It's no surprise that Fern Mallis is the host of a series of intimate conversations with New York's fashion insiders, titled Fashion Icons. She's the creator of New York Fashion Week, former executive director of the Council of Fashion Directors of America, former senior vice president of IMG Fashion, and friend to New York's finest industry talent—in short, what some people may call a fashion icon.
On the evening of the release of her book Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis (which commemorates some of the highlights from the series) at Saks Fifth Avenue in New York, Vogue India caught up with her—as she paused between book signings, photo ops and chats with everyone from Michael Kors and Bibhu Mohapatra to Diane Von Furstenberg and Calvin Klein—for five quick questions.
Your aim with the Fashion Icons series is for the audience to walk away learning about the person as an individual rather than focusing on their work. Why is that important to you?
Most people know what their work looks like. But I don't think enough people know how they became the person they are. Young people coming out of school want their name on a label and want to be rich and famous. But these people, who are really the icons of the industry, didn't start out like that. Nobody handed them anything. To me, the journey of how they started, and what gave them the courage and the kind of personality they need to survive in this industry is more interesting.
How do you plan your conversations?
I do a lot of homework, I do a lot of research. Sometimes designers ask, "How did you find that out? Can I borrow your notes for my biography?" I bind all the research in a book, and have a long list of questions. I used to try to go in order through the list but now, depending on how it flows, I let them go ahead. Some of them go off course a little bit. Donna [Karan] always had to be reeled back in, and Betsey [Johnson]. But for the most part they're pretty okay. They go "Am I okay, Fern? Should I go on?" It's a nice repartee.
What were some of the surprising things you learned?
I remember talking to Tom [Ford] about being at Saint Laurent. When he revealed that he had received a letter from Yves, the audience gasped. After he became more and more successful, he got a handwritten note from Yves that he said he'd never shared with anybody. It said: "In 13 minutes you have destroyed what it took me 40 years to create." That was extraordinary.
One designer you're dying to interview but haven't had the chance yet?
Ralph Lauren. That's why he's done the foreword for the book. He's such an icon that he needed to be included in the book.
You're as much of an icon as the people you sit down with. If the roles were reversed, whom would you like to be interviewed by?
It's hard. I'd want somebody who comes a little bit out of the fashion universe and knows my career, and not necessarily a hard-hitting journalist. Somebody who crosses over would be ideal.
Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis is available for purchase on Amazon.in and Flipkart.com
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