Fern Mallis — the original mastermind behind New York Fashion Week — says it’s back, baby, following a slow-down 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 a FIT’s Couture Council luncheon honoring Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri on Wednesday. “It’s crazy! It’s actually almost too much.”
“The energy and enthusiasm is great,” Mallis says. “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 mostly decentralized,” Mallis says, comparing it to the old days when almost all the shows were in one location known as the Tents.
“It is almost impossible to get from one show to the next because of traffic,” she says. “And there are so many really good things, competing at the same time slot. 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 pieces on the likes of Bob Mackie to Victoria Beckham, into a streaming series with clips from her long running series of 92Y interviews.
Also at the FIT’s Couture Council at Lincoln Center were Candace Bushnell, Gillian Miniter, Elyse Newhouse, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar Samira Nasr, Pete Nordstrom, and Francisco Costa.
