It’s been an undoubtedly good year for the Pratt Institute, a fact that shone on the satisfied faces of honorees, the school’s trustees, and other attendees at last night’s Pratt Legends Gala at the Mandarin Oriental. The Brooklyn-based art, architecture, and design school’s achievements in 2014 are substantial: it opened a new design and fashion incubator in early November in South Williamsburg, a group of it’s students recently presented their work at the White House to Michelle Obama, and the school continues to rank among the country’s top programs in the creative disciplines it teaches.
Yesterday, as in previous years, the annual scholarship benefit pursued its fundraising ends by honoring three leading practitioners in the fields of art and design. This year’s luminaries are interior and furniture designer Iris Apfel, the reigning queen of senior citizen dressing, whose unmistakable predilection for giant round glasses, bright furs, and sparkling accessories has accorded her influence across generations; Kim Hastreiter, the founder and editor-in-chief of Paper Magazine, who “broke the Internet” by putting another, rather more salacious Kim on her magazine’s latest cover; and David and Sybil Yurman, the husband-and-wife duo behind the high-end jewelry line named after the former. Though none of this year’s honorees are alumni, the explanation goes that their varied achievements have invariably shaped the education and careers of the institute’s former, current, and future students. Even before each honoree accepted a statuette designed by current Pratt junior Chengtao Yi, it was clear that all of them wield influence that extends far beyond the school’s Clinton Hill and Manhattan campuses.
Undeniable success of the sort lauded at the Legends Gala always comes at a price, typically years of hard, often unrecognized work. For everyone else taking in views from the 36th-floor venue last night, that sum was “whatever you can give,” a refrain heard constantly from Pratt professor and gala emcee Bill Hilson. Here, the school’s fundraisers should be lauded for their creativity — guests were encouraged to text a pre-arranged phone number with financial pledges, and each text was displayed on a screen that fueled competition among audience members. For reference, that’s (646) 427-8000, should anyone feel inspired to supplement the $60,000 figure that the experimental tactic raised for scholarships last night. (In total, the evening racked up $760,000 for scholarships.)
Not only did guests provide financial support to Pratt students, honorees also offered advice to the assembled crowd and the larger student community. Hastreiter spoke about focusing on the present moment, while David Yurman jokingly recommended “a lot of psychiatry.” Apfel admitted that she checked the dictionary for “legend” definitions, and after pondering whether she was “gloriously notorious” or “a myth,” moved on to the “eternal question: what the devil do I wear?” (Vintage black Alberta Feretti, a fur collar, and plenty of rhinestones, for the record.) When Bruce Gitlin, Chair of Pratt's Board of Trustees, took the podium, he had some more subtle advice for the audience: “New buildings support naming opportunities for all of you.”
