Nordstrom Welcomes the Unstoppable Fern Mallis for a Book Signing

Nordstrom New York City feted Fern Mallis on Wednesday, May 11th from 7-9 PM to celebrate the release of the Second Volume of her book, “Fashion Icons 2: Fashion Lives with Fern Mallis.” Webster’s dictionary defines an icon as “a person or thing widely admired, especially for having great influence or significance in a particular sphere.”

While the term used to be restricted to two or three luminaries in a generation such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe, it has recently taken on a less heady role as exhibited by Fern Mallis’s two Rizzoli published books (priced together at $125) which feature close to 40 of these lofty figures. The books are a collection of her 61-person “Icon” interview series which were held at the 92nd Street Y over a period of 11 years.

Mallis is herself revered amongst the fashion and socialite crowds in New York as the founder of New York fashion week in 1994 which was then termed “7th on Sixth”. Fern continues her frenetic pace of activity by attending shows, parties, dinners, and lectures.

She is a staple of New York and the Hamptons and served as senior vice president of IMG Fashion from 2001-2010. She also hosts a fascinating lecture series at the 92nd Street Y where she effortlessly dives into the root of her subject’s success.

Mallis’s second book features 15 notables including Valentino Garavani, Iris Apfel, and Victoria Beckham – I’m a bit surprised Anna Wintour never made the cut (or perhaps the press-shy Wintour shunned the opportunity).

A few of these luminaries attended the book signing which was held on the 3rd floor of West 57th Street Nordstrom’s. There were hundreds of people from the fashion and entertainment world who came for one reason only: to pay homage to the indomitable Fern.

Amy Fine Collins, Arthur Elgort, Martha Stewart, Freddie Leiba, Patrick McMullan, Consuelo Vanderbilt, Marilyn Kirschner, Jeffrey Banks, Stan Herman, Nicole Miller, Dorinda Medley, Ken Downing, Tim Gunn, Robert Verdi, Ty Hunter, Bibhu Mohapatra and dozens of other fans were there to congratulate Mallis.

In typical Fern style, she arrived on stage in a comfortable black sequined outfit with little fanfare. As the excited crowd continued to socialize Fern repeatedly shushed them – you go girl! Martha Stewart could even be seen on the sidelines videoing her old friend Mallis.

Fern concluded her speech with “I could have been baking sourdough bread during the pandemic but instead I wrote a book”; paradigmatic of the ambitious Mallis who will be out there fighting and producing until her very last breath akin to “icons” Bill Cunningham and Anna Wintour.