It was a wonderful evening this past Wednesday when Henry Grethel was honored by his alma mater with the Icon of Style award. Even for Grethel, who has been honored numerous times during his long career, this was a special one. “There have been only a handful of moments in my career that have touched my heart and for which I am forever grateful: 1) when I first created the John Henry line; 2) when I first designed my own Henry Grethel collection; 3) when I became the first designer to create uniforms for the U.S. Olympic team (and especially seeing the team at opening ceremonies in Barcelona proudly sporting those uniforms); and 4) receiving this Icon of Style award from my alma mater.”

Pictured above: Henry Grethel with his son Todd. Below: a look from the student runway show.

The evening also included a spectacular fashion show that featured the talents of numerous Syracuse students, all of whom are aspiring women’s wear designers. Where are the aspiring menswear designers? Both Grethel and his colleague Richard Eisenberg are already taking care of that, having offered Ann Clarke, Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, their design and production assistance should the college institute a menswear design program. They then contacted Charneys, the iconic Syracuse menswear store, who agreed to display the student designs in their windows. We've also offered to showcase the student designs in the pages of MR Magazine.

Which just goes to show that when different facets of the industry start working together, icons inspire new icons… We congratulate our friend Henry Grethel and all the very talented students at SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.

At left: Richard Eisenberg, Henry Grethel and Stu Nifoussi.