SOTHEBY'S AND PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN PRESENT
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S INTERLUDE
'MOMENTS OF CLARITY

Opening on the evening of June 20, 2002, Sotheby's New Collectors and Parsons School of Design will present A Midsummer Night's Interlude, Moments of Clarity. This exhibit, which will run for two weeks in Sotheby's 10th floor galleries, will feature fashion designs from students at Parsons School of Design as well as photographs both from Parsons students and from Parsons photography faculty and renowned photographers with a relationship to Parsons. The opening event, which is hosted by Westin Hotels and Resorts, will be held Thursday night from 6:30 until 9 PM prior to the opening of the public exhibition, which begins on the 21st and runs through the 28th at Sotheby's. All photographs and fashion designs will be for sale with the proceeds from the sales benefiting the artists. Parsons will take a percentage for organizing the show and will allocate its profit to a scholarship fund for fashion and photography students.

By mixing fashion and photography, the exhibition will present both the encapsulation of a moment, an experience or emotion with garments that delight the senses—fresh, colorful, sexy, witty and yet functional. Photography is enduring and fashion is fleeting, yet both reflect the way people change in response to new ideas and new reflections of their role in the world. By seeing fashion and photography entwined, the viewer is linked to reality through fantasy, seriousness through fancy. These somewhat polar fields, fashion being three-dimensional, tactile, an expression of individual character and status versus photography as mostly a two-dimensional, pictorial impression of time, join together for an experience of contrasting, connecting visual appeal. Only a school such as Parsons, steeped in the long history or preparing artists in New York City, can present a display of this kind which offers a focused, discerning view of our city and the world at large today. Participating photographers include: William Wegman, Bruce Davidson, Carl Burton, Ralph Gibson, Charles Harbutt, Mary Ellen Mark, Arnold Newman, Sebastiao Salgado, Neil Selkirk and Joyce Tenneson.

Westin Hotels & Resorts, with more than 110 hotels and resorts in 26 countries, is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 740 properties in more than 80 countries and 110,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. With internationally renowned brands, Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchiser of hotels and resorts including: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, W brands, as well as Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.westin.com.

Please contact 212 606 7111 to R.S.V.P.

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