Fashion Institute Of Technology

Did you know that Halston's famous 1970s era Ultrasuede dresses are not biodegradable? Talk about timeless fashion. Or that Madame Grès was using faux fur way back in 1942, to get around real fur shortages during the German occupation of Paris during World War II? Or that the democratization of fashion didn't begin at Target and H&M, but at New York City's 19th century shirtwaist factories, which produced affordable styles that allowed more women to participate in fashion, but at the cost of fair labor practices?

Some children may still think elves are behind the production of Christmas toys. But today's toy-maker is more likely to be hunched over a drafting table instead of a work bench, and equipped with an education that includes knowledge in subjects ranging from computer-aided design to psychology. The U.S. toy manufacturing business is not child's play: It employs about 50,000 people at more than 250 companies nationwide.

Some children may still think elves are behind the production of Christmas toys. But today's toy-maker is more likely to be hunched over a drafting table instead of a work bench, and equipped with an education that includes knowledge in subjects ranging from computer-aided design to psychology. The U.S. toy manufacturing business is not child's play: It employs about 50,000 people at more than 250 companies nationwide.

Did you know that Halston's famous 1970s era Ultrasuede dresses are not biodegradable? Talk about timeless fashion. Or that Madame Grès was using faux fur way back in 1942, to get around real fur shortages during the German occupation of Paris during World War II? Or that the democratization of fashion didn't begin at Target and H&M, but at New York City's 19th century shirtwaist factories, which produced affordable styles that allowed more women to participate in fashion, but at the cost of fair labor practices?

Hayley Starr is a modern-day flower child. The artist and designer (whose given last name is Keenan but who describes "Hayley Starr" as her "highest self and inner superhero") may not wear fringe and flash peace signs. But a desire to promote creativity and self-confidence prompted her last fall to open the Quest by Hayley Starr, her one-stop boutique, art gallery, New Age refuge, classroom, studio and event space in Venice. The shop, which is clean and feminine but decidedly offbeat, is like a three-dimensional Pinterest page, communicating Starr's whimsical outlook via an eclectic collage of her favorite things.

Here's a story that sums up, perfectly, the "Bob Mackie Dilemma." Recall the ruckus in 1989 over Cher's attire in the video for her song "If I Could Turn Back Time?" The one in which she straddled a 16-inch gun on the USS Missouri wearing not much more than a black leather jacket and a fringed body stocking that revealed several large gluteal tattoos, as a couple hundred sailors looked on? For years, Mackie says, he never acknowledged designing the garment for Cher.

Tory Varney donned the 80-year-old silk organdy gown replete with spaghetti straps and several dozen hook-and-eye closures cascading down the back moments after the vintage dress was unpacked by employees at the Way We Wore boutique in Los Angeles. "I do really love this," said Varney, 23, a music studio manager who plans to wed her college sweetheart this fall. "I didn't say that about anything at David's Bridal. " She's right in step with other young women, who are keeping the vintage trend of the last few years going strong.

Roger Forsythe, 36, head fashion designer for the Perry Ellis menswear company. Born in Missouri and raised in Texas, Forsythe was educated at the University of Houston and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Asked to join the Ellis group in 1988 as vice president and men's design director, he was credited with turning around company profits, which had sagged since Ellis' death in 1986.

Alexander W. Lawlor, 68, a leader in the Southern California garment industry. Born in New York City's Bronx, Lawlor graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology where he studied management, industrial relations and engineering. He moved to California in 1950 and became active in the Men's Apparel Guild in California and served as its president for several years. Lawlor was president of Catalina Martin, a division of Kayser Roth Corp.

Karl Logan, 43, one of Los Angeles' top fashion designers. A native of Bakersfield, Logan studied fashion design at Los Angeles Trade Technical College and the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York before he rose to prominence among contemporary Los Angeles designers in the mid-1980s. He launched his women's wear collection in 1986 and won the California Designer of the Year Award, presented by the California Mart, in 1988.

India's dress style for hundreds of years has been six yards of fabric wrapped into a sari. It hardly seems the place for a Western fashion design center. But a school that has recently opened in New Delhi intends to make fast-changing haute couture a part of Indian culture. The National Institute of Fashion Technology, founded in collaboration with the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, launched its first fashion design course in August.