Fern Mallis was at the 1991 Michael Kors show in a New York loft space when the vibrations from the bass music caused the ceiling to crumble onto all the one named models – think Naomi, Christy, Cindy – and the Fashion Editors sitting in the front row. The next day, the headlines read, “We Live for Fashion, we Don’t Want to Die for It.” This set Fern on a mission: not only to create a safe venue for designers to come together and show their work, but to put the American designer on the world map. Thus, the New York Fashion Week Bryant Park tents were born, and Mallis firmly cemented her place in American fashion history. For almost two decades, he tents became a “Fashion City”, with Fern as its Mayor. Now, the iconic creator of NYFW has made a name for herself beyond the catwalk with her legendary conversation series, Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis at the 92 nd Street Y, New York City’s hub for culture, politics, the arts, and now Fashion. Her talks give an intimate look into the lives of some of the biggest names in fashion—think Tom Ford, Valentino and Victoria Beckham, to name a few. And now, 34 of them are chronicled in a book series: Fashion Icons 1 and 2: Fashion Lives with Fern Mallis, published by Rizzoli and sponsored by Nordstrom. No topic is off-limits to Fern Mallis, the award-winning creator of New York Fashion Week, when she hosts Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis at New York’s 92nd Street Y, a series of riveting intimate conversations with the industry’s most talented, successful, and legendary personalities. Fern Mallis started as an editorial assistant at Mademoiselle, worked in her own pr firm and ultimately was the Senior Vice President at IMG Fashion and Executive Director of the CFDA. She is the recipient of numerous industry awards including the 2013 Fashion Industry Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pratt Institute and the 2013 FIT President’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

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