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"    Photo: Getty Images   Hot on the heels of announcing that John Galliano would be teaching a master class, Parsons The New School for Design presented &amp;quot;b the next,&amp;quot; an event hosted by Kay Unger and Bloomingdale&amp;#039;s to benefit its Pre-College Scholars Program, which offers free art and design classes for NYC public high school students. On hand to toast the next generation were many of Parsons&amp;#039;s designer alumni including Narciso Rodriguez, Tracy Reese, Lela Rose, Carmen Marc Valvo, Alejandro Ingelmo, and Mara Hoffman. Fashion disciple and former Parsons chair of fashion design, Tim Gunn, was also on site to support the cause by signing copies of his latest book, Tim Gunn&amp;#039;s Fashion Bible.   Naturally, Galliano was the name on everybody&amp;#039;s lips, and Gunn made no secret of his fervent support of the fallen star. &amp;quot;In terms of his craft and design, he&amp;#039;s a master,&amp;quot; he told ELLE.com. &amp;quot;I applaud the opportunity. You know, The New School has always been a risk-taking institution and it&amp;#039;s one that will do the provocative. And if it&amp;#039;s going to happen anywhere, it&amp;#039;s going to happen within the halls of The New School. It&amp;#039;s taking the high road, and I have great respect for it.&amp;quot; The Project Runway host has been known to cause a bit of a stir himself, as he did during the repositioning of the Parsons Fashion Design program in 2001. In fact, he considers it to be the proudest moment of his entire professional career. &amp;quot;Much of the industry applauded it and much of the industry maligned it,&amp;quot; he explained. &amp;quot;But after it was all said and done, they were happy. In fact, it was that new curriculum that gave birth to the Proenza Schouler phenomenon.&amp;quot; (For this, we are eternally grateful, Mr. Gunn). Reese also voiced her support for Galliano and expressed deep admiration for the place she honed her craft. &amp;quot;It could be great for the kids,&amp;quot; she said. &amp;quot;I mean, he&amp;#039;s had a tough time. I think he&amp;#039;s truly sorry for everything that went down. And [Parsons] is still the best. Having been in the industry all these years, Parsons is the place to be.&amp;quot; Fellow alum Rodriguez echoed Reese&amp;#039;s sentiments professing his desire to attend the prestigious fashion school from a young age, as well as his love for a certain New York icon. &amp;quot;I only wanted to go to Parsons, and I only wanted to work for Donna Karan,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;It was my dream when I was a teenager.&amp;quot; Fortunately for Rodriguez (and our quest for the perfect LBD) he, like the Parsons Pre-College scholars, was able to attend classes on the weekends during high school. He too believes that despite the fallout of the past two years, Galliano will provide invaluable tutelage for students. &amp;quot;I think that John is a great talent,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;Any student that gets to learn from him would be very fortunate.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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