by After spending literally years in and around Bryant Park, Stan Herman and Fern Mallis returned there Tuesday morning to unveil a bench named in their honor.
In their previous roles at the Council of Fashion Designers of America, Herman was president and Mallis was executive director. Beginning in 1993, they ushered in a new era for American fashion designers by staging the biennial New York fashion weeks under large white tents in Bryant Park. This consolidated what was already a city-wide event and established “7th on the Sixth” as a destination in itself. But that moment ended after Tommy Hilfiger’s 2009 fall fashion show.
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In light of IMG’s recent announcement that it will be moving away from producing a centralized venue for NYFW: The Shows to focus its efforts on facilitating brand partnerships and creative collaborations between brands and designers, Tuesday’s tribute was a prime location for the future. Discuss NYFW.
Guests such as Jeffrey Banks, Marylou Luther, Lisa Silhanek and Teri Agins mingled outside the Bryant Park Grill, which is steps away from the bench. As sunny and bright as Tuesday morning was, 95-year-old Herman chatted about some of Bryant Park’s darkest days. With all the warts of the shows, difficulties “and all the screaming after we did it,” Herman said, “it really focused on this fashion week in New York.”
Having had a studio above Bryant Park since 1975 and having chaired the community board’s park commission that same year, Herman said, “I’ve known Bryant Park since it was called ‘needle park’ and ‘not there was no going to him. be a field.’ Then it was going to be ‘the best park in the world’ and I watched when it was closed for two years and then redone.”
Hoping for a bright future for NYFW, Herman said, “New York is resilient. If they get their act together and there is a beacon or a personality that pulls it in the right direction, New York will be there forever. I am excited by the clothes I see. I am one of the few people [who is.] The menswear was amazing.”
After spending “18 glorious years” at Bryant Park, Mallis said she was proud of how they put the American fashion industry on the map. That was softer, given the recent news that IMG is no longer producing shows in an organized venue. “Fashion week, as we know it, is over. Fashion will still happen in New York, because it’s a really important industry that has that level of creativity.”
Recalling that Tommy Hilfiger’s runway show was the last to be held at Bryant Park, Mallis said, “Every fashion week since then, people have been stopping me, saying, ‘Bring back the tents with please.’”
Despite that, Mallis isn’t hoping to bring back a more unified fashion week. “No, I think everyone is more about everyone for themselves,” Mallis said. “Everyone wants to do their own thing, which we appreciated when we made the tents. If someone booked a place somewhere else, we put a bus there. We tried to make it work for the people who were attending the shows.”
With IMG out of the picture, Mallis asked who would succeed them and raise the money needed to produce a venue. “It’s an expensive proposition and we’ve worked our hardest to get sponsorship, keep everyone happy and balance the designers and creativity,” she said.
On reflection, she said she always joked that she and Herman should have a bench at Bryant Park, and the late Ivan Bart, former president of IMG Models, promoted that plan. Hilfiger promised the bench and revealed on Tuesday morning.
Posing with his wife Dee, Tommy Hilfiger recalled racks of runway looks from his Midtown offices to Bryant Park. He said, “I just remember how amazing all the tents and shows were here.”
Mallis said, “There was so much energy. Everyone felt like they made it when they walked over those velvet ropes and went in.”
The more unified front that came with the move to Bryant Park was pivotal for American fashion. “That was history because every American designer showed in the tents,” Hilfiger said
When asked if there will ever be a more unified fashion week effort, Hilfiger said, “I hope so.”
Another attendee, CFDA chief executive officer Steven Kolb, doesn’t envision the NYFW anchor site ever returning. “No, and I don’t think we need it. The idea of a central center was good at the time, when it happened. We are past those many years. Even when there was a central centre, as strong as it was, there were people in and out. They would show a season or two and then they were gone.”
The independence of showing off-site is what really inspires NYFW, Kolb said. “I’ve always said New York is the official venue. Fashion week is stronger than ever. We had an amazing 70 shows last season. We are building a great roster for September. This idea of a group thing is old-fashioned.”
Plus, fashion week isn’t sponsored like it used to be “so you can’t build that into a business model,” Kolb said. And the selection of individual sites is expressive for designers. “That’s the point, right? When you’re in a cookie-cutter space with a two-hour turnover, it’s hard. Whether it’s an abandoned warehouse in Brooklyn, a park near Battery Park, Moynihan Station, the Empire State Building, the venue speaks for the collection as much as the collection itself.”
Yeohlee Teng said the Bryant Park shows put American fashion on the world map, thanks to the efforts of Herman and Mallis. “That’s a real legacy for both of them,” said the designer.
Regarding her outlook for the future, Teng said, “I think there is a lot of diversity, but new leadership has to come out to grow.”
There have been “early discussions” with Vornado Realty Trust about using the space on the former Pennsylvania Hotel site at Seventh Avenue and East 33rd Street that could serve as a NYFW venue, according to Dan Biederman, the 34th President of the Street Partnership. Suggesting Bryant Park in late September as an alternative, he said, “Is there any chance the calendar will change — ever?”
Herman’s design partner of 26 years Michael Schwarz spoke about how Herman’s memoir “Uncross Your Legs: A Life in Fashion” and the Bryant Park bench solidified what Herman means to the industry. “I’m an emotional wreck. When I get the chance to step back, you see I start to tear up. I was lucky enough to experience the bridge between old fashion and new fashion. Stan is that bridge. He’s been in the care of the industry for a long time,” Schwarz said. “Unlike many people, he is not stuck in the mud of the past. He enjoyed it and understood how important it is, but he’s always excited about what’s to come.”
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