Everyone has two choices with their lives. You can be content with mediocrity, wallowing in the simplicity of the every day, or you can strive for greatness, for a life well-lived. Fern Mallis is of the second party, and she’s now composed a book transcribing her interviews over the course of three years with some of fashion’s most elite: Oscar de la Renta, Tom Ford, Andre Leon Talley, and Diane Von Furstenberg just to name a few. While her interviews have become wildly successful, her own career has spanned the course of almost thirty years and is marked with projects that have changed the course of fashion in America. She is widely credited as having created New York Fashion Week during her time as Executive Director of the CFDA, and Ralph Lauren himself called her “a woman who doesn’t sit still.” She did, indeed, sit still for just a few minutes to chat with me prior to her book signing at Saks Fifth Avenue. Our conversation was inspiring, and I hope you’ll pick up a copy of her absolutely incredible book, available on Amazon here
Haute In Texas: What’s the next big thing in fashion?
Fern Mallis: Oh, I don’t know. Who knows? If I had a crystal ball to tell you I would, but I don’t think anyone can predict fashion these days.
HIT: What do you attribute that to?
FM: I think social media in general, has changed so much of what the industry’s about. It used to take a little while for something to percolate, but now you’re bombarded every second, twenty four hours a day. So I think it’s much harder to crystallize what it is, because everybody now is a judge, and jury, and a critic. And not everybody has the gravitas to really understand that. There’s a lot of clutter in the space.
HIT: I think it’s interesting that you’ve chosen to put this together in a book, when it’s based on live interviews you’ve done for your show, Fashion Icons. Why did you want to do a book when so many people these days want to consume other forms of media?
FM: The interviews have been rather remarkable. Very honest and forthcoming, and there’s been so many people commenting on them, but I always say you’ve only read five minutes of an interview that was maybe 90 minutes. And it seemed like people were really curious to hear more about them. There’s something much more permanent about having a book then, I think, we all look at a photo and it goes in and out of our heads in five minutes. I think having a permanent record and then adding all the photographs to support the conversations, you know, these are right from their words, and it becomes very important.
HIT: What was your first moment when you knew you wanted to be in fashion and be a part of this world?
FM: I think probably when I was in college and won a Mademoiselle guest editorship. That’s how I started my career. I grew up in a fashion family, my dad worked in the garment industry, and all his brothers did. So I used to go to work with him as a kid, and I loved the business.
If you want to watch excerpts from Fern’s Fashion Icons talks at the 92nd Street Y, you can find them on YouTube here.
XO,
A
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