'Five Elements' Adorn Garment District Pedestrian Plaza

Artist Xin Song and the Fashion Center Business Improvement District recently teamed up to unveil an outdoor art exhibit titled "The Five Elements," in honor of the Eastern spiritual philosophy that the world, and everything in it, is made up of water, fire, wood, metal and earth. Five 8-foot high frames, each with a different element-themed photo collages of the neighborhood on one side, and black silhouettes on the other, are installed at each Broadway intersection from 36th to 41st streets in the Fashion/Garment District of Manhattan.  

According to the artist, each element corresponds to a different season, and the photographs largely focuses on a single color: Earth, which corresponds with the harvest, is captured through yellow tones to evoke the changing colors of the leaves in autumn. The back of each fixture, meanwhile, consists of carved silhouettes meant to evoke the wrought-iron filigrees that are characteristic of New York City architecture.

THE GARMENT WORKER by Judith Weller

This is a permanent sculpture located at 555 Seventh Avenue (also known as Fashion Avenue) between 39th and 40th Streets in midtown Manhattan. The 8-foot bronze sculpture called "The Garment Worker" was created by JUDITH WELLER. It depicts a man sitting at a sewing machine sewing a garment. The piece is a tribute to the history of the area as Manhattan's Garment District or Fashion District. Adjacent to the sculpture is a giant needle threading a button and the Fashion Center Business Improvement Kiosk.

From primemanhattan.com:

Garment District History:
New York first assumed its role as the center of the nation's garment industry by producing clothes for slaves working on Southern plantations. It was more efficient for their masters to buy clothes from producers in New York than to have the slaves spend time and labor making the clothing themselves. In addition to supplying clothing for slaves, tailors produced other ready-made garments for sailors and western prospectors during slack periods in their regular business.

Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, the majority of Americans either made their own clothing, or if they were wealthy, purchased "tailor-made" customized clothing. By the 1820s, however, an increasing number of ready-made garments of a higher quality were being produced for a broader market.

Manufacturing in the state of New York, and in New York City in particular, faded in the late 20th century. This has been exemplified by the decline of the Garment District. The district lost well over a thousand factory jobs per year, and men pushing racks of garments from one workshop to another ceased to crowd the streets. Factories and showrooms are increasingly becoming condo apartments and retail.