It’s that time of the year again when teenage girls run rampant through stores to find the perfect prom dress for their big night.

The importance of finding the right dress is a practice run for maybe bigger events in one’s life down the road, such as finding the wedding dress of your dreams. Both choices are a big deal at any age. So which dress do girls choose for their prom night?

With many New York prom and designer dresses to choose from, finding “the one” shouldn’t be hard.

Check out http://www.newyorkdressstore.com/. New York is the center of the fashion world. So when you get your designer dress in their New York store, rest assured, when your new dress arrives and you put it on… you will enjoy a fashion experience that is difficult to forget. Enjoy!

Fashion Campus NYC, organized by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Parsons The New School for Design, provides next-generation fashion and retail management talent with exposure to opportunities on the business side of the industry. The event will feature a keynote address by the acclaimed fashion designer Rachel Roy.

“By exposing hundreds of students from around the world to the range of career options in the fashion industry, Fashion Campus NYC has already proven itself to be a great success,” said New York City Economic Development Corporation President Seth W. Pinsky. “In this way, this program, along with our other fashion programs, will help cultivate the next generation of New York City-based fashion stars, ensuring that we remain the global leader in this important industry.”

Fashion Campus NYC offers professional education and networking opportunities to some of the most promising and ambitious summer interns in New York City. Its aim is to educate these young professionals about the variety of business-focused career paths available to them and to introduce them to influential figures in the City’s fashion industry. In so doing, the program seeks to inspire talented students to pursue post-college careers in New York’s fashion industry, thereby maintaining and enhancing the City’s position as a global fashion leader.

“Fashion Campus NYC has demonstrated the strong interest among young professionals for more opportunities to network and explore the business side of the fashion industry,” said Parsons Executive Dean Joel Towers. “Through our work with the NYCEDC, Parsons is extending one of its core values- providing students with the means to pursue successful careers in design, and supporting those industries through a strong talent pipeline.”

The first annual event in July 2011 was an overwhelming success, with nearly 200 students from more than 90 universities and 150 companies attending the event, as well as fashion industry representation from more than 25 New York-based companies.

The 2012 Fashion Campus NYC includes “Backstage Pass,” a panel discussion with young fashion business professionals working in finance, sales, product development, merchandising, marketing and buying; “Ready-to-Work,” a networking breakfast that will provide students with unparalleled access to industry leaders and hiring managers; and “A Tailored Approach,” breakout sessions by career path with career services and industry professionals . The weekend will conclude with a keynote address by Rachel Roy, a talented American designer who launched Rachel Roy New York in 2005 to create clothes for the modern woman.

Fashion Campus NYC is an initiative that resulted from Mayor Bloomberg’s FashionNYC2020, a strategic study to examine the challenges facing the fashion industry and designed to help the City build on its competitive advantages to maintain its status as a global fashion capital. The industry chairs for FashionNYC2020 are Richard Darling, CEO of LF USA; Diane von Furstenberg, Chairman and Founder, Diane von Furstenberg Studio L.P., and President, Council of Fashion Designers of America; Terry Lundgren, Chairman, President and CEO of Macy’s, Inc.; Andrew Rosen, CEO of Theory; and Kevin Ryan, CEO of Gilt.

New York City’s fashion industry employs 173,000 people, accounting for 5.7 percent of the City’s workforce, and generates nearly $2 billion in tax revenue annually. In addition, the City is home to one of the world’s largest wholesale fashion markets, which attracts more than 500,000 visitors a year to its trade shows, showrooms and retail stores. Fashion Campus NYC is one of six initiatives resulting from FashionNYC2020. These initiatives address the industry’s challenges in two ways: by further positioning the City as a hub of innovation for emerging designers as well as specialty and multi-channel retail, and by attracting the next generation of design, management and merchant talent. Following the successful launch of Fashion Campus NYC in 2011, Parsons and NYCEDC also launched Fashion Draft NYC in February of this year, bringing 25 top college seniors from universities across the country to network and interview for management-track positions with some of New York’s leading fashion companies.

Students interested in attending this free program are encouraged to register online at Fashion Campus NYC website, starting on April 16th.

The inaugural Catalpa Festival is coming to New York City on July 28th + 29th 2012 from 1pm to 11pm and is lining up to be the year’s most unique and original music and lifestyle event. Taking place on Randall’s Island, just to the Eastern side of Manhattan, the festival is set beautifully to the backdrop of the world’s most famous skyline.

Catalpa is about creating a truly authentic, fresh and unique musical experience featuring over 50 artists that traverse many styles and genres from rock and indie to hip-hop, reggae and the world of electronic music.

For Frisky as event producers, creating an enhanced setting and original event experience far beyond the standard is the basis of how they operate. They strive to provide not only the very best of the basic elements but also to create a visual and aesthetic overload that further enhances this already stunning setting by developing thought provoking art installations, bespoke event structures and enough unique elements to transform people out of the city and into a world more fantastic.

Sustainability: Frisky are working hard to reduce any negative environmental impact Catalpa Festival could have. They’ve put their heads together with environmental consultants to ensure that the event remains as Green-friendly as possible. They’ll be reducing the number of generators on-site, striving to ensure biodegradable packaging is used where possible and that all cans and bottles thrown away are recycled. They will also be carbon offsetting all emissions caused during the ferry and shuttle bus operations.

The Black Keys headlining Catalpa Festival

Catalpa Festival is held on the beautiful Randall’s Island Park, which is located along the East River between Manhattan, Queens and the Bronx. For information on how to get to Catalpa Festival on Randall’s Island see here. For more information about the park, visit http://www.randallsisland.org

Designer is First to Launch L-Side Bus Advertisements

NEW YORK, March 15, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — CBS Outdoor unveiled today its first-ever L-side New York City bus advertisements, featuring design house Calvin Klein, whose men’s and women’s jeans are being featured on sides of 75 MTA buses. The uniquely-sized bus ads, made popular in the United Kingdom, feature male and female models from Calvin Klein displayed on alternate sides of buses driving through Manhattan. This is the first time CBS Outdoor has featured the special-sized creative, which merge standard king-sized bus posters with traditional shelter-sized advertisements.

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Blue chip galleries, the artist elite and billionaire collectors are descending on New York today for Armory Arts Week. After 14 years, the international event has expanded beyond its signature show to include satellite fairs throughout the city, including the AADA Art Show and acclaimed Volta NY, which focuses explicitly on individual artists in lieu of the broader gallery platform of traditional art fairs. Armory Arts Week — ending Sunday — will again feature community programming in a different neighborhood each night, including Soho (tonight) and Downtown and the Lower East Side (Sunday), with self-guided art studio tours and exhibitions open to the public and often free of charge.

Those who have never been to the show, or an Armory-style international arts fair, should expect a convention-style event with international galleries exhibiting a cross-platform of artists and their works for public viewing and purchase. Entrance is $30 per person, with discounts for students and seniors. Those looking to delve deeper into the arts world find Open Forum, a series of hosted interviews and open conversations led by the art industry’s top collectors, curators and museum directors.

As more art fairs debut and thrive on the world stage, from Art Basel Miami Beach to the newer Art Platform in Los Angeles, The Armory Show tries to stand out and add an authentic New York feel. More experienced visitors will notice the changes, including a more “boutique layout” and a new destination restaurant and cafe. There’s also now Armory Performance, highlighting musical artists from the Nordic region as well as the United States from a stage inside The Wall Street Journal Media Lounge on Pier 94.

The coming of gallery owners and art dealers from around the world means a boom for select New York City hotels. The Surrey has long been a proud sponsor of The Armory Show (as well as The Whitney Biennial). Although its Upper East Side address isn’t as close to the action as a room at the Mandarin Oriental, its boutique luxury spirit and private art collection with works by Chuck Close, Richard Serra and Jenny Holzer provide an arty fix when away from the fair. The in-house Cafe Boulud leaves little reason to leave the hotel, especially with its Bar Pleiades coming to perky life during fair nights thanks to an ingenious cocktail menu by star bartender Maura McGuigan.

Those looking for a bit more of an edge can check in to Hotel Americano in Chelsea, the first U.S. property by Mexico City’s top boutique hoteliers Grupo Habita. The hotel makes quite a first impression with its metal sarcophagus facade by award-winning Mexican architect Enrique Norten and impressive interior design by Arnaud Montigny — designer of Paris’s ever-cool Colette boutique. Rooms are sexy and spare, with affordable entry-level spaces fit for starving artists and grander “uptown studios” with wooden platform beds and fireplaces fit for fancier patrons. With an equally hip but slightly less-tattooed crowd than the Ace Hotel, its rooftop pool and Lido eatery is also well-stocked with worthy artist muses, especially in warmer weather.

In terms of dining, look for a flurry of activity around recent James Beard nominees such as Tertulia, the uber-hip West Village gastropub recently nominated America’s Best New Restaurant. One of the toughest reservations in the city, it has emerged as a popular celebrity dining scene for the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and her numerous GOOP followers. For less paparazzi glare, Recette is where you’ll find Jesse Schenker cooking away at his nightly five- and seven-course tasting menus following his own Beard nomination as Rising Star Chef of the Year.

As for nightlife, there is only one nightclub where you will likely need to swap a Schnabel to get through the door, and that’s Le Baron in Chinatown. Now in its second month, it’s become the hottest nightclub to hit New York in the past decade — and it’s only getting hotter through The Armory Show, given it and its owner’s popularity with the art elite. Should you be unable to crack the guest list, there’s always Gramercy Park Hotel’s Rose Bar for a more grown-up lounge scene. Its cocktail list and pedigree crowd are ideal for a night on the town during Armory Arts Week.

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For decades now, the Whitney Biennial has been pushing the envelope of art. Traditional forms like painting and sculpture long ago ceded the stage to site-specific installations. Some pieces poked through the wall. An artwork might actually be the hole itself. Sometimes, the art wasn’t even in the museum, but over in Central Park. The latest trend has been to get away from art that is strictly visual. Installations typically whirr, click, howl or vocalize. The last Biennial had a talking hearse.

WU TSANG

The group show includes Sam LeWitt’s ‘Untitled (material for Fluid Employment),’ a photograph of a magnetic liquid, and ’Wildness,’ (production still) by the popular drag artist Wu Tsang, whose work focuses on transgender Latinas in Los Angeles.

SAM LEWITT AND MIGUEL ABREU GALLERY

This year, co-curators Jay Sanders and Elisabeth Sussman take the Biennial a few more steps beyond the quaint idea that museums are places for “art objects,” with an exhibit that trumpets performance.

The entire fourth floor has been transformed into an enclosed theatrical space with bleacher seating. The show kicks off with four weeks of on-site rehearsals by choreographers Sarah Michelson and Michael Clark. On a recent day, a dancer in a horse’s head circled the space, poking her equine nose over the top of the fence to the accompaniment of a minimalist electronic soundtrack.

REVIEW: THE 2012 WHITNEY BIENNIAL

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. at 75th Street
212-570-3600 or whitney.org

Through May 27th 2012
11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; 1 to 9 p.m. Friday.

Admission: $18, $12 over 62; free under 18.

Among the subsequent groups to perform will be the experimental rock band The Red Krayola, who will present an opera written in collaboration with the British conceptual art group Art & Language.

CONCEPTUAL WORKS

Behind the performance area, visitors can peer into the functioning dressing room, where performers do their makeup, don costumes and chatter, acting oblivious to the audience. Also accessible to visitors is a “green room” installation by the popular drag artist Wu Tsang, modeled on a Los Angeles bar called The Silver Platter that employs and caters to transgender Latinas.

In another nod to transparency and performance, L.A. artist Dawn Kasper has taken up residence in one of the galleries as part of what she calls her Nomadic Studio Practice Experiment. The artist has surrounded herself with books, tools, clothing, audio-visual equipment and a double bed, leaving barely enough room to stand. But Kasper, who converses with visitors, plans to live and work in the messy space for the duration of the show, at least during museum hours.

Documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog might seem a bit of a stretch for inclusion in this show, but stretch is what it’s all about here. Inside his spooky installation, he evokes the mood of a primeval world with a Dutch artist’s 350-year-old etchings and music from his award-winning documentary, “The Cave of Forgotten Dreams.”

Collaboration is another buzzword this year. The more people involved, the more senses engaged, the better. Take Gisele Vienne’s creepy animatronic mannequin of a mumbling adolescent boy holding a bloody puppet. Credits are given for music, voices, lighting, wall drawing and the dialogue – a psychotic rant by Dennis Cooper, a writer notorious for sadistic stories about pedophilia, Satanism and torture.

A work in progress is Sam Lewitt’s installation, in which magnetic liquid has been poured over small objects and is being made to evaporate with electric fans.

STATIC MEDIA

With all the noise and activity here, you have to pity the artist who works in a traditional, silent, static medium like oil painting. But some have made it into this exhibit of contemporary art by virtue of one unusual attribute or another, including that of being dead. Inexplicably, there’s an oil of a bare-chested man by American modernist Marsden Hartley, who died in 1943, and a watercolor of two seminude figures by Charles Demuth, who died in 1935.

As always, the Biennial has a full program of films and videos. Included is work by the pioneering underground filmmaker of the ’60s, George Kuchar, who died in 2011 and whose “Weather Diaries” document annual visits to the shabby El Reno hotel in tornado-alley, Oklahoma.

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1. See the Grand Central Terminal Kaleidoscope Light Show

It’s rush hour, Grand Central is slammed, you’re irritated—then suddenly music chimes, the walls turn neon and you’re surrounded by giant swirling snowflakes, twinkling stars and carousels. This winter wonderland appears every half hour on the half hour, rendering viewers incapable of grumpiness for minutes thereafter. Grand Central Terminal, 42nd St and Lexington Ave.(grandcentralterminal.com). Daily 11am–9pm; free. Through Jan 15.

2. Skate at Rockefeller Center

Give yourself the gift of crowd avoidance: During the week, the rink is significantly less packed, so play hooky and get your glide on. If you can’t cut out of work, haul out of bed on a weekend morning and beeline to 30 Rock; the rink opens at 8am. 30 Rockefeller Plaza between 49th and 50th Sts (212-332-7654, therinkatrockcenter.com)

3. See “Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter”

At the American Museum of Natural History’s butterfly exhibit, more than 500 live, winged beauties flit through a 1,200-square-foot vivarium. The space is kept at 80 degrees, so you can forgo the long johns. Afterward, check out the AMNH’s Origami Holiday Tree, which is decorated with 26 intricately folded paper creatures. American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St (212-769-5200, amnh.org). 10:15am–5pm, $24, including suggested admission.

4. Sip your way through City Bakery’s Hot Chocolate Festival

At the 17th annual cocoa fest, a different flavor will be offered every day: beer hot chocolate, love potion hot chocolate, happy hot chocolate and beyond. They all taste great with a big, moist, melted-chocolate-chip cookie. 3 W 18th St between 5th and 6th Aves (212-366-1414, thecitybakery.com); Jan 31-Mar 15.

5. Remember when you wore clothes for fashion instead of warmth at “Dress Codes”

The International Center of Photography’s third photography and video Triennial takes its cues ICP’s Year of Fashion in 2009, with rising stars and established artists exploring fashion as a means of social communication. Somewhere between your current cloth’s message—“I’m cold”—and the comically desperate fashionistas in Cindy Sherman’s work, you’ll find inspiration for when spring buds. 1133 Sixth Ave at 43rd St (212-857-9700, icp.org) Through Jan 17.

6. Escape to the tropics at the New York Botanical Gardens

Ensconce yourself in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory and you may forget the bone-chilling temperatures outside. In the Victorian-style hothouse, visitors shed their outerwear and bask in an indoor rain forest. Afterward, check out the Holiday Train Show. Bronx River Pkwy at Fordham Rd (718-817-8700, nybg.org)

7. Visit the Cloisters

The Met’s medieval art and architecture outpost—set in a lovely park overlooking the Hudson River—is beautiful in the snow. A path winds through the peaceful grounds to a castle that seems to have survived the Middle Ages. (It was built a mere 70 years ago, using pieces of five medieval French cloisters.) Check out the famous Unicorn Tapestries, the 12th-century Fuentidueña Chapel and the Annunciation Triptych by Robert Campin, all of which will have you singing Gregorians in no time. 99 Margaret Corbin Dr, Fort Tryon Park, Washington Heights (212-923-3700; metmuseum.org)

8. Treat yourself to Winter Restaurant Week

Winter Restaurant Week begins January 25th. Make your reservations ASAP to score wallet-friendly deals at many of the city’s best restaurants. Suddenly, Eleven Madison Park is in your price range. See nycgo.com/restaurantweek for a full listing of restaurants. Jan 25-Feb 7.

9. Explore the Morgan Library & Museum

This Madison Avenue institution began as the private library of savvy financier J. Pierpont Morgan, and is his artistic gift to the city. Building on the collection Morgan amassed in his lifetime, the museum houses first-rate works on paper, including drawings by Michelangelo, Rembrandt and Picasso; three Gutenberg Bibles; a copy of Frankenstein annotated by Mary Shelley; manuscripts by Dickens, Poe, Twain, Steinbeck and Wilde; sheet music handwritten by Beethoven and Mozart; and an original edition of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol that’s displayed every yuletide. Even on a gray day the main entrance hall is flooded with natural light, making the museum’s café a nice spot for lunch or an afternoon snack. 225 Madison Ave at 36th St (212-685-0008, themorgan.org)

10. Go to the New York Aquarium

After you’ve thrilled to eerie moon jellyfish, fierce sharks and adorable black-footed penguins, be sure to say hi to Squirt, the aquarium’s giant Pacific octopus. Then pop on some glasses for “Planet Earth: Shallow Seas,” a 4-D show that takes viewers into the ocean, complete with crashing waves and salty spray. The ongoing sea lion show, featuring four-year-old Duke, delights kids and adults alike (daily 11:45am, 4pm). Surf Ave at 8th St, Coney Island, Brooklyn (718-265-3474, nyaquarium.com)

11. Visit the Brooklyn Brewery

The name of the game at one of New York’s most successful breweries is beer. The name of the game in the Tasting Room is cheap beer. For four bucks, you get one token, redeemable for the onsite brew of your choice. Settle at one of the picnic tables and sip a smooth Brooklyn Pilsner or seasonal Black Stout Chocolate. Don’t hold back. The more you drink, the more you support a clean environment: The brewery is now 100 percent wind-powered, so getting wasted is now a whole lot greener. 79 North 11th St between Berry St and Wythe Ave, Williamsburg, Brooklyn (718-486-7422, brooklynbrewery.com).

12. Go to the Guggenheim for free

The Guggenheim is as famous for its landmark building—designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and restored for its 50th birthday in 2009—as it is for its impressive collection and daring temporary shows. The museum owns Peggy Guggenheim’s trove of Cubist, Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist works, along with the Panza di Biumo Collection of American Minimalist and Conceptual art from the 1960s and ’70s. Lesser-known fact: Admission is free from 5:45pm-7:45pm on Saturdays. 1071 Fifth Ave at 89th St (212-423-3500, guggenheim.org)

13. Go to the Rose Center for Earth & Space

At this spectacular silver globe—dazzling to encounter on a winter night—you can discover the universe via 3-D shows in the Hayden Planetarium and light shows in the Big Bang Theater. Current offerings include Journey to the Stars,” a space show narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, and “SonicVision,” a collaboration between MTV2 and pop maestro Moby (he mixed the soundtrack featuring Radiohead, Goldfrapp, Coldplay and U2) that’s a computer-animated dreamscape, beamed onto the interior of the planetarium’s dome ($15). American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th St (212-769-5100, amnh.org)

Read more: http://newyork.timeout.com/articles/own-this-city/81134/101-things-to-do-in-new-york-city-in-the-winter

As it turns 50—and gets a face-lift—this complex chunk of city deserves rethinking.

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Living With Lincoln Center