Nanette Lepore and Joe Zee Have a Soft Spot for FIT's Graduating Class of 2012

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Last night, the Fashion Institute of Technology hosted a party to celebrate "The Future of Fashion," the annual runway show for their graduating seniors. In an awesome showing of support and encouragement for the young FIT designers, fashion industry vets including Joe Zee, Josie Natori, Rebecca Minkoff, Nanette Lepore and Dennis Basso—turned out to see the show.

Nanette Lepore, an FIT alum, told us that this was the first time she attended one of the school's graduation fashion shows since her own. She reminisced about what it was like being a student showing at FIT:

My piece made it into Newsweek on Campus so I have a picture of my final project from a magazine. We each made two pieces. The critic kept one and threw one of mine out. It was heartbreaking. But the piece he left in made it in the news—and only six things made it in Newsweek. I was thrilled when I found out it was in a magazine!

Elle's Joe Zee, approached the show from a completely different perspective. He was one of five judges who decided which non-award winning garments would make appearances on the runway. Joe was very impressed with the students, whom he jokingly called, "My graduating class."

We'll be sharing photos of the some of the winning student looks from the show on our New York sister site a little later today—be sure to check them out!

· Fashion Institute of Technology [Official Site]