“Just remember, she’s very shy.”

That was Diane von Furstenberg‘s warning to Kolb before meeting Anna Wintour. By the time he met Vogue‘s diva doyenne, Kolb had already gotten the job as Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America – a title that would eventually morph into his current as Chief Executive Officer —  and even though Wintour was not a member of the CFDA, meeting her was still obligatory. But they got along swimmingly.

And why wouldn’t they? This from the man who, after his initial interview with von Furstenberg and the CFDA board,  received an email from DVF herself saying simply, “I love you — Diane.”

Hailing from a non-profit background, Kolb has often claimed he’s an “accidental fashion drone” and despite his standing as the head of an organization that counts among its members the biggest and greatest designers in American fashion, he still gets excited by fashion shows. Though becoming a member of that prestigious organization, as one would expect, is no easy feat.

To be considered for CFDA membership, a designer has to have been in business for at least three years, have two letters of recommendation from CFDA members, retail presence and positive editorial coverage. Kolb stressed, however, that the most important thing for a designer to possess is a personal and unique point of view. It is also important for designers to do their homework.

Literally.

Applying to the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, for example, requires a lengthy personal essay outlining why you love fashion, how you got started, the ins and outs of your business, as well as a five and ten year business plan. “Clarity on what you want your brand to be,” he said, “along with real talent is an ideal candidate.”

Since announcing their move from the Garment District, the CFDA has come under fire for seemingly abandoning the made in America, or at least Midtown, mantra. To wit, a member of the audience asked why the CFDA didn’t consider Harlem, with its surplus of abandoned buildings and cheap rent, for the future of manufacturing.

“The industry is stuck on Midtown as where fashion needs to be,” Kolb responded but he also insisted that with rising costs abroad — particularly in China —  ”You’re going to see a return to manufacturing in Manhattan in a big way.”

But the night wasn’t all about business. Henderson wrapped up her conversation with Kolb by asking him what was something that no one would know about him. Turns out Steven Kolb, CEO of the CFDA, was a football jock.

“I was the setter.” He was quick to clarify. “The guy who gives the ball to the guy who throws the ball.” Though he spent most of his time on the bench, Kolb proved popular with the cheerleaders who had a cheer especially for him: “Put Steven in! Put Steven in!”

Nevertheless, Kolb quit midway through the football season and joined the drama club. And I guess the rest is more or less history.

(In order of succession to the President)

President Anna Wintour

Vice President André Leon Talley

Secretary of State: Diane von Furstenberg

Secretary of the Treasury: Bernard Arnault

Secretary of Defense: Karl Lagerfeld

Attorney General Steven Kolb

Secretary of the Interior: Ralph Lauren

Secretary of Agriculture: Marc Jacobs

Secretary of Commerce: Valentino

Secretary of Labor: Nanette Lepore

Secretary of Health and Human Services: Glenda Bailey

Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Mickey Boardman

Secretary of Education: Michael Kors

Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Carine Roitfeld

Secretary of Homeland Security: Calvin Klein

Chief of Staff: Simon Doonan

Environmental Protection Agency: Emmanuelle Alt

Office of Management & Budget: Donna Karan

United States Trade Representative Ambassador: Daphne Guinness

United States Ambassador: Grace Coddington

Secretary of Small Business Administration: Fern Mallis

And there, indies, is your political lesson of the day.

Now the question is, would you vote Anna Wintour for president?

The other question is, can you find our h McQueen? Happy Presidents Day off!

To an audience including Vogue‘s own Anna Wintour, no topic was off limits. Growing up in the same Bronx neighborhood as Ralph Lauren, Klein admitted that his childhood was “actually kind of a wonderful experience.” And while he knew Lauren from the “peculiar way” he dressed, they weren’t really friends: “[Lauren] was older than I. I grew up in a very Jewish kind of intellectual environment.”

The designer also tells of his early days in fashion and how he got started, though he only narrowly avoided a career in the supermarket business. His friend and business partner Barry Schwartz had inherited his father’s grocery store and Schwartz wanted he and Klein to “become the next A&P.” Conflicted over his love for fashion and a future of assured security he consulted his parents:

My dad said, “You know, I never knew exactly what you studied all these years, but I have a feeling if you don’t see it through, even though this is a great opportunity your best friend is offering, I think you will be unhappy all your life. You have to go through with it.” I left their apartment on cloud nine. That did it for me. It was the best advice I ever got.

Klein also spoke openly about his struggle with addiciton, referencing a very public meltdown at Madison Square Garden in 2003:

That was really a shameful, horrible moment. It had nothing to do with work. I’ve done enough therapy and enough work on myself. Addiction is not caused by stress on the job, even though lots of people in the fashion industry have suffered from the same problem. It’s not about the work. It has more to do with your childhood and lots of other things. You’re always in recovery. You’re always aware that this is something you don’t want to do, whether it’s drugs, sex, food. There are lots of addictions.

While he was married — twice — to women, Klein revealed that he is happy in his life now, which includes a young man who takes him paragliding.  Through it all, he’s learned that family and friends are really “what completes life.” Of course creating a multi-billion dollar empire couldn’t have hurt either. [WWD, sub req'd]

Sherry Lehmann Wine.  Arizona Iced Tea. Fiber One. No, these aren’t the contents of your grandmother’s kitchen cabinet. These are three of the big-name sponsors for New York’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, the biggest and least important of the four major Fashion Weeks. But is New York’s continued dwindling in importance a direct result of the less than fabulous coterie of sponsors, or is it the other way around? And who’s to blame?

The Hardy Gays are on the case!

The main culprit is Milk Studios, whose latest incarnation as MilkMade has stolen much of the luster from Lincoln Center. But whereas they compete for sponsors, MilkMade usually draws smaller shows…however, the Marc Jacobses and the Ralph Laurens don’t show at the Tents either. Rather, they show offsite, effectively spitting in the faces of IMG Models and CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg, who dutifully shows at Lincoln Center each season.

Why not show a concerted effort to make NYFW a juggernaut of influence and taste rather than a discombobulated hydra sprawling all over Manhattan with each head unaware of what the other is doing?

The Tents at Bryant Park were home to New York Fashion Week for seventeen years and the move to Lincoln Center was a controversial one that left many fashion followers scratching their thinning scalps. Aside from being convenient, Bryant Park’s proximity to the Garment District earned it the distinction as the fashion industry’s backyard. But as Fashion Week grew bigger and more and more sponsors came on board — from Dunkin Donuts to McDonald’s — designers became more and more disenfranchised. And Bryant Park became more and more annoyed. Now, the Tents at Lincoln Center resemble a circus rather than a legitimate gathering of professionals and creatives.

Which brings us to Fern Mallis, the lady behind those seventeen halcyon years. She helped organize the move of NYFW from warehouses and studios all over the city to one central location, but with the Tents’ dissolution everything is scattered once again. Just last year Mallis evacuated her role as Senior Vice President of IMG to reportedly start her own consulting business. Interesting timing…

Perhaps she felt disillusioned over what she hath wrought. Perhaps she struck a deal with Bryant Park to kick fashion week out of its lush lawn. Perhaps she poisoned  major designers against her former lover, one Diane von Furstenberg to gain revenge for breaking her heart when she married Barry Diller, effectively ruining Fashion Week and leaving Fiber One as one of the few legitimate sponsors who would touch MBFW with a ten-foot pole!

Cue lightning flash and dramatic music.

Perhaps this is just speculation and hearsay. Perhaps we don’t really care because as far as Mac and I — and the bottle of vodka we’ve already opened to celebrate — Absence of Mallis: The Case of the Lackluster Tents is closed.

The Tents Trailer from Marcus K Jones on Vimeo.

Let us remember a time when 7th was on 6th, when Betsey Johnson could roll her rolling racks down the block, skipping and singing to her show. When fashion made a spectacle for commoners to notice in the middle of a “public park”, when there was more than the 1 2 3 to get you there. When NYFW got classy, got prestige, got monetized, then outgrown.

A small recap of the film by James Belzer, formerly of Harper’s Bazaar, before you see it this Fashion Week at its true premiere:

April 1st industry legends and innovators will be at Fashion Forum held at NYC’s Fashion Institute of Technology. Panel members include: Cynthia Rowley, Julie Gilhart, Fern Mallis, and Adam Lippes. This is a must attend event for any designer who is looking to come up in the industry. Fashion Indie has two complimentary tickets to the event which you can win. Entry details after the jump.

To enter all you have to do is email Mac@FashionIndie.com with what you think makes your collection unique. Contest ends March 24th so get those entries in ASAP!

Good Luck!

You can also buy tickets to the event here.

- The first fashion show was probably staged in New York City specialty store, Ehrich Brothers in 1903 as a means to lure middle-class women.

- By 1910, many big-name department stores were holding shows, though mostly of French or French-inspired clothing.

- 1914, Fashion Fete, an event to benefit the war-relief effort is organized by former Vogue editor (1914-1952), Edna Woolman Chase.

- By 1920s, fashion shows were common and had Parisian, Persian, Chinese, Russian, and Mexican themes, among others.

- Shows grew so popular merchants had to obtain licenses when using live models; in New York, police even threatened to put an end them altogether.

- When the Germans occupied France in 1940, buyers, editors, and designers were unable to travel to Paris to see the few remaining shows.

- Enter fashion publicist, Eleanor Lambert. She established the first Fashion Week, dubbed “Press Week,”  in 1943 to publicize American fashion and gain control of the market.

- Lambert hoped to give editors a chance to see and write about the work of American designers; they would stay on-site, usually at the Pierre or Plaza Hotels while buyers were forced to visit the designers’ showrooms.

- Soon Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar, who had previously featured exclusively French designs, began embracing American fashions and crediting the names behind them.

- 1970s and 80s, designers began holding shows in lofts, restaurants and clubs; after a series of mishaps in small, unsafe locations in the early 90s, Fern Mallis, then president of the CFDA, spearheaded a movement to have all the shows in one place.

- Striking a deal with Bryant Park to house the shows in tents, the Spring 1994 collection was the first Fashion Week to be held there.

- The event at the tents was officially branded Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in 2009 to reflect corporate sponsorship.

- After numerous disputes between the Park’s management and the show’s producers, IMG, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week was moved to Lincoln Center for the Spring 2011 collections, though many designers still opt to have their shows away from the tents.

- Each year, about 232,000 people attend New York’s Fall and Spring Fashion Weeks. This accounts for approximately $466 million in direct visitor spending and about $1.6 billion in tax revenue to the city’s fashion industry.

- $40 million – restaurants; $30 million – taxis, Town Cars, and public transportation; $56 million – hotels.

So there’s a method to the madness after all. And that method is spelled with about 8 zeros. See you in the Fall!

Link Love: Slate, Boston.com

Tuesday | July 20, 2010

6:30 PM – 8:00 PM

At TheTimesCenter, 242 West 41st Street, New York City.

For additional information or to purchase advance tickets, which are $30 plus service fees

Call 1.888.NYT.1870 or visit www.TimesTalks.com.

Finalist 1. Greta Eagan from GretaGuide.com

Check out BeautifulStranger.tv’s Interview with Greta Eagan.

Finalist 2. Hillary Bankz from HillaryBankz.com

Check out BeautifulStranger.tv’s Interview with Hillary Bankz.

Finalist 3. Mal Pearson from LVCMag.com

Check out BeautifulStranger.tv’s Interview with Mal Pearson.

Finalist 4. Qianna Smith from FashionQandA.com

Check out BeautifulStranger.tv’s Interview with Qianna Smith.

Finalist 5. Trang Huyen from TheSeams.blogspot.com

Check out BeautifulStranger.tv’s Interview with Trang Huyen

One of these lucky girls will soon be the recipient of an incredible package of goodies, including a trip to New York City in September for Fall Fashion Week; a stay at The Mark Hotel and dinner for two at Jean Georges; a hair cut and color with husband-and-wife team, Tammy and Robert Sherman, at Frederic Fekkai at The Mark; tickets to the Catherine Malandrino fashiow show, plus backstage access, a chance to meet the uber- talented designer, and, if that’s not enough, a $1,000 shopping spree at her store; a Rebecca Minkoff handbag; a serpent cuff from Vivre; lots of beauty booty from Fekkai and Christian Dior, and more!

Check BeautifulStranger.tv on Tuesday to hear what Celebrity Judges–Jayne Chase, Frederic Fekkai, Jenn Goodkind, Eva Lorenzotti, Catherine Malandrino, Fern Mallis, Rebecca Minkoff, Brandusa Niro, and Amanda Ross–loved about the girls personal style.

GET SOCIAL: Follow BeautifulStranger on Facebook and Twitter.

Beautiful Stranger.tv launches the first online reality-programming event entitled “Hey Fashion Blogger, Are You The Next Beautiful Stranger?”  Think you’ve got the style it takes to win a glamourous weekend in NYC during Fall Fashion Week? Be sure to enter to win.

The contest, which runs from May 12 through June 9, invites fashion bloggers to submit their style, story and overall got-it-togetherness to Beautiful Stranger.tv. “This platform to feature fashion bloggers has been created as a tribute to the important new role they have begun to play in the fashion and media industry,” says Melissa Fedor, Co-CEO and Editorial Director for Beautiful Stranger.tv.

Fashion bloggers–the new wave of fashion trendsetters and 24/7 journalists–are encouraged to step out from behind their screens and present their style story and photographic images to a celebrity expert panel of judges, including:

• Frederic Fekkai (CEO, Fekkai)
• Catherine Malandrino (Fashion Designer)
• Amanda Ross (Celebrity Stylist, Fashion Director of the W Hotels)
• Fern Mallis (President, Fern Mallis, LLC)
• Brandusa Niro (Editor-in-Chief, The Daily Front Row)
• Eva Lorenzotti (CEO, Vivre)
• Rebecca Minkoff (Handbag Designer)
• Jayne Chase, and Jenn Goodkind, hosts of ‘A Fashionable Life’ radio show
• Melissa Fedor and Abby Wallach, Co-Founders of Beautiful Stranger.tv

The winner will be selected based on their personal style, photographic images, presentation and
story behind their blogging beat. The Grand Prize includes:

• A glamorous weekend in NYC during Fall Fashion Week 2010 at Lincoln Center
• Transportation to NYC
• Two-Weekend-Night Stay at The Mark Hotel
• Dinner for Two at The Mark Restaurant by Jean Georges
• $1,000 Shopping Spree at Catherine Malandrino, plus Backstage Pass to her fashion show
• An exclusive interview with Designer, Catherine Malandrino
• Cut and Color with Celebrity stylists, Robert and Tammy Sherman at the Renowned Fekkai Salon The Mark Hotel and Fekkai Hair Product
• The “Dior Classics” package, featuring Dior’s most luxurious products, including L’Or deVie La Crème and DiorShow Mascara
• Rebecca Minkoff Handbag
• Gold Serpent Cuff from Vivre
• Interview on ‘A Fashionable Life’ Radio Show with Jayne Chase and Jenn Goodkind
• Shoot Street Style for Beautiful Stranger.tv with Co-Founders, Melissa Fedor and Abby Wallach

“We are very excited to have a platform with Beautiful Stranger.tv where we can connect the fashion bloggers with the fashion industry in a new and inspirational way,” says Abby Wallach, Co-CEO and Executive Producer, Beautiful Stranger.tv.

Beautiful Stranger.tv, the online media brand, hits the streets in search of real people with great style. They start in New York City, the mecca of fashion, and find out what well-dressed denizens are using, wearing, loving, listening to on their iPods, how they’re going green, where they eat, shop and get their goods. Beautiful Stranger.tv now offers cutting-edge shopping technology where consumers can purchase every product that the beautiful strangers mention with one quick click.

For more details on the contest and daily updates from Beautiful Stranger.tv follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

LINK LOVE: StyleElite

First of all, it is my opinion that celebrity designers should NOT show at the Tents at all, I think it’s an insult to the industry and takes the spotlight away from talented designers who have worked long and hard for the chance to present at fashion week. That is why when I hear that the Kardashian sisters are set to show their Bebe line I want to cringe and boycott Mercedes Benz totally. These untalented media whores are on the OFFICIAL calendar in between TSE and Derek Lam, which pisses me off beyond belief. How can Fern Mallis allow this?

LINK LOVE: NY Mag

Once again, my week began early as Alexandra coaxed me out of my family visit in the boondocks to come back to the city on Sunday under the pretext of finding a suitor. Alexandra’s friend “Chicago” was performing at the Ritz. “It’ll be fun!” she said in her reassuring, sweet voice. “It’ll be good for you go to out and meet new people.” Bah humbug, she hit me at my Achilles Heel and so I agreed. I tried to convince a few more of my friends to come out with us but they lost interest as soon as a specified that I meant “The Ritz”—as in the gay club, not the hotel.

I had never been to The Ritz but I heard that Madonna and Jesus had stopped by during the previous week to dance. “How bad can it be?” I thought. Well, I was in for a surprise. It goes without saying that there was no open bar and I refused to pay for drinks so I sat on the banquette and watched the performances—clearly not meant to be done in a sober state. The show ended when the fat lady sang, literally. Said fat lady stripped off her dress and belted “Don’t Stop Believing” to an audience that had mostly paired off for the night. It seemed to me that the crowd had stopped believing in the performances somewhere after the man singing an opera ballad threw off his trench coat to reveal a pale body suit and ran around the room screaming, “I’ve got no privates.”

Because we refused to end the night on that note, we made our way to the Greenhouse for Vandam Sundays, the weekly blowout gay party hosted by Kenny Kenny that’s reminiscent of an acid-trip. Besides the usual drag suspects in eye-popping makeup, there was also a girl on five-foot stilts swinging her purse around as she stomped to the music. Mary-Kate Olson was inexplicably downstairs dancing but had left before we could catch a glimpse of the mythical creature.

The next day was comparably more staid: the 25th Anniversary of the Wellington Hair Spa. Organized by PR Noir diva Danita King, the event featured complimentary wine by Bouké but most importantly there were enough hors d’oeuvres to get one’s fill for dinner. Hey, it’s a recession.

If I hadn’t been invited to any parties, I might have missed the fact that Tuesday was Saint Patrick’s Day all together. I was greatly looking forward to that night’s ACRIA benefit at the chic Soho House thrown by promoter-legend Patrick Duffy. The party was a late starter (all the bold-faced names were at the Valentino Film premiere) and there was no open-bar. Alexandra put it best when she said, “I feel like we’ve been duped.” Well, technically we had been Duffy-ed. Most exciting for me, I spoke with Ken Doll incarnation Leif Stacey who walked the Barbie Show during New York Fashion Week.

As no Saint Patrick’s Day is complete without society saint Patrick McMullan, we attempted to head over to PMc’s annual party, appropriately held this year at Greenhouse. By the time we had arrived, which was about an hour after the start time, the place was over-capacity and we were told we’d have to wait in line. Madonna doesn’t do lines and neither do we so we skedaddled like two Leprechauns.

I wasn’t in the mood to make another trip back to Greenhouse the next day for Wednesday’s Nylon/Bodhi Bags party so I didn’t resurface until Thursday for the Saks/FIT Gala. Held at the glamorous Cipriani’s Midtown, I knew I had to take it up a notch for the step and repeat so I stopped by Versani to borrow some bling. Guests included Teen Vogue’s Amy Astley, IMG’s Fern Mallis and other industry heavy-weights. The event, which included champagne, lavish hors d’oeuvres and photographers would have definitely been categorized as a “hit” had we actually had a seat for the sit-down dinner. In my quasi-press capacity, we were only invited for the cocktail hour. As such, I technically can’t report on how Mayor Bloomberg supposedly presented an award since I was not there to witness.

Alexandra and I were dressed to the nines and we refused to go home before 9PM and cry into a bowl of Lucky Charms so instead we dropped in on the Bowery Hotel for the Festa Brasileira event hosted by the Nature Conservancy Young Professionals Group. Lucky for us, the champagne and hors d’oeuvres continued there and we even managed to get photographed. It was a perfect and classy way to end the evening.

It was back to the Bowery on Friday night for the Layla Love benefit, which was raising money for blindness treatment of the photojournalist. If the Bowery Hotel represents the new glossy Manhattan, then the Collective Hardware space at 169 Bowery represents the vestigial, gritty Bowery of yore. I thought we might be mugged at any moment or at least see the ghost of Sid Vicious as we mulled around the industrial space, though neither incident occurred. Instead, we waited around for something to happen but left before the scheduled runway show at 10PM.

Even during a week of misses, it’s impossible not to reflect on how lucky we are to attend all these glamorous functions. It’s easy to forget that there are people who actually pay for alcohol—now that’s a crazy concept.

Adrien Field

Last night’s Tony Cohen fall 2009 show had me wondering if it was real life or a flashback through fashion’s past. There is no doubt that Cohen played it safe, catering his feminine, cocktail glam pieces to the ordinary New York woman. Sadly enough, I was more intrigued by Fern Mallis dozing off in the front row than the looks on the runway!  Cohen barely pushed the boundaries, adding his version of edge with the overdone leather leggings, layered under dresses and blouses. As for classically sophisticated looks, Cohen produced some beautiful merino coats and saved the audience from absolute boredom with his closing piece, an asymmetrically layered black cocktail dress encompassing a variety of textures. 

GALLERY: RUNWAY RUNDOWN: Tony Cohen Fall 2009

LINKAGE: Trashbag Aesthetics 

Tony Cohen Fall 2009 Fashion Show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, NYC

Ref: SPL80948 170209
Picture by: Le Poulin / Splash News
Pictured: Tony Cohen Fashion Look

Splash News and Pictures
Los Angeles: 310-821-2666
New York: 212-619-2666
London: 870-934-2666
photodesk@splashnews.com

Thanks Style.com!