American fashion icon Fern Mallis attends Malta Fashion Week

American fashion icon Fern Mallis, the woman credited with creating New York Fashion Week in its current format, believes size is not a barrier to international success.

She insists talent, originality and authenticity are what ultimately decide whether a fashion scene or designer achieves global recognition. 

Mallis was speaking to MaltaToday while in Malta as a guest of the US Embassy, which is marking America’s 250th anniversary of independence. She will be attending Malta Fashion Week, which will be held between 6 and 9 July. During her stay, she is being hosted in partnership with The Phoenicia Malta, with the support of Malta Fashion Week.

Mallis said the island can achieve the same opportunity as any other fashion capital if it nurtures creative talent. “I think the same qualities that any fashion week stands out for are talent, authenticity, passion and originality,” Mallis said. “That’s what people are looking for.”

She said that regardless of where a person lives, genuine talent will always inevitably rise to the surface. “There are people around the world who seek that out... You find talent. It surfaces. You can’t keep it down.”

Mallis is widely recognised as the architect of modern New York Fashion Week. She recounted how the global event was born almost by accident after part of a ceiling collapsed during a Michael Kors runaway show, with plaster falling on models and front-row journalists.

Fashion critics famously responded by writing that they “live for fashion” but did not “want to die for it”, prompting Mallis to rethink how the industry staged its shows. “I think my job description just changed,” she recalled. “I was not hired to organise a fashion week.”

The Malta Fashion Week will be held between Monday 6 July and Thursday 9 July at the Biskuttin Garden in Floriana

This incident ultimately led to the creation of the now-iconic Bryant Park tents, transforming New York into a fashion capital capable of competing with Paris, Milan and London. 

Looking back on her career, Mallis said the first sound check inside Bryant Park was one of the defining moments of her life. She also recalled the unprecedented challenge of shutting down fashion week following the 11 September attacks in 2001.

“We were also doing fashion week in the tents when 9-11 happened... It was horrifying,” she said.

Turning to aspiring designers, Mallis said technical skill alone was not enough. Her greatest piece of advice? Be nice.

“The advice I give everybody throughout my entire career is first and foremost, be nice,” she said, warning against entitlement and diva behaviour.

Mallis said, beyond attitude, designers also need legal protection, financial backing and relentless determination to survive in an industry increasingly shaped by social media and e-commerce. “It’s a blessing and a nightmare,” she said of social media. She argued that while digital platforms have democratised exposure, they have also intensified competition.

However, while still learning about Malta’s fashion scene, Mallis said she is eager to meet local designers during the Malta Fashion Week and explore all the island has to offer.

MaltaToday also had a chance to speak to Malta Fashion Week founder Adrian J. Mizzi, who said the local industry’s development has been decades in the making, beginning with the creation of the Malta Fashion Awards. At the time he admitted, “there was no fashion” industry to speak of.

Mizzi said the awards were deliberately designed to push hairstylists, make-up artists and designers to improve their skills by studying abroad and collaborating professionally, laying the foundations for today’s industry.

Mizzi said Malta’s fashion sector remains young, with labels such as Charles & Ron and menswear brand Gagliardi among its biggest international success stories, but argued the country’s historic venues have given Malta Fashion Week a distinctive identity.

The Malta Fashion Week will be held between Monday 6 July and Thursday 9 July at the Biskuttin Garden in Floriana