On The Line with Fern Mallis

This week, we mixed things up a bit. We turned to a new expression of creativity: fashion. And to do it, we turned to Fern Mallis, who is considered many to be the Godmother of fashion. In 1993, the year Pete was born, Mallis created Fashion Week in New York City, under the auspices of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), where she served as Executive Director for ten years. Mallis went on to serve as the SVP of IMG fashion and created new fashion weeks in Miami, Berlin, LA, Moscow, and Mumbai, among other cities. Currently, Mallis is the President of Fern Mallis LLC., a company formed to “advise, consult and create,” working with international and domestic fashion, lifestyle and design companies on branding, image, and creative business strategies. Joining us on the phone from her office in New York City, Fern tells us about her experiences in the industry, how social media is changing the way fans and consumers interact with major brands, and why fashion is our most basic, daily expression of creativity.