DRESSING AMERICA: tales from the garment center

DRESSING AMERICA: tales from the garment center

    Price: $350.00

    Code: 2516

    Directed by Joel Sucher and Steven Fischler
    2011, 57 minutes
    Purchase: $350 | Classroom rental: $125

    A captivating documentary that depicts the history of New York’s garment center, Dressing America explores how this business grew from humble beginnings into an industry that’s dressed America.

    Dressing America: Tales from the Garment Center explores the history of New York’s fashion district – otherwise known as the Garment Center – and the pioneering Jewish immigrants who helped build it from the ground up. The film explores the twenty blocks square radius with the address 498, 500, and 512 Seventh Avenue (between West 36, 37 Street) that made 80 percent of the clothing in the U.S.A., from fashion designs to manufacturing, to marketing, and selling.

    Featuring the nostalgic recollections of industry veterans and visits to the workrooms of major manufacturers like Tahari-ASL and Nicole Miller, Dressing America is a tribute to a colorful, creative industry and the vibrant Jewish community that has nurtured it for more than 150 years. It recounts the history of the Singer Sewing Machines, New York Fashion Week with creator Fern Mallis, and legendary designers from Jewish immigrant parents such as ADRIAN (Adrian Adolph Greenberg), HARVE BERNARD, HATTIE CARNEGIE (Henrietta Kanengeiser), LESLIE FAY (Fred Pomerantz), SCAASI (Arnold Scaasi) and many others. In addition, Dressing America captures fascinating archival footage from "Uncle Moses (1932)," "The Women (1939)," "In the Middle of the Night (1959)," "A New Kind of Love (1963)," and the current ongoing effort to preserve the garment center of the world for the fashion industry instead of converting the buildings into residential lofts.

    Subjects & Collections



    Reviews

    "A love letter to Seventh Avenue with multigenerational scope." - The New York Times

    "This informative and entertaining documentary will especially appeal to audiences interested in fashion merchandising and business." - Library Journal

    "The film reminds us that the American fashion industry today 'is the fashion industry that the Jews created, starting 120 years ago.' Perhaps nativists and other opponents of immigration should keep that history in mind." - Anthropology Review Database

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