Annual Parsons Benefit and the Parsons Benefit Steering Committee

The Parsons Benefit is an annual celebration of the inspirational and transformational role that design and the arts play in today’s world. A major fundraiser, the Benefit provides significant scholarship support to current and future students across all disciplines at The New School, ensuring that a Parsons and New School education is available to a diversely talented group of students who may not otherwise have access to this uniquely collaborative and creative course of study due to economic or other factors.

Parsons and New School students are passionate about addressing issues of sustainability, accessibility, social responsibility and human rights in their work, and this diversity of experience, expression and background is fundamental to the learning process. The Parsons Fashion Benefit, which raises close to $2 million each year, is the single most important source of revenues for scholarships for Parsons and New School students across various design disciplines.

Kay Unger's involvement with the Parsons Benefit began in 2013 when she became Chair of the Board of Governors. Alongside university leadership, Kay Unger spearheaded the Parsons Steering Committee and pushed to reexamine and propose innovative ways that the Benefit could integrate more university-wide representation, to reach broader audiences and to become a venue to showcase talent across all sectors of arts not just at Parsons but also at The New School.

Under Kay’s leadership, Parsons Table honorees at the Benefit have included business leaders Marco Bizarri, CEO of Gucci; José Neves, Founder and CEO of Farfetch; and Arianna Huffington; great civic leaders Beth Rudin DeWoody and Sheila Johnson; fashion industry leaders Eileen Fisher, Marc Jacobs, and Donna Karan; and artists and entertainers Solange, Rihanna and Sarah Jessica Parker.

+ ADDITIONAL HISTORICAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PARSONS ANNUAL BENEFIT

In 1948, Parsons School of Design was an independent design school (it did not become part of The New School until 1970). The President of Parsons School of Design in 1948 was Van Day Truex. The significance of 1948 is two-fold:

The fashion industry in the United States matured during World War II when Paris was under German occupation.

Parsons experienced a surge in enrollment immediately following the end of the war as veterans used G.I. Bill benefits to seek educational opportunities.

The July 1947 Alumni Bulletin reports that Parsons’ Annual Exhibition (which included the whole school) was so crowded, particularly the “Fashion Promenade,” that 2,000 people were shut out. The following year, the fashion show was moved to the Hotel Astor. The August 1948 Alumni Bulletin tells the story.

The annual fashion show has been referred to by a variety of names over the years—some common names (with rough date ranges) include: