Celebrated fashion consultant Fern Mallis and Nordstrom NYC hosted a cocktail party on Wednesday evening, to toast Mallis’ second volume of her beloved interview series, Fashion Icons: Fashion Lives with Fern Mallis (on sale this month).
The event took place at Nordstrom’s Broadway Bar on the retailer’s third floor, with music by Coco and Breezy, where celebrity guests and industry professionals all mingled with Mallis.
Proenza Schouler design duo Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez were in attendance, as well as Martha Stewart, Making the Cut’s Tim Gunn, model and activist Bethann Hardison, Real Housewives of New York City’s Dorinda Medley, renowned photographer Arthur Elgort, Collina Strada creative director Hillary Taymour, Beyoncé’s stylist Ty Hunter, former president of the CFDA Stan Herman, and more.
Portraits of various fashion icons (including Victoria Beckham and Valentino Garavani) by artist Ruben Baghdasaryan from Mallis’ book decorated the space. A book was featured next to each portrait with the page opened to the corresponding interview, as well as a mannequin dressed in the outfit from the illustrated design.
Mallis teamed with Nordstrom on a special box set, which features the new book as well as a re-released version of her first edition of Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis, which came out in 2015 and became a Rizzoli best-seller.
During the event, a cake with sparklers was brought out to the tune of “Empire State of Mind” playing. Mallis then addressed the stylish crowd, tearfully expressing her gratitude. “I don’t even know how to thank the entire Nordstrom family,” Mallis said. “What you’ve done here has blown me away. It’s just quite spectacular.”
Mallis told her guests how proud she is of her 61 Fashion Icons conversations, which began at the 92nd street Y 11 years ago. “Soon, we’re going to have to plan a Bar Mitzvah,” she joked.
“Instead of learning how to bake sourdough bread during the pandemic, I wrote a book,” she said. “Turning these live, unscripted, intimate, authentic conversations with the industry’s most talented, successful, and legendary personalities into a book is a dream come true. I’ve spent my entire career championing these people. During the past two, unbelievable years, these stories seem to be more relevant than ever before.”
Ending her speech with a kicker, Mallis thanked all of the people that helped make her book and the night happen, and told the crowd, “I’m ready to start book three and four.”
