Fern Mallis — the original mastermind behind New York Fashion Week — says she’s back, baby, after a slowdown during the pandemic.
Or “back to abnormal” as she puts it.
“It’s Fashion Week with a vengeance. There are so many shows and activities and parties and dinners,” Mallis told us at a FIT Couture Council luncheon honoring Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri on Wednesday. “It’s crazy! It’s almost too much actually.”
“The energy and enthusiasm is great,” says Mallis. “I think people are really happy to be back. It’s back to school. Everyone is here, lots of air kissing going on and no masks. People feel really good.”
“Everything is largely decentralized,” says Mallis, comparing it to the old days when almost all the shows were in a place known as the Tent.
“It’s almost impossible to get from one show to another because of the traffic,” she says. “And there are so many really good things competing at the same time. You have to play God and make choices.”
Mallis is currently working with Peaceable Assembly’s Jonathan Gray to turn her Fashion Icons books, which include the likes of Bob Mackie to Victoria Beckham, into a streaming series featuring clips from her long-running interview series 92Y.
Also on the FIT Fashion Council at Lincoln Center were Candace Bushnell, Gillian Miniter, Elyse Newhouse, Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Samira Nasr, Pete Nordstrom and Francisco Costa.
