was published in
Harper's Bazaar and
Elle Décor among
other publications. Jones is the founder and co-owner of
the Gold Coast men's boutique George Greene. Previously,
for 30 years, Jones served as the Vice President of
high-end fashion boutique Ultimo, working directly with
Joan Weinstein. He was the first recipient of the Uomo
Moda Award for Men's Fashion in the United States.
2012 SAIC LEGEND OF
FASHION AWARD TO CYNTHIA ROWLEY AND BILL POWERS
A highlight of THE WALK 2012 will be when SAIC alumna
Cynthia Rowley (SAIC
1978–81), creator of the renowned fashion label bearing
her name, and her husband
Bill Powers,
co-owner of HALF Gallery and judge on Bravo's
competition reality series
Work Of Art,
receive the 2012 SAIC Legend of Fashion Award.
"There could not be a more perfect choice for our Legend
of Fashion Award than Cynthia Rowley and Bill Powers,"
says SAIC Fashion Design Department Chair
Nick Cave. "In a
constant conversation between fashion and art, Cynthia
and Bill work from a communal, visceral center that
allows them to inspire, support, collaborate, and share
their vision with the world. In doing so their work
resonates with the duality of couture and artistic
expression that is at the core of SAIC's Fashion Design
program. Their involvement in Fashion 2012 will benefit
our students tremendously."
Cynthia Rowley
constructed her first dress when she was seven years
old. Her intuitive technical skill paired with a love of
"making things" led her into an undergraduate degree
from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where
she began to pursue a career in fashion. Her first full
collection was purchased while she was still in school,
and gave her the leverage she needed to move to New York
and establish her brand. Rowley's namesake collection
has since grown to include womenswear, menswear,
eyewear, handbags, shoes, legwear, shapewear, home
sewing products, and wetsuits, as well as a
collaboration with Johnson & Johnson Band-Aid Brand.
Rowley has been recognized both within the fashion
industry, with a Perry Ellis Award for Womenswear Design
Talent by the CFDA and a CFDA nomination for the Perry
Ellis Award for New Menswear Design Talent, and as a
popular style authority on
24 Hour Catwalk,
Project Runway,
Oprah,
Late Show with David
Letterman, The
Today Show, and
America's Next Top Model among others. Her work
has been featured in nearly every major magazine and
newspaper domestically and internationally, and the
Cynthia Rowley Collection is sold in better department,
specialty, and online stores, as well as in more than 60
Cynthia Rowley boutiques around the world. An art
enthusiast herself, Cynthia has collaborated with
artists like SAIC's Nick Cave, Will Cotton, Olaf
Breuning, and Ryan McNamara on various ventures and
collections, and has designed a capsule for the Gagosian
Gallery, a collaborative exhibit for MoMA's PS1, and
co-founded the groundbreaking art retail site Exhibition
A.
Bill Powers owns
Half Gallery in New York City along with partners Andy
Spade and James Frey. More recently, Powers co-founded
ExhibitionA.com, an online art site that commissions
limited edition prints. Powers's path in contemporary
art first manifested itself in 1997 when he became the
Editor-in-Chief of
Blackbook magazine, where he remained off-and-on
until 2005. He has also written about art and culture
for other prominent titles including
the New York Times,
W, and
Muse and is currently a contributor at
Purple magazine
and a judge on Bravo's
Work of Art. Powers is currently on the board of
the non-profit RxArt, an organization that places
contemporary art in hospitals and healing environments.
"I am so honored to be receiving the Legend of Fashion
Award," says Cynthia
Rowley. "As an alumna of SAIC this award has a
very special meaning to Bill and me. We both believe
that a marriage between fashion and art is something to
strive for in the 21st century, and we hope that future
fashion and design students continue to draw inspiration
from both the runway and the gallery."
"Chicago has an incredibly vibrant and thriving scene
where art, fashion, and culture at large fuse together,"
says Bill Powers.
"The MCA continues to introduce artists from Jeff Koons
to Rashid Johnson into the larger 'art world' and
wouldn't you know it: they both got their start as
students at SAIC."
FUNDRAISING HIGHLIGHTS
FROM 2011
In addition to the Presenting Sponsor's Swarovski
Scholarship, THE WALK 2011 included the presentation of
a diverse and noteworthy array of fashion student
scholarships, fellowships, and internships. Additional
scholarships included the $25,000
Eunice W. Johnson
Fellowship, the $25,000
Ikram and Joshua Goldman
Scholarship, and a $30,000 Fashion Scholarship
from an anonymous donor. SAIC students were also awarded
coveted fashion internships with major designers,
including paid internships at
J.Crew and
Proenza Schouler
in New York, through the work of Chicago fashion icon
and 2011 Legend of Fashion Award winner
Ikram Goldman, a member of SAIC's Fashion
Committee. In total, THE WALK 2011 raised more than
$167,000 for student scholarships.
EVENT DETAILS AND
SPONSORS
Fashion 2012 will
be presented three times on Thursday, April 19:
9:00 a.m. is a general admission dress rehearsal.
Tickets are $40.
12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. shows are general admission
seating. Tickets are $75.
Tickets to the 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m., and 3:00 p.m.
shows are on sale now. Tickets are available online only
via
saic.edu/fashionshow.
THE WALK 2012
begins with a cocktail reception at 6:00 p.m. on
Thursday, April 19. Preceding the evening's runway show,
the presentation of the SAIC Legend of Fashion Award to
Cynthia Rowley and Bill Powers is followed by the
announcement of individual student awards and
scholarships. The event concludes with an elegant
post-show dinner at 8:00 p.m. on the rooftop terrace of
Millennium Park's Harris Theater. Tickets start at $500,
and tables are $5,000 to $25,000. Call
312.499.4194
for tickets, tables, sponsorships,
and more information.
THE WALK 2012 is made possible in part by Presenting
Sponsor Swarovski.
"Swarovski is proud to renew its support for SAIC's THE
WALK and student scholarships again this year," said
Wayne Page,
Executive Vice President of Swarovski North America.
"We are excited to see how students will be inspired by
Swarovski jewelry when bringing their creations to the
runway."
CS
Magazine
is the
Exclusive Media Sponsor of THE WALK 2012.
ABOUT THE SAIC FASHION
DESIGN DEPARTMENT
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Fashion
program provides a creative and intellectual context in
which the nature and potential of fashion is closely
examined and reimagined. Uniquely situated within a
vibrant contemporary school of art and design, SAIC's
Fashion Department offers undergraduate, graduate, and
post-baccalaureate fashion programs that build on the
connections and relationships between art and fashion
that have been evolving in the past century, and that
reach an unprecedented level in contemporary practices
today.
SAIC's Fashion program is housed within the Sage Studios
for Fashion Design located in the historic Carson Pirie
Scott building. The 25,000-square-foot studio space
includes the Fashion Resource Center, a hands-on
collection of late-20th- and 21st-century designer
garments and accessories representing extreme
innovation, which allows SAIC students the opportunity
to explore the most progressive achievements in the
world of dress and fashion.
The success of SAIC's Fashion Design program and SAIC's
interdisciplinary approach to education is reflected in
a list of alumni that includes such notable designers as
Halston, Cynthia Rowley, Lawrence Steele, J. Morgan
Puett, Eunwha Kim, Maria Pinto, Gary Graham, and Matthew
Ames. SAIC graduates hold senior design positions in
firms as varied as Yeohlee, Jones New York, Levis, Nike,
Charles Chang Lima, and Tommy Hilfiger, and design for
Anna Sui, Calvin Klein, Tiffani Kim, Betsey Johnson,
Triple5Soul, and Moschino. Upon graduating, many have
chosen to intern for international houses such as Viktor
& Rolf, Alexander McQueen, Wendy & Jim, Castelbajac, Zac
Posen, Threeasfour and William Ivey Long, or to launch
their own fashion lines. The current chair of SAIC's
Fashion Design department is critically acclaimed
designer Nick Cave. For more information, please visit
saic.edu/fashion.
ABOUT SAIC SPRING
EXHIBITION EVENTS (APRIL 14–JULY 21)
The fashion events on April 19 are the launch of an
unparalleled year-end lineup of artistic and cultural
events at SAIC. A host of year-end exhibitions will be
featured on and off campus, including
ARTBASH 2012:
Contemporary Practices Exhibition, April 14–27;
Graduate Exhibition, April 28–May 18; and the AIADO and
Fashion Graduate Exhibition/Post-Baccalaureate Studio
Exhibition, June 9–July 21. SAIC's undergraduate and
graduate performance students present their thesis work
at the Performance Festival on April 1 and April 28–29.
Concurrent with THE WALK 2012 is the Master of Arts in
Visual and Critical Studies Symposium, in conjunction
with an exhibition at Autumn Space Gallery. Other
symposia featuring the latest research from SAIC's
graduating scholars include the Bachelor of Arts in
Visual and Critical Studies and Bachelor of Fine Arts in
Liberal Arts Symposium on April 28; the Modern Art
History, Theory, and Criticism Graduate Symposium May
3–4; and the Art Education Graduate Symposium and
Apprentice Teaching Event and Reception on May 9 and 10.
The Undergraduate and Graduate Film, Video, New Media,
Animation, and Sound Festival showcases the next
generation of film, video, and new media artists May
9–11 at the Gene Siskel Film Center. More information is
available at
saic.edu/highlights.
RECENT SAIC FACULTY
ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The
Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) and
Vogue announced
the recipients of the eighth annual
CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund
Awards on November 14, and
Creatures of the Wind—the
label run by SAIC faculty member
Shane Gabier and
Chris Peters,
both SAIC alumni—was voted a runner-up, earning them a
hefty $100,000 cash prize. In addition to the prize and
the publicity that surrounds it, the designers get
regular meetings with an assigned business mentor based
on their specific needs for business expertise and
resources. Locally,
Crain's Chicago Business (circ. 45,026) blogger
Brigid Sweeney posted an
article quickly spreading the news on November 15,
and nationally
The New York Times
(circ. 916,911),
Washington Post
(Circ. 550,821), and
The Daily Beast (circ. 2,286,240), among many other
outlets, also published extensive coverage of this
prestigious award. Sweeney notes, "Founded in 2007 by
two grads of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago,
Shane Gabier and Christopher Peters, Creatures of the
Wind gained attention when [2011 SAIC Legend of Fashion
Award winner] Ikram Goldman began carrying the line in
her boutique."
CS
magazine has named SAIC's Fashion Department Chair
Nick Cave its
Artist of the Year
in its December "Arts and Culture" issue. Featuring
Cave's internationally acclaimed Soundsuits,
CS
highlights his two sold-out shows in New York galleries
and his upcoming exhibits in Dallas and Lille, France,
plus the artist's own acknowledgement that 2011 has been
the year he felt he finally arrived. Also featured among
CS's list of people "that are ruling the culture
scene in in Chicago right now," are the
Art Institute of Chicago's
director Douglas Druick and SAIC alumni
Jessica Labatte (BFA
2004, MFA 2009), Dan
Gunn (MFA 2007) and
Ian Schneller
(MFA 1986), among others.
A
large-scale A/V installation by faculty member
Christopher Baker
(Art and Technology Studies) is
reviewed by Richard
Dorment in the January 8 edition of London's
daily
Telegraph newspaper (circ. 634,113). Baker's
Hello World, Or: How I
Learned to Stop Listening and Love the Noise—a
video piece featuring 5,000 individual video diaries
arranged in a rectangular grid, with some carefully
handled sound mixing that "makes the small gallery sound
like an aviary"—opened the
SAATCHI SCREEN
gallery in London on January 3. SAATCHI SCREEN is the
Saatchi Gallery's first-ever dedicated screen room for
film and video.
Published
in December 2011, Writing faculty member
Sara Levine's
latest novel, Treasure
Island!!!, has already been reviewed in the
New York Times,
LA
Times, and Oprah Winfrey's
O magazine.
The book tells the tale of a disillusioned college grad
who uses the Robert Louis Stevenson novel as a map for
how to live her life.
Congratulations are in
order for faculty member
Dan Gustin (Painting and Drawing), as the
National Academy Museum and School in New York
recently announced his induction into the Academy.
Gustin joins 31 distinguished fellow artists, including
Christo and Kerry James Marshall.
About the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
(SAIC)
A leader in educating artists, designers, and scholars
since 1866, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)
offers nationally accredited undergraduate, graduate,
and post-baccalaureate programs to nearly 3,200 students
from around the globe. Located in the heart of Chicago,
SAIC has an educational philosophy built upon an
interdisciplinary approach to art and design, giving
students unparalleled opportunities to develop their
creative and critical abilities, while working with
renowned faculty who include many of the leading
practitioners in their fields. SAIC's resources include
the Art Institute of Chicago and its new Modern Wing;
numerous special collections and programming venues
provide students with exceptional exhibitions,
screenings, lectures, and performances. For more
information, please visit
saic.edu.
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