It’s easy to feel puny when you live on the most isolated landmass on the planet, far removed from the headline-making international fashion scene. But to put things in perspective, New York wasn’t faring much better than Hawaii in the late 1980s, when there was no organized New York Fashion Week, only press week, and many a young designer was presenting shows in derelict buildings.
When guests at one show found themselves covered with dust from crumbling walls, Fern Mallis recognized the hazards and lack of escape routes. Then the executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Mallis created New York Fashion Week in 1993 with the idea of bringing all the designers together under one roof for their press and retail presentations.
Mallis will be among the distinguished guests in town for Honolulu Fashion Week, along with Harold Koda, the Hawaii-born curator in charge of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York since 2000.
After leaving New York Fashion Week in 2010, Mallis launched her own international fashion and design consultancy, Fern Mallis LLC. She also created a jewelry line, Fern Finds, and serves on the board of directors for Robert Graham in New York and Tara Jewels in Mumbai, India. She is a consultant to Charleston Fashion Week and Seoul Fashion Week.
But she’s become best known for her conversation series at the 92nd Street Y, "Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis," which has featured a who’s who of the New York fashion scene, including Donna Karan, Tommy Hilfiger, Diane von Furstenberg, Marc Jacobs and Betsey Johnson, to name a few.
Starting the series "was one of those serendipitous things that happen," she said during a phone interview from New York. "I was always the one to be interviewed and asked my opinions. When I left IMG (owner of New York Fashion Week), I was open to letting the universe deliver and see where it would take me."
She was invited to interview some of her fashion friends by the 92nd Street Y, a cultural center, and although she had never been on the questioning side of an interview, she said, "I thought maybe I could do it. I could get some good questions together."
She recently published a book, "Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis," based on her interview series, which started with some of her longtime friends, like Norma Kamali and Calvin Klein — people she felt comfortable with.
"The camaraderie produced some remarkable, revealing interviews," she said. "They were able to be very frank because of the comfort factor. They all know me and knew I wouldn’t do something that created some controversy."
Mallis has been there, recently becoming embroiled in a war of words with Kanye West after remarking to a reporter at the February New York Fashion Week shows that, "I’m kind of over Kanye."
West took to Twitter to respond to Mallis, and she reached out with an invitation to speak about fashion as part of her series. He has yet to respond.
But she’s not sitting still waiting. Mallis frequently travels the country to take in regional fashion weeks and talent across the country.
A main downside of Honolulu’s fashion week is that the cost of travel to the islands makes it difficult to lure international media and buyers. But Mallis doesn’t believe in letting economics be a driving factor.
"I’m a big fan of regional events. They may not bring in the buyers and media, but there is talent all over this country and the designers all deserve to have their moment. And some of them will manage to get to New York and get to where they want to go."
