FIT’s campus occupies an entire block in the Chelsea area of Manhattan, a neighborhood filled with galleries, shops, cafes, restaurants, and theaters. The college’s facilities provide students with the opportunity to learn in a stimulating environment and be part of a vibrant, active community. The campus comprises numerous computer labs, athletic facilities, the Gladys Marcus Library, and the renowned Museum at FIT, which houses one of the world’s most important collections of fashion and textiles. FIT’s classroom and laboratory equipment reflects the most advanced educational and technical practices, enabling students to work on challenging projects in a realistic setting. A full-service dining facility and Barnes & Noble college bookstore are located on campus. The college maintains three residence halls on West 27th Street, and one on nearby West 31st Street.
Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center
The Pomerantz Center houses display and exhibit design rooms; drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, and sculpture studios; a graphics laboratory; a modelmaking workshop; and the 280-seat Katie Murphy Amphitheatre. The academic and administrative offices of the School of Art and Design are also located here.
Print/FX Graphics Lab
Room D529, 212 217.5474
A professionally staffed graphics laboratory, the Print/FX Graphics Lab has high-resolution, large-format printers to accommodate banners, CAD prints, displays, fine art prints, overlays, photography, posters, presentation graphics, and textile proofs. The lab is also equipped with laminating, scanning, slide duplication, and wire-binding capabilities.
Marvin Feldman Center and the Business and Liberal Arts Center
The Marvin Feldman and Business and Liberal Arts centers house academic and specialized classrooms, cutting and sewing labs, design studios, a multimedia foreign languages lab, knitting labs, and the 700-seat Morris W. and Fannie B. Haft Auditorium. Specialized facilities include the fabrics and findings lab, which replicates the resources and techniques used by working fashion designers. Also located in these buildings are the academic and administrative offices for the Jay and Patty Baker School of Business and Technology and the School of Liberal Arts.
Peter G. Scotese Computer-Aided Design and Communications Center
Room C220, 212 217.3520
The facilities in this center allow students from the School of Art and Design to explore technology and its integration in the creation and design of advertising, animation, fashion, interiors, packaging, photography, textiles, and toys. Baker School of Business and Technology students use the labs for the study of patternmaking, textile development, production management, and more. The Scotese Center is also available to students in the schools of Liberal Arts, Graduate Studies, and Continuing and Professional Studies.
Students have access to state-of-the-art computer systems running either Macintosh or Windows operating systems. There are various labs available for specialized coursework undertaken by students in specific programs. The labs are equipped with peripherals and software applications from industry leaders such as Adobe, Apple, AutoDesk, Corel, Dassault Systèmes, Gerber, IBM, JDA, Lectra, NedGraphics, Nemetschek, Pointcarré, Pulse, Stoll, and many others.
David Dubinsky Student Center
Throughout the eight-story Dubinsky Center are arts and crafts studios, a comprehensive health center, a game room, lounges, an outdoor sitting area, the Style Shop (the student-run boutique on the first floor), student government and club offices, a student radio station, two gyms, two dance studios, and a state-of-the-art fitness center. Students are encouraged to take advantage of the full range of services and activities offered by Student Life, located on the seventh floor. Also in the center are the Counseling Center, Disability Support Services/FIT-ABLE, Educational Opportunity Program, Financial Aid, and International Student Advisors; a 17,000-square-foot street-level student cafeteria, featuring a variety of food stations and a wide range of menu options; and an 8,000-square-foot Barnes & Noble at FIT bookstore.
Academic facilities located in the Dubinsky Student Center include the Toy Design laboratory, Jewelry Design studios, the Annette Green Fragrance Foundation Laboratory, a television studio, and the design/research lighting laboratory.
Shirley Goodman Resource Center
The Shirley Goodman Resource Center, on Seventh Avenue, houses the Gladys Marcus Library, The Museum at FIT, and the School of Graduate Studies.
Gladys Marcus Library
212 217.4340
fitnyc.edu/library
Located on the fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the Shirley Goodman Resource Center, the Gladys Marcus Library provides a collection of more than 300,000 print, nonprint, and digital resources. The newspaper and periodical collection includes over 500 current subscriptions, with a specialization in international design and trade publications, and the digital library contains more than 90 searchable databases hosted by FIT, the New York State Library, and SUNYConnect. Most of these databases are available remotely, via log-in, and available 24 hours a day. The library also offers specialized resources supporting the college’s educational offerings, such as clipping files, fashion and trend forecasting services, runway show DVDs, and sketch collections.
The library’s fourth floor contains a library instruction classroom, Research and Instructional Services, and Special Collections. The fifth floor serves as the principal book collection of the library, and also houses the George Levinson Multimedia Room, for viewing and listening to audiovisual materials. The sixth floor holds designer and fashion files, forecasting services, “look books,” microfilm, the newspaper and periodical collection, and a “smart” classroom for information literacy instruction. Mac and PC computer workstations, printers, scanners, and self-service copiers are located throughout the library.
Special Collections houses rare books and materials, including all titles in the library’s collection that predate 1860, and selected titles dating from 1860 to the present, singled out for their aesthetic qualities, fragile condition, rarity, or value. Special Collections covers such subjects as architecture, art, decoration and ornament, dressmaking, fashion, interior decoration, regional costume, tailoring, textile design, the textile industry, and textile science. It also includes archives, original fashion sketches, photographs, portfolios of plates, and scrapbooks containing biographical material on designers and companies. Special Collections is accessible by appointment only.
Some highlights of Special Collections include:
- corporate and personal archives, including B.H. Wragge, Inc., David Dubinsky, Esquire, and an FIT
historical collection; - Fashion for America!, which includes reproductions of 4,500 original fashion sketches, representing
more than 50 designers and houses; - periodicals such as Gazette du Bon Ton (1912-25), Harper’s Bazaar (1867-1939), Les Idées
Nouvelles de la Mode (1922-32), and Vogue (1916-39); - sketches by/from Bergdorf Goodman, Berley Studio, Cardinal Fashion Studios, Davidow, Lady
Duff-Gordon (known as Lucile, c.1908-19), the Frances Neady Fashion Illustrations Collection,
Sophie Gimbel, Bill and Hazel Haire, Joseph Love, Inc., Muriel King (c.1932-45, including
costumes designed for Katharine Hepburn, Ginger Rogers, and Margaret Sullavan), Harriet
Meserole, Max Meyer, Frederick Milton, Florence Schatken, and Whittingham and
Humphreys (1888-1914); - W.P.A. scrapbooks of picture sources.
The Museum at FIT
212 217.4530
fitnyc.edu/museum
The Museum at FIT, accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is New York City’s only museum dedicated to the art of fashion. Founded in 1969 by the Fashion Institute of Technology, the museum collects, conserves, documents, exhibits, and interprets fashion. Its mission is to advance knowledge of fashion though exhibitions, programs, and publications. The museum organizes an extensive program of specialized classes, tours, and lectures, including an annual fashion symposium.
The museum’s permanent collection encompasses more than 50,000 garments and accessories, dating from the 18th century to the present, with a particular strength in women’s fashion by designers such as Azzedine Alaïa, Balenciaga, Chanel, Dior, Halston, and Charles James. There are more than 4,000 pairs of shoes in the collection, as well as 30,000 textiles, dating from the fifth century to the present. The museum’s collecting policy focuses on aesthetically and historically significant "directional” clothing, accessories and textiles, and visual materials, such as photographs, with an emphasis on contemporary avant-garde fashion.
The museum has three galleries. The largest gallery, located on the lower level, is devoted to special exhibitions, which receive extensive coverage in the media. The Fashion and Textile History Gallery is the only venue in the United States to offer a permanent (rotating) display of 250 years of fashion, drawn solely from the museum’s collections. Gallery FIT is dedicated to student and faculty exhibitions.
All exhibitions are free to the public, and the museum attracts more than 100,000 visitors a year. Museum hours are Tuesdays through Fridays, noon to 8 pm, and Saturdays, 10 am to 5 pm.
Recent exhibitions of distinction include:
- Fashion, A-Z: Highlights from the Collection of The Museum at FIT
- Daphne Guinness
- Ivy Style
- Fashion and Technology
- Shoe Obsession
School of Graduate Studies
212 217.4300
fitnyc.edu/gradstudies
FIT offers seven graduate programs. The Master of Arts degree programs are Art Market: Principles and Practices; Exhibition Design; Fashion and Textile Studies: History, Theory, Museum Practice; and Sustainable Interior Environments. The Master of Fine Arts degree program is Illustration. The Master of Professional Studies degree programs are Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing and Management and Global Fashion Management. The administrative and faculty offices, classrooms, laboratories, study collections, and research room for the graduate programs are housed on the third and sixth floors of the Goodman Center.
The Conference Center at FIT
The Conference Center at FIT is home to the School of Continuing and Professional Studies and features conference and training rooms for industry seminars and workshops. The center also houses the John E. Reeves Great Hall, a nearly 6,400-square-foot venue for exhibitions, fashion shows, lectures, trade shows, and other large events.