2009 PARSONS FASHION BENEFIT TO HONOR
CALVIN KLEIN, INC.’S TOM MURRY AND FRANCISCO COSTA

Parsons also to Honor Cathy Horyn with First-Ever Student Icon Award
André Leon Talley and Terry Lundgren to Present Honoree Awards

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 at Cipriani Wall Street

NEW YORK, March 31, 2009 – Parsons The New School for Design will hold their 2009 Parsons Fashion Benefit at Cipriani Wall Street on Wednesday, April 29. Each year the event honors visionaries who have significantly contributed to the field of fashion design; this year’s event will honor Tom Murry, President & CEO of Calvin Klein, Inc., and Francisco Costa, the company's Women's Creative Director for Calvin Klein Collection. Terry Lundgren, the Chairman, President & CEO of Macy’s will present Mr. Murry with his honorary award, while Vogue’s Editor-at-Large, André Leon Talley, will bestow Mr. Costa with his award. Additionally this year, New York Times Fashion Critic Cathy Horyn will be presented with the first-ever Student Icon Award. Solely selected and voted on by Parsons fashion students, this award is given to a powerful voice in the fashion community that inspires and influences their work.

"Tom Murry and Francisco Costa together represent the importance of having a strong business strategy and singular creative vision to become a fashion powerhouse such as Calvin Klein," said Bob Kerrey, president of The New School. "In that respect, no team can serve as a better role model to our students than Tom and Francisco."

The Parsons Fashion Benefit raises funds for scholarships and academic programs at Parsons, a leader in design education in disciplines ranging from fashion design to communication design and technology, product design, interior design, architecture, photography, fine art and more.

On Thursday, April 2, Calvin Klein Collection will host an invitation-only reception at the brands’ Madison Avenue flagship store. The pre-benefit cocktail will be held to celebrate some of the most promising fashion designers emerging from Parsons this year and bring awareness to the importance of supporting Parsons through its annual event, and thus the future fashion industry professionals that will directly benefit from that support.

"Tom and I are thrilled to be receiving these prestigious awards from Parsons," said Mr. Costa. "Calvin Klein has a longstanding relationship with Parsons and we are always impressed with their students’ high level of talent."

A highlight of the annual event is a fashion show featuring the best of the graduating student collections, including the much-anticipated Designer of the Year in womenswear, menswear and childrenswear. The Parsons Fashion Benefit has helped launch the careers of some of Parsons’ most talented alumni, including 2004 honoree Marc Jacobs '84; Jack McCollough ’02 and Lazaro Hernandez ’02 of Proenza Schouler, winner of the CFDA 2007 Womenswear Designer of the Year; Doo-Ri Chung ’95, winner of the 2006 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund and the CFDA 2006 Swarovski’s Perry Ellis Award for Emerging Talent; and 2008 Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund finalists Sophie Buhai '03 and Lisa Maycock '03 of Vena Cava.

Editor's Note: On May 11, Parsons will host a fashion show of the top student collections including Designer of the Year, for more information, please contact Deborah Kirschner at 212.229.5667 x4310 or kirschnd@newschool.edu.

“The benefit is an opportunity for an audience of highly respected fashion professionals to see the impressive work achieved by our students,” said Parsons Fashion Dean Simon Collins. “This year, in addition to showcasing top collections, we are debuting a short film that provides an insider's view of life in our fashion school. We also have drawn from the tremendous talent to be found across Parsons to help to produce an outstanding event, from lighting design to web design, filmmaking and more. One additional way that we have involved our students is in presenting the first Student Icon Award, which is given to a powerful voice in the fashion community that inspires and influences their work. We are thrilled to present the award this year to Cathy Horyn, whose incisive fashion reporting and criticism has provided much needed insight into contemporary fashion."

Tickets for the Parsons Fashion Benefit are available for $1,500 and above. For information, please visit www.newschool.edu/parsonsbenefit or contact 212-229-5662 x3735/3568 or specialevents@newschool.edu.

About the Honorees

Tom Murry, President & CEO of Calvin Klein, Inc., directs the day-to-day operations of one of the world's largest and most successful design fashion companies, which has been a wholly owned subsidiary of Phillips-Van Heusen Corporation since 2003. Mr. Murry focuses on business strategy, marketing, and sales development for all Calvin Klein product lines under the Calvin Klein Collection, ck Calvin Klein, and Calvin Klein brands. Mr. Murry joined Calvin Klein, Inc. in 1996.

Francisco Costa is the Women's Creative Director of Calvin Klein Collection. Earlier in his career, he worked for a number of other top design houses, including Gucci, Balmain Couture, and Oscar de la Renta, and directly with Calvin Klein himself. Mr. Costa created his first collection for the house for the spring 2004 season and he was named Womenswear Designer of the Year by the Council of Fashion Designers of America in 2006 and again in 2008.

Cathy Horyn has been the fashion critic of The New York Times since 1999. Prior to joining the Times, she was a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, where she covered fashion and Hollywood. From 1990 to 1994, she was the fashion reporter for The Washington Post. She began her career in 1980 at the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Virginia. A native of Coshocton, Ohio, she graduated from Barnard College in New York City, and has a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University.

About Parsons The New School for Design

With the launch of the first fashion design program in America in 1906, Parsons is credited with giving birth to Seventh Avenue, the epicenter of American fashion. Parsons offers a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree and Associate Degrees in Fashion Studies and Fashion Marketing, and in 2010 will launch a Master of Fine Arts Program in Fashion Design and Society that was initiated through an endowed professorship by Parsons alumna Donna Karan. Parsons has educated a who’s who list of the fashion industry, including design legends Adrian, Claire McCardell and Norman Norell; industry leaders Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Isaac Mizrahi, Narciso Rodriguez and Anna Sui; and rising talents Chris Benz, Doo-Ri Chung, Derek Lam, Thakoon Paniguchal, Proenza Schouler, Behnaz Sarafpour, Peter Som, Vena Cava, Alexander Wang, and Jason Wu. For more information, visit www.newschool.edu/parsons.

# # #