The Power of Style: Fern Mallis

By CHRIS SCHMIDT

In the same month that Fern Mallis was hired as executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), the ceiling fell in on American fashion. More specifically, it fell in during Michael Kors's 1991 runway presentation in Chelsea.

"The music for his show started, and the speakers were so loud that the whole space started rumbling, and then pieces of the ceiling started coming down on the crowd," Ms. Mallis said, running a hand through her expertly highlighted and straightened hair.

Models shrugged off the debris and strode down the catwalk, but chunks of plaster dropped into the laps of legendary fashion editors Suzy Menkes and Carrie Donovan. The two "spent the rest of the show looking for the emergency exits, not at the clothes," Ms. Mallis said.

The next day, the press pounced on the incident: "'We live for fashion,' " Ms. Mallis recalled them saying. "'We won't die for it.' "

"I was looking at this new job, like, 'Hmm, I have my work cut out for me.'"

Partially as a result of the Kors fiasco, Ms. Mallis prioritized moving New York's fashion shows to a single controlled location: In 1993, they were held under the tents at Bryant Park for the first time. With the restructuring, a new organization was born, 7th on Sixth.

Previously "if there were 50 shows, they were in 50 different places," Ms. Mallis said.

7th on Sixth coordinates when designers will show, manages the press, ushers celebrities and their entourages to prime seats, and recruits corporate sponsors such as Olympus and Song airlines. In 2001, the outfit got an additional boost in funding when IMG management, a talent agency, paid an undisclosed sum to buy the sponsorship of New York Fashion Week from CFDA. Controversy swirled around the sale, since at the time IMG represented supermodels such as Gisele Bunchen and Heidi Klum -- and there were questions as to whether a corporate-controlled fashion week would still be allowed to show on city property at Bryant Park.

In addition to the logistical advantages of consolidating the shows, streamlining the practical details allowed her to leverage her 10 years of experience in public relations. She created a buzz that has not died down since.

It has had a ripple effect on the international status of American fashion. "When we first started, there really weren't that many American designers who were known worldwide. You had Armani and Yves Saint Laurent and Chanel ... it wasn't worth it to come to New York for just one or two shows," Ms. Mallis said.

"Then we put the shows in the park, and more press and more international players started coming here, and all of the sudden Marc Jacobs is being hired to design for Louis Vuitton. Michael Kors for Celine, and Narciso for Loewe," she continued, highlighting some of the most prestigious appointments for American designers in the last 10 years.

With a name that could have been dreamed up by a drag queen with a Little-Shop-of-Horrors act, diva theatrics would not come as a surprise. But though she may be tough, Ms. Mallis has made her mark by supporting others, not by drawing attention to herself.

Wearing a conservative suit and a shawl, Ms. Mallis, who will disclose her age only as "fiftysomething," looks more like the businesswoman that she is than a catty fashion insider. She keeps careful tabs on the amount of money and cachet that 7th on Sixth brings to New York. "It finally became something that the city recognized, and realized this is way important for New York. And it is. It generates extraordinary publicity for the city," she said

Ms. Mallis is also eager to point out how showing with her group affects the bottom line for individual designers.

"I was on the phone this morning with Louis Verdad," a Los Angeles-based designer who recently showed at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, the West Coast equivalent of 7th on Sixth, which Ms. Mallis also oversees. "And he said, 'I have to tell you, since showing with you guys now, my business is up 600%.'"

She demurred when asked to comment on the growing trend for designers to show outside the Bryant Park schedule. "There's no story there, absolutely none," she said. But during the Fall 2004 shows in February, several of the biggest names of the moment opted to go off-site: Marc Jacobs chose to present his collection at the Lexington Avenue Armory, Ralph Lauren showed at the Dia Center, and Calvin Klein laid his catwalk down at Milk Studios.

Ironic, since Mssrs. Lauren and Klein were major players in the founding of 7th on Sixth. They were both part of the first shows that Ms. Mallis produced, held in Central Park to coincide with the 1992 Democratic National Convention.Various New York industries had organized presentations for the party delegates, and Ms. Mallis recalled, "We all said, 'Let's put on a fashion show!'"

That season, each designer contributed a few outfits, and the CFDA pitched an enormous tent. "We invited all the delegates and the press that were in town. It was Calvin and Ralph and Donna," a familiar litany in Ms. Mallis's lexicon, referring to designers Klein and Lauren and Karan. "Everyone was there. It was still one of the great fashion shows. And all these designers came out at the end and said, 'Oh, this is cool. This tent is fabulous.'"

Ms. Mallis's quest for media hype has hardly died down. Two years ago, she launched The Daily, a chatty, flashy magazine that 7th on Sixth gives out at New York and Los Angeles's fashion shows, and is available online year-round.

In response to criticism of the gossip-driven publication, Ms. Mallis's soft-spoken voice suddenly turned steely. "Ninetynine percent of people love it, and can't read it fast enough," she declared.

"I have been in this business long enough that people will criticize anything, because it's the nature of our industry. You tell me one thing that everybody universally likes?" When I mistook her question for a rhetorical one, she demanded, "Tell me!"

Perhaps now that New York Fashion Week is firmly entrenched as one of the apparel industry's must-attend events, and the city has launched a bevy of break-out stars, Ms. Mallis can look further afield. In the years since IMG Management bought the CFDA, the group has steadily increased its portfolio of fashion events and now oversees fashion weeks in Los Angeles, London, China, Russia, and even India.

"Like sports," she explained in her low, earthy voice, "fashion needs no language to be understood."