Fern Mallis has been called many things including an industry titan, a living legend, a trailblazer, a global fashion ambassador, a visionary, a maverick, a fashion revolutionary, an icon, an indomitable force and an industry gamechanger. She’s selfless and fearless, she’s fashion’s ultimate insider and she’s widely recognized as the godmother of New York Fashion Week. Her career spans six decades and intersects with some of the world’s most recognized names.

She became a sensation in the fashion industry shortly after she was hired as the executive director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). She held the position for 10 years, from 1991 to 2001. The CFDA is the US’s governing body of fashion designers and runway shows.

Fern’s massive claim to fame while serving at the CFDA was launching New York Fashion Week, which was initially called “7th on Sixth” productions. At the time, there were fashion weeks strictly in Paris, London and Milan. The fashion week event she created was staged in NY twice a year, in Feb. & Sept., and it was located in tents within Bryant Park in NYC. In 2010, the event was moved to Lincoln Center.

Fern is the latest inductee in the Kent State University’s Fashion Hall of Fame, recognizing her transformative impact on the American fashion industry and her enduring role in shaping New York Fashion Week. She truly changed the trajectory of the fashion industry.

The Kent State School of Fashion’s Hall of Fame honors individuals whose contributions have shaped the industry and inspired future generations of designers, entrepreneurs and creative leaders. She joins other industry figures who have been inducted including Kenneth Cole, Estée Lauder, Oscar de la Rena, Dana Buchman, Leonardo Ferragamo, Josie Natori, Dame Zandra Rhodes and Donald J. Pliner.

While at the CFDA, Fern organized 10 annual CFDA Fashion Awards Galas. She also played a leadership role in starting the Fashion Targets Breast Cancer campaign which has generated well over $100 million in donations for hundreds of breast cancer organizations worldwide. She also twice organized the “7th on Sale” fundraiser for AIDS charities which grossed more than $8 million. Additionally, she helped raise considerable money for design scholarships and numerous other initiatives to benefit designers and the industry at large.

In 2001, she was hired as the senior vice president of IMG Fashion, a division within IMG, which is a sports, fashion, events and media company headquartered in NYC. Between 2001 and 2010, she continued to handle fashion week since IMG had acquired it. She became a true fashion ambassador, traveling around the world to fashion shows and competitions. Under her guidance, IMG added new fashion weeks around the world in cities like Melbourne, Sidney, Moscow, Mumbai, Toronto, Mexico City and Berlin, among others.

In 2010, she parted ways with IMG and shifted gears to became president of Fern Mallis LLC, her own international fashion and design consultancy.

She has regularly been in the public eye for the past 15 years for hosting a premiere, consistently sold-out conversation series at the prestigious 92nd Street Y in NYC. Entitled Fashion Icons With Fern Mallis, it features in-depth interviews with an incredible collection of guests. It’s the longest running series at the 92nd St. Y and she’s conducted more than 60 interviews. She's also the author of two companion books of the series, published by Rizzoli USA. In 2015, the highly praised coffee table style book Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis.

More about Fern will be revealed in an upcoming 90-minute documentary film titled, “The Godmother of Fashion.”

Please visit TalkingToTalent.com for additional details.

This is a conversation ABOUT talent (rather than directly with the talent) covering the late, great LeRoy Neiman. That being said, my two guests are very talented and knowledgeable about LeRoy and they offer sharp details about his illustrious career and great insight into him as an artist.

The occasion for our conversation is the exhibition of LeRoy’s work, titled “A Keen Observer of Style” which covers art he created between the 1950s and 2000s. It’s on display at the Kent State University Museum through the end of June 2026.

LeRoy was an artist who loved to work with vibrant colors and much of his work is instantly recognizable by his signature bold and dynamic brushwork through which he truly created his own design language.

Some would say he had a Pop Art sensibility because his style pulled from impressionism, expressionism and realism. The funny thing is, if Leroy was asked how he would peg his work, he liked say that it’s just “Neimanism.”

Some listeners may be familiar with LeRoy’s colorful depictions of musicians, celebrities, social and street scenes and athletes. He also captured the world’s most famous sporting events throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s, including the Super Bowl, Formula 1 races and the Kentucky Derby. He was even named the official artist of the Olympiad in 1972, and he held that role for five separate Olympic Games. This tremendously expanded his global visibility.

But before he moved into capturing these events in paintings and screen prints, he spent much of his time throughout the 1950s as a fashion illustrator. And this is mostly what’s featured in the special exhibition of his work. What’s noteworthy is that his experience with fashion illustration really informed his later approach to composition, portraiture and personality in his paintings.

This episode features the renowned mutli-talented, avant garde, internationally acclaimed British fashion photographer and dynamic personality, Dr. Ram Shergill.

He was a featured speaker at an event organized by the Kent Museum, in partnership with Kent’s School of Fashion and the university’s Environmental Science and Design Research Institute. Kent professors Sue Yoder and Margarita Benitez helped organize his appearance.

Among the many verticals and industries in which Ram is involved with, he taps into fashion design, textile creation using innovative materials, fashion photography and biological and biochemical-based science. He's a very imaginative and ambitious thinker and creator.

He’s a prolifically published writer and photographer, with his work appearing in the top fashion magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, W Magazine, Wallpaper and GQ. He also has had many papers published in scientific journals. He also has a degree in structural architecture, and he redefines what being a lifelong learner looks like.

Ram is well known for the photography book “Amy by Ram,” spotlighting the legendary and late pop singer Amy Winehouse. It comprises over 50 previously unpublished color images of Amy shot by Ram, including an interview with him as well. Two of the portraits featured in the book are on permanent display at the National Portrait Gallery within the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

His design work has been shown in exhibitions internationally at institutions including Sotheby’s, Victoria & Albert Museum, The Wallace Collection, Somerset House and the Museum of Contemporary Arts in London. He also has created highly innovative campaigns, commercial books and catalogues.