For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Gloria Gottschalk, New School University
(212) 229-5667, ext. 239

Parsons School of Design:
Carole Schaffer (212) 229-5314

PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN TO HONOR GENE KAHN AND THE MAY DEPARTMENT STORES COMPANY
FASHION CRITICS AWARDS BENEFIT
TUESDAY, APRIL 17, 2001
Student Designer of the Year to be named and
Gold Thimble Awards to be presented to exceptional students

(New York, NY — January 29, 2001) Parsons School of Design will honor Gene Kahn, President and CEO, and The May Department Stores Company, at Parsons’ annual Fashion Critics Awards Benefit on Tuesday, April 17, 2001 at the Marriott Marquis, located at Times Square in Manhattan. The benefit will raise funds for scholarships and academic program needs. The runway show will debut the best young fashion talent, Parsons’ graduating class. Today’s hottest designers will be there, many who attended and now teach at Parsons. These "designer critics" will present Gold Thimble Awards to the best designers in their groups, and the Student Designer of the Year Award will go to the most outstanding fashion design student.

This year marks the 53rd year of Parsons’ annual runway show and benefit. For ticket information, call (212) 972-2268.

Gene Kahn joined The May Department Stores Company in 1990 as president and chief executive officer of the G. Fox department store division, headquartered in Hartford, Conn.

G. Fox was merged into the company's Filene's division in Boston, and Mr. Kahn became president and chief executive officer of Filene's in 1992. He was named vice chairman of The May Department Stores Company and was elected to the board of directors in 1996, and was appointed executive vice chairman in 1997.

In 1998, Mr. Kahn was named president and chief executive officer of May. He has led the company for three years, building on the legacy, which he inherited, and leading the company into the business environment of the new millenium.

Mr. Kahn began his stellar retailing career in 1971 at Gimbel’s. He moved to Bamberger’s in 1976 where he was named senior vice president and general merchandise manager in 1984. In 1988, he moved to the consolidated Macy’s Northeast division to become group senior vice president. A year later he was named group senior vice president for Macy's South/Bullock's.

Mr. Kahn’s commitment to education is long-standing, as a member of the Board of Trustees of Washington University in St. Louis and of Mary Institute/Country Day School, also in St. Louis. Mr. Kahn received his B.A. Degree from City College of New York in 1971. He and his wife, Connie, reside in St. Louis and have two daughters.

The entertainment highlight of the evening will be the professional runway show of student designs. Top industry designers have passed on their experience to these students in a series of critic sessions — often flying in from abroad to work with students in intense and sometimes emotional hands-on sessions. The students research and construct finished garments for selection and presentation on the runway.

This year’s themes update the past with the creative use of fabrics from classics like wool, tweed, silk and leather to rubber, chain mail, beads, and synthetic performance fabrics. Themes include "A Perfect Storm" extreme winter gear, "Time Capsule" Elizabethan-inspired garments, "Grand Evening in an English Manor" tweeds, tartans and cashmeres for women, and "The True Millenium" argyle and Fair Isle for men. "Celebrating Diversity" contrasts cultures from Polynesian Eskimo to Japanese African in fabrics from silk chiffon to burlap. "Brownie Points" updates the prep school look for women. "Bonnie and Clyde" for women’s wear, pushes the gender envelope and "Mad for Plaid" takes on kids clothing.

Designer critics include: Adri, Mark Badgley/James Mischka, Jeffrey Banks, June Beckstead (Gap), Donald Brooks, Albert Capraro, Martin Cooper (Burberry’s), Louis Dell’Olio, Stan Herman, Donna Karan, Jerry Kwiatkowski (Perry Ellis), Dominick Leuci (Joseph Aboud), Charlotte Neuville (Lerner), Mary Ann Restivo, Peter Speliopoulos (Cerutti), Steven Slowik, Cynthia Steffe, Michael Vollbracht, and Mark Waldrop (Jones New York).

Past Parsons fashion design alumni are employed by many of the major fashion companies, such as Carla Westcott, Anne Klein II, Vera Wang, Ralph Lauren, The Gap, and Tommy Hilfiger. Recent graduates like Daphne Gutierrez and Nicole Noselli, founders of the hot design team known as Bruce and Peter Som, selected for Fashion Week are on their way to stardom. Many alumni like Tom Ford (Gucci), Marc Jacobs (Louis Vuitton), and Narcisco Rodriquez make fashion headlines all over the world. Still other alumni like Claire McCardell, Norman Norell and Donna Karan are simply legendary.

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The May Department Stores Company is one of the largest department store retailers in the United States, with revenues of $13.9 billion in fiscal 1999. May operates 429 quality department stores under eight divisions and 12

trade names nationwide. May's trade names include Lord & Taylor, Hecht's, Strawbridge's, Foley's, Robinsons-May, Filene's, Kaufmann's, Famous-Barr, L.S. Ayres, The Jones Store, Meier & Frank, and ZCMI. The company also operates 123 David's Bridal stores in 36 states and Puerto Rico. May is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri.

Parsons School of Design, a division of New School University, is one of the nation’s oldest and largest colleges of art and design. Nearly 2,800 degree-seeking students majoring in a dozen fields come from 45 states and 60 countries around the world. Parsons has campuses in Greenwich Village and Midtown Manhattan, as well as affiliate schools in France, Japan, Korea, and the Dominican Republic. The school has an extensive roster of industry partnerships with all of the design professions, including Fashion.