Department of Special Collections and FIT Archives

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Department of Special Collections and FIT Archives

A rare resource located on the Fashion Institute of Technology Campus (SUNY)

09/01/2026

Shopping Bag Beauties! SPARC has received a wonderful donation of shopping bags and related packaging numbering in the thousands!

The collection is decades in the making by creative director Fred J. DeVito. DeVito was one of the in-house designers who conceived of Bloomingdale’s “big brown bag”. Selections from this collection were previously exhibited by DeVito at The City Reliquary Museum in Brooklyn, NY.

07/01/2026

How gorgeous are these pieces from our Mr. Daren sketch collection? It’s too hard to pick a favorite!

The Mr. Daren Sketch Collection (1940-1949) feature illustrations from Daren Pierce, a graduate of the Wolfe School of Costume Designing in Los Angeles in 1941. While serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he was stationed in Farragut, Idaho and Yerba Buena Island, where he completed the sketches in the collection.

More sketches can be found on our updated SPARC Digital site in our bio.

05/29/2026

New acquisition alert!

The Special Collections and FIT Archive received a new collection titled the “Helen Oppenheim Papers” that document her career as an art director and press agent for Vidal Sassoon and La Coupe. Oppenheim also worked as a journalist covering hair trends and fashion for over 50 years!

This post highlights photos from Lluís Llongueras’ four volume series titled “El Método Llongueras” from the 1970s. These photos are from Volume IV “Pemanentados y Coloraciones”.

05/21/2026

Friday Foster was a syndicated newspaper comic strip written by Jim Lawrence and illustrated by Jorge Longarón from 1970-1974. The comics follow Friday Foster, a fashion model turned photographer’s assistant, through her travels, triumphs, romances, and tribulation. It was one of the first comic strips to feature an African-American woman as its protagonist.

If you are interested in seeing our collection of Friday Foster comics, please make an appointment at the link in our bio!

05/01/2026

An exciting new donation to the archives! These four gorgeous lithographic prints from 1988 by artist George Stavrinos (1948-1990) were advertisements for Bergdorf Goodman featured in GQ Magazine.

04/17/2026

With a publishing date of 1914, this advertising booklet “The Story of My Life” by “Billie Button” was published to highlight the Wisconsin Pearl Button Company by following the autobiographical account of a button from its start as a clamshell in the Mississippi River to its final home on a girl’s dress in Indiana.

The booklet’s prose is witty and informative, all while reminding the reader that all steps of the Wisconsin Pearl Button Company’s manufacturing progress are made by and made for Americans.

03/27/2026

Back by popular demand! Here are some more pages from The Muppet Show Style Book from 1978🐸☕️

03/20/2026

Meep! Meep! What a find!

03/13/2026

Magnificent Italian Boeing Pelliccerie coats from 1980-1981🐈‍⬛

Address

227 W 27th Street
New York, NY
10001

Website

http://www.fitnyc.edu/library/sparc

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