DEPT. OF CULTURE

Inside Impact

February 9, 2012

The CFDA is celebrating its 50th anniversary with an exhibition at the Museum at FIT, and tonight is opening night. Preparations, of course, are full steam ahead for New York fashion week, but you can count on seeing plenty of boldface designers at the party. Many, if not all of them, contributed images as well as personal statements to the show’s accompanying book,Impact: 50 Years of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. We’ve collected some of the tome’s most striking photographshere. To read Patricia Mears’ history of the the organization—from its birth in 1962 to the genesis of the CFDA Awards in ‘80 to the creation of the Bryant Park tents in the early nineties (the catalyst: a ceiling that started to cave in at a 1991 Michael Kors show)—you’ll have to buy a copy.

CLICK FOR A SLIDESHOW of images, and check back tomorrow for our report on the party.

—Nicole Phelps

Photo: Courtesy of Antoni Bernad

tags: CFDA Awards, Impact: 50 Years of the Council of Fashion Designers of America,Patricia Mears