UNITED NATIONS GUIDES RECEIVE NEW DESIGNER OUTFITS FROM ITALIAN FASHION HOUSES

                                                            Note No. 5688

                                                            22 October 2001

Note to Correspondents

UNITED NATIONS GUIDES RECEIVE NEW DESIGNER OUTFITS FROM ITALIAN FASHION HOUSES

New Look Provides Opportunity to Welcome Visitors Back to UN

Headquarters, as Tour Operations Resume after 11 September Attacks

The United Nations is receiving new uniforms for its tour guides from Mondrian, the renowned Italian fashion house.  Mondrian is producing two full sets of uniforms for each United Nations tour guide in New York and Geneva over the next three years. 

The uniforms are complemented with shoes designed and produced by another Italian company, Valleverde, which is donating the footwear to the United Nations guides for a period of three years.  (See Press Release PI/1349 of 22 May 2001.)

     The tens of thousands of people who visit the United Nations each month will see the guides’ stylish new look beginning on United Nations Day -- 24 October.  The uniforms will be unveiled at a media launch at United Nations Headquarters in New York at 1:00 p.m. that day.  The guided tours operation at United Nations Headquarters will mark its fiftieth anniversary in 2002.

     The United Nations, one of New York City’s premier tourist destinations, had to curtail its guided tour operation in the wake of the 11 September terrorist attacks in the United States.  Heeding the call of New York City’s Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, in his speech to the General Assembly on 1 October, for a return to normalcy, the United Nations resumed its regular guided tours on 11 October.  The debut of the new uniforms on the occasion of United Nations Day provides the opportunity to welcome visitors back to the Organization’s Headquarters with a fresh new look.

The guides’ four-piece uniform includes a skirt, jacket, blouse and scarf for the female guides and a suit, shirt and tie for the male guides.  The receipt of the uniforms by the United Nations includes, for the first time, a maternity outfit.  “We are very pleased that Mondrian and Valleverde will be helping us celebrate the upcoming fiftieth anniversary of guided tours by providing our wonderful guides with a new look”, says Shashi Tharoor, Interim Head of the United Nations Department of Public Information.  “And what better way to celebrate UN Day than to have the guides who, after all are ‘our ambassadors to the public’, introduce the new outfit.”

                                     - 2 -                  Note No. 5688

                                                            22 October 2001

     Marina Meneghetti de Camillo, an Ambassador of the Republic of San Marino,

facilitated the conclusion of the agreement between Mondrian and the United Nations on the uniforms.  She said it was a unique opportunity for a fashion house to enhance the image of the United Nations tour guides.  Mirella Bizzini Solignani, owner and President of Mondrian, said the company was delighted by the challenge that the partnership represented, and hoped to provide “a dynamic and appealing look for this highly visible group of young people”.  Armando Arcangeli, President of Valleverde, said the shoes were designed to match the new uniforms and were both fashionable and comfortable.

At United Nations Headquarters, guided tours are conducted every day of the year, except on Thanksgiving Day, the year-end holidays, weekends in January and February, and some days during high-level meetings of the General Assembly.  During the hour-long lecture tour, guides answer many questions about the role of the United Nations in current events and describe the unique collection of artwork on display throughout the tour route.  The Guided Tours Unit, part of the Department of Public Information, offers tours in more than 20 languages.  In Geneva, tours in 18 languages are offered seven days a week from April to October and five days a week from November to March.

     Since the beginning of the tour operation in 1952, more than 37 million visitors have taken a guided tour at United Nations Headquarters.  In Geneva, almost 3 million visitors have toured the Palais des Nations since 1976.

     Media representatives are invited to attend the launch on 24 October and to join a short private guided tour afterwards.  Journalists who do not already have UN accreditation, must obtain special passes.  Please contact the Media and Accreditation Unit at tel: (212) 963-6934; fax: (212) 963-4642. 

For more information, please contact:  Helene Hoedl, Guided Tours Unit,

New York, tel: (1) 212-963-3242, fax: (1), e-mail:  hoedl@un.org, or visit www.un.org/tours, Victor Fernandez, Visitors’ Service, Geneva,

tel: (41) 22-917-4894, e-mail: presse_geneve@unog.ch, or visit www.unog.ch/visit/visiten.htm.

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