Pratt Institute celebrating its 125th Anniversary!

                                         Happy Anniversary to Pratt! 125 years! 

 Pratt Institute taught me well! And Pratt taught me how to be the best professor I can be !
One of the best Institute in the country and the oldest Fashion Design program in the country, Pratt was the very first school I learned to teach in the classroom! My first profession as a Professor in Fashion Department, I taught draping, pattern making, sewing, and fashion survey. Following the footstep of teaching, Linda Sands brought me into Pratt and brought me under her wings.

Professor Sands was also my professor at FIT when I was her students in draping and pattern making. The simply elegant and beautiful , Linda Sands have always been considered one of the best professors at FIT and Pratt.  I made so many great friends from the fabulous and the amazing Chair Rosie DePasquale, Adrienne Jones, Melanie Schmidt, Van Lupu , Jacqueline Lamont  and the late Mary-Carol Miller.

 

With  9 amazing years experienced at Pratt. I have witnessed Vogue Editor-at-large Andre Leon Talley to present the Pratt Institute Fashion Icon Award to legendary designer Diane von Furstenberg / Pratt to host exclusive after party in von Furstenberg's honor at the Hudson Hotel. I learned that future supermodels of the world, Linda Evangelista and Naomi Campbell were on the runway at Pratt before they became the supermodels of the world in the 90's! I have seen the Pratt Fashion Icons awards gone to Narciso Rodriguez Carmen Marc Valvo, Catherine Malandrino and Ralph Rucci. With great students in the classroom, fashion shows and meeting new people every day, Pratt was the place to be!      

                         As I taught at Pratt,one of the most prestigious colleges for art, design, and architecture in the world, I learned about the richness and the history of the Institute. I was very quite impress and learning that
Pratt is home to the first fashion design program in the United States.  Sadly after 9 years of teaching at Pratt, I was thrilled and honor to be apart of Pratt. Yes time to move on to the next chapter in my life to become a full.time professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology where I studied fashion design. And going back to FIT,  it was an honor to go back home where I started it all as a student. Pratt will always be special to me as well, I LOVE PRATT! And yes very big THANK YOU,  Linda and to ROSIE DePasquale for having me come to Pratt!
                        
The school ranks among the top design schools in the world by BusinessWeek and its interior design, industrial design, and architecture programs are consistently ranked among the top 10 nationwide. Additionally, Pratt’s campus is named one of the 10 college campuses with the best architecture by Architectural Digest.   
Located in the heart of Brooklyn, Pratt Institute is recognized worldwide as an influential institution of art and design that has impacted the lives of millions since its founding. In the past decade, the college has grown to become a pillar of Brooklyn’s cultural renaissance and a vital asset to its surrounding communities.

 

• Names like  the american Iconic fashion designer: Norman Norell, the Tony award-winning Harvey Fierstein Terrence Howard, Martin Landau, Robert Redford, Betsy Johnson and Jeremy Scott have all attended the historic Pratt in Brooklyn. 

  

With his education in Fashion, briefly first at Parsons School of Design and graduated from Pratt,  

 Norman Norell won a Coty Award (the Oscars for the Fashion Design Industry)  and became a critic at the Pratt Institute fashion department, where he was previously a student.  And  Norell had launched chemise dresses, evening dresses, fur coats, sequined evening sheaths, fur slacks and empire-line dresses.  

Treasures of New York goes inside the prestigious college to discover its vibrant Brooklyn history through the eyes of the two men who “built” it; industrialist Charles Pratt, who founded the school in 1887, and Dr. Thomas F. Schutte, who has been articulating Pratt’s vision since he became the school’s President in 1993. One of the defining moments in the film shows how Schutte spearheaded the revitalization of Pratt’s nearby neighborhoods, particularly on Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn.

Pratt’s mission is to educate creative professionals to become responsible contributors to society. Testament to their ideal is found through a vast array of pop culture touchstones ranging from William Van Alen’s Chrysler Building and William Boyer’s Ford Motor Thunderbird to iconic  logos designed by Paul Rand for IBM and Tim O’Brien for The Hunger Games.

Here is the video seen on PBS station of Treasures in New York! A very excellent documentary!

A highlight of the film comes from artist and Pratt alumna, Mickalene Thomas, whose work along with other Pratt alumni is in the collections of Brooklyn Museum and MoMA. She shares personal insight from the perspectives of having been both a student and a professor at Pratt, and how she’s inspired by Pratt’s rich history of artistic talent.

 Today, the Institute is primarily known for its highly ranked programs in architecture, interior design, and industrial design. 
U.S. News and World Report lists Pratt as one of the top 20 colleges in the Regional Universities North category.  Princeton Review recognizes Pratt as being one of the best colleges in the northeast,  making it among the top 25% of all four-year colleges and universities in the United States. 


When the college opened its doors, Charles Pratt wanted to give artisans an opportunity to learn their trade and make a living from it. That basic principle of applied science was considered a revolutionary philosophy. Now, it’s a popular curriculum for many institutions.
In 1896, Pratt made local history with opening the Pratt Library, which was Brooklyn’s first free public library.

From its inception through the 21^st century, Pratt has counted among its faculty those whose works became the lexicon of industrial design. Eva Zeisel’s Museum Dinnerware, Morison S. Cousins’ Promax Compact Hairdryer, and Karim Rashid’s reusable Bobble Water Bottle are all part of the archive of the Museum of Modern Art. Pratt also helped develop such versatile artistic sensibilities that included Pamela Colman Smith’s The Rider-Waite Tarot Deck and Jeremy Scott’s avant-garde fashion.

As art and commerce continue to merge, Pratt Institute’s evolving educational environment will confront these challenges to prepare the artists, designers, and scholars of tomorrow.

 

In honor of the anniversary, the Empire State Building glowed gold last night, echoing Pratt’s school colors of yellow and black as a tribute to the Institute, which has been a hub of artistic and cultural prominence in New York City for 125 years. Guests were also decked out in their finest black and gold.
Pratt Institute’s President Thomas F. Schutte kicked off the evening with welcome remarks followed by the Chair of Pratt’s Board of Trustees, Bruce Gitlin who gave a warm introduction to The Pratt Family and presented Mike Pratt with the first award of the evening.
                           

More than 500 guests attended Pratt Institute’s 125^th Anniversary celebration, which raised a record-breaking $1,070,000 through ticket sales at the Waldorf-Astoria.    

HAPPY 125th Anniversary Pratt and Many more wishes!