the ultimate interview.. Me on Me

There is no greater fantasy for a writer and reviewer than to be interviewed by a peer or at least to be asked the questions you want to answer. So rather than wait for that opportunity to arrive, it is now me interviewing me. Hopefully this will offer some insight into why I think the way I do and how my experience has influenced my opinions when it comes to fashion.

It is here that I would like to mention a few more people who have enlightened and heightened my senses when it comes to all things fashion. Firstly to Franck Ford of LOYD/FORD who opened my eyes to a fashion I never knew really existed and what it really takes to be a designer in today's marketplace as well as actually having a set of standards with which to conduct business. Secondly is Ralph Rucci who has been gracious enough to share some knowledge and increase my fashion education when it comes to the art and craft of fashion. Another notable personality that I have encountered is China Machado who has shown me that there are indeed living legends and that some of them wildly exceed one’s expectations of them

So rather than me go on and on and on as I have been known to do ….. Here goes……..

1-why do you think you are qualified to be a critic of fashion?

Having spent almost my entire adult life in and around the fashion business I feel more than adequately qualified to speak to the topic of fashion. As a quick resume, I started as a textile designer for menswear when all was done by hand, then began the ladies and men’s wholesale business on a small scale, then 7th avenue where I remained for years in charge of sales for some of the preeminent designers of the 80s, then onto the retail business. There I was given the opportunity to buy designer ready to wear (Montana, Valentino, Armani, Ungaro, Mugler and many more ) in Europe as well as in the US and spend time on the retail selling floor. The retail “era” included Elizabeth Arden when they operated 12 salons as well as retail stores for apparel and accessories in those locations. From there, it was onto Miriam Haskell where I was charged with merchandising and overseeing all design for the relaunch of Miriam Haskell in 1990. From there it was onto menswear again as design director for several heritage brands which were to be sold exclusively in China proceeding this gig, I spent 7 years as Design Director for TIMEX licensed clock products. It should be noted that for the most part, I was never trained to do any of it but my history and reputation speak for itself... I was indeed a quick study! My last incarnation was to write as one finds out that once you have reached a certain level and age, your positions are filled by four 25 year olds who cumulatively make less than your asking price. This has been an amazing experience sharing my experiences and speaking about a business I so adore and lived for many many years. It has opened doors and provided me with a voice and an audience that actually likes and is interested in what I have to say... most of the time. Not only is there writing but as a reviewer of 100s of  fashion books, my education has increased not only by the books but by the so many people I have come to know and respect.

PS there ae other “occupations” that have been part of me but these are the highlights, the bottom line is that I speak from firsthand experience and not some fantasy of what I think the business entails. I speak the truth as I see it which usually ruffles a few feathers.

2-if you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would they be and why?

Diana Vreeland because she was so much a part of what made fashion great and what made the pages of magazines come alive. Maybe it is she who created this hunger for fashion within me even without knowing who she was at the time. To me, she is everything that is absent in today’s world of fashion. This was a woman filled with life, hyperbole, fantasy, knowledge, style, affectations and taste.

Nan Kempner… well she was the ultimate clothes horse, the most voracious of fashion addicts but she remained dedicated to her family and various charities. When I would see her at fashion events or on the street, the thought that always crossed my mind, well thoughts, she was always impeccably turned out and how did those bird legs support a woman who was larger than life especially when she was dancing. She loved a party and she was not some pretentious bitch who thought they walked on water ... she was a good time girl or gal as Mr. Blass would say. She loved to gossip I am told and we know she loved clothes!

Karl Lagerfeld … he always has an opinion and he is never short on conversation and most of all he is not shy. Wouldn’t I love to know really know what he thinks of so much and so many of his fellow designers, past and present. Karl also has an amazing cache of gossip and life experiences that few can hold a candle to.

Yves St Laurent because for some reason I have always had or felt this affinity towards him. I adored what he did and what he stood for at the time. I was a big Rive Gauche customer and I can say I was in his company a few times although never formally introduced but somehow I always felt a kinship of sorts. Yves was a design god with a circle of friends who were the chic-est of chic in my mind ... especially at the time. And then there was this ... I was stopped on the street many times being mistaken for him ... just saying!

Halston! I saw him on a regular basis as were both frequent habitués of Studio 54 albeit he was always a celebrity and I was just out having a good time and to dance with my friends. We had always said hello but never engaged further than that. Wouldn’t I love to reminisce about all those nights, all those hours or fun and well debauchery...? I’ll leave it at that. Well, maybe I’d like to tell him how smart he was and how ahead of his time he was when he inked with JCP.

3-can you speak to the changes in the fashion business from a retail standpoint as well as from a wholesale aspect?

During my history in fashion, I got to experience the glory days of retailing when specialty stores ruled the roost, the great doyennes of U.S. retail ( who I was lucky enough to meet them all) who included Martha Phillips, Hattie, Joanne Loevner, Sara Fredericks, Grace Jones ( from Texas not La Vie en Rose),  and stores like Lou Lattimore, Amen Wardy, Giorgio, Ultimo, Nan Duskin, Bonwit Teller, Montaldo’s ( all of whom I worked with) and many many more. These giants of retail are all gone and now we are left literally with a handful of department stores who basically buy everything they can and think they are unique. In some instances these stores arrange “trunk show only” resources that do special orders but are never stocked. Then there is this matter of doing business on consignment that only benefits the retailer rather than the designer in the long run. IMHO, the future lies not within the States  but abroad where there has been exponential growth when it comes to top shelf retail doors. In years gone by we actually had buyers who didn’t carry sell thru computer sheets, well now I pads, and actually knew their customers’ preferences if not knowing them personally; they possessed intimate knowledge of their day to day businesses. Fashion has become a business of numbers where it is all about negotiations and allowances and “what will you do for me this season?” rather than about design, creativity, discovering new talent and personal attention. To me, the specialty stores that remain still rule the roost when it comes to what’s new and there are still a few who lead the pack rather than follow the herd ... it is just too sad that there are so few true merchants and literally shopkeepers!

4-what advice would you give to those who wish to make the business of fashion their profession and why do you think your advice is valid?

FIRSTLY, I WANT TO SAY THAT MY ADVICE IS A MATTER OF OPINION ... MINE! My advice is steeped in having worked in all aspects of fashion from product development to retail to wholesale to selling to buying and from menswear to womenswear to fashion jewelry to home accessories to clocks! In other words, my advice comes from having made a living from being in fashion and having actually watched clothing go from sketch to production ... from piece goods to finished product to actually experiencing the product’s sale from a showroom as well as from a selling floor…. SO Now!!! I preach knowledge. Knowledge is power whether your future is in designing, the back end, photography or any fashion related area. Learn from the best… read, research, keep your eyes and mind open, and learn! Now more than ever you can delve into the past, learn of all the masters who made fashion a viable profession. You cannot be part of the future if you have no clue of what happened before you. Too many fashion professionals have a frame of reference that doesn’t span more than 5 years and in some cases 5 seasons ... go back in time, see who was great, discover, and make a mood board study it, revise it and know why any of it attracted you in the first place. Believe in your abilities and take criticism BUT ALWAYS consider the source!!!!

5-can you name 6 fashion personalities (designers, media, etc. ;) who have influenced or effected change within the business of fashion and why?

Richard Avedon was a pioneer of modern fashion photography. I believe he changed the way we look at fashion and models and spawned an amazing new crop of photographers that have also become pillars of that world. Think of it this way, Aberdeen, as DV once called him because she couldn’t remember his name, he had vision and the vision was fed with Mrs. Vreeland’s imagination and confidence in him. His magazine work is as valuable today as it was then, if not more so.  He designed with a camera.

Christian Dior was one of the greatest designers of the 20^th century. It is he whose brand lives on and is still revered as one of the most creative and innovative in his output. One might say he was part of the foundation on which today’s fashion has been built. His was fashion in its purest sense as it must never be forgotten that his rise to eternal and international fame came from the haute couture and not ready to wear. If you take it to the base level, he is the daddy from which spawned an amazing new generation of designers.

Polly Mellen: her contributions are vast and memorable. She is a woman of HUGE imagination and possesses immense talent when it comes to the printed page. Yes, another acolyte of DV but she is one of “hidden” bright lights that helped give fashion that Vreeland imprimatur as well as her own. One might say she was Vreeland’s Coddington ( so to speak) except Vreeland was much more hands on and much less concerned about the dollars and cents of it. Mellen was brilliant in delivering what is so sorely lacking in today’s world of fashion. Ever a free spirit ... a never ending explosion of possibilities and an unsung hero when most speak of fashion.

Yves St Laurent: he was the young man who was lucky enough to have had a Pierre Bergé to steer the ship that became a juggernaut of modern fashion. Yves’s creativity and Bergé’s business savvy were nothing short of a revelation. The fragile, or seemingly so, Yves who was prescient in his body of work no matter what his state of mind. He was a product of the 60s ,70s and 80s ... in that he was this tortured soul,  yet this bad boy and yet this shy insecure designer who changed the world of fashion forever.

Diana Vreeland: it might be blasphemy, of a sort, to exclude her, but how could I? I think that her truest words were to “give them what they knew they wanted!” and that included her. She was an original in every way. Whether it was her version of the truth, her appearance, her bon mots or her vision for the future, she rocked the magazine world, she rocked the fusty stuffy museum world and even after her death she remained a “singular sensation” in both film and print. Her years at the Met were astounding and she literally opened the doors to the Met for so many new and fledgling designers by literally hosting the “party of the year” in NYC. For those us lucky enough to have been part of it…well, they can tell you …

Cristobal Balenciaga because maybe he was the precursor of minimalism and after having read more and more about him, he was designer, architect, businessman, gentleman and when he didn’t like the way fashion was moving he just simply collected his toys and moved on. He was the darling of so many of fashion’s elite and again one must recall this was all about haute couture. Imagine that he had 3000 employees producing couture as well as what he had to farm out. If you can wrap your head around that, then you can safely presume he was indeed the “master of us all!” He showed us the pure side of fashion, the most modern and seemingly simple was just a case of don’t judge a book by its cover as nothing was as simple as it looked.

PS.. if space would have allowed, I would add Coco, Gianni, AW  (scary but I would have), Giorgio and more to the great “influencers” of fashion

meet Fern Mallis .. author, fashion veteran, luminary

This is an unexpected and amazing surprise to have Fern Mallis as the subject of one of my Q & A sessions. If you are not aware of whom she is then you are only pretending to be a dyed in the wool “fashionphile.” Ms. Mallis has just had her first book (Fashion Lives) released by Rizzoli within the last 30 days. The book, which is an unadulterated joy to read and selling like crazy, is comprised of a curated selection of sit down interviews conducted by the author. Her interviewees are some of the most notable fashion, in its broadest sense, personalities of our generation.  Think Mellen, Kamali, Jacobs, Oscar, Karan, Ford, Cunningham ... To name a few …These sit downs were conducted as part of a series produced at the 92^nd St Y in NYC over the past few years.

Fern & me

One tidbit about the hugely attended book signing at SFA on April 20th and that is: the book and author were afforded nothing short of megastar treatment when 18 windows were devoted first to the book, then the designers and then of course the raison d’etre for both .. Fern Mallis. It is not exactly a common occurrence to have one of the world’s most celebrated department stores, known for selling CLOTHES to devote its entire Fifth Avenue frontage to a book!

I am humbled and gratified that Ms. Mallis made the effort to do this “interview” during this extraordinarily busy time given her promotion schedule for the book. It just really shows me that there are people who still retain their grace and integrity even after being in this business for so long which is not always easy. This little interlude between us also should demonstrate to all that Fern Mallis gives as good as she gets. Her replies are written with great candor backed up with extensive knowledge and experience. If you need to google her, then just check out Wikipedia... that says it all!

So it is my pleasure to so offer a chat with the author of the moment! Fern Mallis….

1-After the runaway success of your first book, Fashion Lives, what’s on your agenda for a follow up? ideas??

It’s a little too early to be planning more books, but I do have some in mind, including a Volume II of Fashion Lives, since there are already  4 interviews-5 interviews that didn’t get into this book.  My next interview at 92Y is on June 3^rd with Victoria Beckham,

2-While we are on the subject, I’m going to steal one of the questions you asked Bill Cunningham and that was “what was the best show you ever attended and why?”

There have been several very memorable ones; I loved the final show Bill Blass did when he announced his retirement.  It was in the morning during Hurricane Floyd.  The winds and rains were unbelievable, but his “Ladies” kept arriving with umbrellas blowing away, the tents were leaking everywhere….the drops of water dripping in the venue and over the runway were more dramatic with the lights hitting them…and it was a scary day….Bill paced backstage with his cigarette and said to me he was perfectly happy to cancel the show, the clothes had been made, models came, but he was worried about guests being out in this weather.  I said we were not letting him retire without this final show.  It went up late, but the music was all Gershwin, Lerner and Lowe, all very American, with red white and blue lit backdrop…The show was gorgeous and when he came out for his bow at the end- there wasn’t a dry eye in the house during an extended standing ovation.  I’ll never forget it.

3-Being a child of the garment center and having been so immersed in the popularizing of Seventh Avenue and its designers ... what do you think of the evaporation of what was 7th Avenue and why do you think it happened and lastly do you see it becoming extinct?

It had a lot to do with greed, in making the clothes as inexpensive as possible with a large markup….the unions in the garment center made it too expensive to produce in NYC, the real estate folks saw buildings in the district with full floors dedicated to manufacturing and sewing and knew they could get top dollar as office space and showrooms, and they helped push out the workers, and it all started to be made overseas in Asia, India, China, Vietnam etc…    It’s sad to not see it all happening in the district and some of that old-fashioned garment center energy is gone.  It’s not extinct however as there is a renewed commitment to making it in NY again, however it will never be what it once was.

4-Who would you say have been your mentors, idols or influences during your long and varied career within the world of fashion and why?

Stan Herman who was President of CFDA while I was ED, has been a great mentor, the many designers in my book have been my idols and have influenced me—Calvin, Ralph Donna, Michael, Tommy, Betsey

5-Do you believe that runway shows have lost their importance due to over coverage/exposure via the age of the internet or the pandering of  the media due to advertising  budgets and the whims of certain editors rather than real merit? ... Thoughts??

The runway shows have lost a lot of their exclusivity and WOW factor, as people are much more excited about things they can’t get into and see, than they are about something available to everyone.

But with the internet, the iphones, and other handhelds- every image is instantly available and several business have been spawned allowing people to pre-order from the runway before a store even places an order….It’s a new ball game now, and we all have to adjust to the power in the palm of our hands,

6-There are so many new and wildly talented designers who don’t get recognized by the media, the CFDA or the retail establishment. Don’t you think that there should be some way to cost effectively show off all of this “hidden” talent? Any ideas or suggestions?

I do think that in NYC, there are many programs and initiatives that DO identify and help new, up and coming untested talent.  Other int’l cities are trying very hard to copy these programs.  These programs assist in fashion show expenses, cash for their business and provide mentors, and get them in front of the media.

7-Have you ever wished to once again “hear the voices” of fashion critics like Bernadine Morris or Hebe Dorsey; meaning honest to goodness fashion reviews/reportage and not front rows and venue?

Well Hebe Dorsey was before my time, but I do remember the last years of Bernadine Morris.   I miss Amy Spindler’s voice, John Duka’s wit and observance of our industry and its players, and I miss Cathy Horyn’s take no prisoner’s coverage of the collections…

8-If you could invite any 5 people to dinner ... past of present ... who would they be and why?

This is very difficult…there are many people that I’d love to dine with, but this first dinner could maybe be with YSL, Coco Chanel, Elizabeth Taylor, Pres. Obama and Diana Vreeland. I think I could just sit back and listen all night without having to say a word… each of them are opinionated, smart, brilliantly clever and talented…and maybe a sixth- having Julia Childs there cooking the meal…

9-What are your thoughts on vintage apparel as well as all the referencing that has  been going on and the fact that  rarely if ever  credit is given to the originator of the “idea” that has been recycled?

I’m not a “vintage” shopper, however many designers are.  In essence nothing is brand new and not influenced by something that came before, but I’m not surprised by not giving credit to where the inspiration comes from…Frankly it would cause havoc in an industry to keep acknowledging this.  But with that said every so often a designer’s line sheet at show will explain where the ideas came from and if there was a specific look or person that they were influenced by.

10- Given your long history and breadth of knowledge of the fashion business, how do you feel about the heritage brands from our past being reinvented in ways that have no common thread with the original DNA?

We have yet to really see an American heritage brand re-invented successfully in this country.  Halston has tried several times.   Now Chris Benz is trying to do it at Bill Blass and hopefully that will succeed.  The recent appointment of Peter Copping at Oscar de laRenta might be the first time this is working.  He is channeling the spirit of Oscar and not deviating from the look of the house, yet putting his stamp on it.   I think it is imperative that there is some connection with the original design philosophy.