Title

Jeanette Jarnow interview, 1994 December 20

Contributor Names

Poll, Carol (Interviewer)

Jarnow, Jeannette A.

Date

1994-12-19

Date Digitized

2020

Description

Jeannette Jarnow, former Chair of the Fashion Buying and Merchandising Department (FBM), discusses the small and intimate nature of FIT when she joined in 1956. She discusses the founding of the school by Morris Haft, Virginia Pope, and a handful of fashion industry insiders. She then describes the birth of the FBM department thanks to an endowment by Bergdorf Goodman as well as close relationships with Lord & Taylor, Abraham and Strauss, and Bloomingdale's. Jarnow touches on influential people from each department store and then goes into the student demographic make-up of the 1950s. Jarnow describes the changes at FIT over her 38 year career such as the former dress code. She then describes fundraising events and field trips to wholesalers and retailers. Jarnow also remembers famous speakers coming to the school such as Yves Saint Laurent and Givenchy. She recalls that Virginia Pope used to take students to the opera and other public events to experience fashion and culture. Jarnow briefly touches on her time as Chair and describes the publication of her book, "Inside the Fashion Business." Jarnow also emphasizes FIT's international reach and the vast array of career options alumni have experienced. Finally, she mentions the Oral History of FIT taken by Mildred Finger which was housed in the library.

Type

Moving Image

Oral histories

Subject

Jarnow, Jeannette A.

Bethel, Lawrence L.

Pope, Virginia

Saint Laurent, Yves

Givenchy, Hubert de, 1927-2018

Goodman, Andrew

Goodman, Edwin

Dawley, Melvin

Murphy, Katie

Solomon, Sidney, 1902-1975

Finger, Mildred

Haft, Morris

Slonin, Molly

Snyder, Rosalind

Lord & Taylor

Bergdorf Goodman (New York, N.Y.)

Abraham & Straus

Bloomingdale's (Firm)

Fashion

Education

Fashion merchandising

Dress codes

Department stores

Fashion Institute of Technology (New York, N.Y.)

New York (State)

New York (State)--New York

Related Materials

Finding Aid

Rights

In Copyright

This video was produced by the Fashion Institute of Technology ("FIT") and is the property of FIT. FIT expressly prohibits the copying, displaying, or uploading to a website of any portion of this video, except for the purposes of fair use as defined in the copyright laws, without express written permission from FIT. This video has been made available online by the Fashion Institute of Technology Gladys Marcus Library strictly for research and educational purposes. If you are the copyright holder for content in this video and have any objections to this work being made available online, please notify us immediately at [email protected].

Identifier

FIT Repository ID: aod_000704

SPARC reference code: US.NNFIT.SC.FITA.3.20.4.9.4.15