1
00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:06,880
Speaker 1: This is Master's in Business with Barry Ridholts on Bloomberg Radio.

2
00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:12,719
Speaker 1: This week on the podcast, I have an extra special guest.

3
00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:15,440
Speaker 1: Her name is Fern Malice, and if you are at

4
00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:23,000
Speaker 1: all interested in fashion, clothing, retail or any of the

5
00:00:23,079 --> 00:00:28,960
Speaker 1: things related to that, uh, you'll find this conversation especially interesting.

6
00:00:29,080 --> 00:00:31,840
Speaker 1: I wish I would have had more time. I wanted

7
00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,519
Speaker 1: to ask her about some of the changes in the industry, etcetera, etcetera.

8
00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:39,200
Speaker 1: But I think you'll find this to be really an

9
00:00:39,280 --> 00:00:44,400
Speaker 1: interesting and fascinating conversation. So, with no further ado, my

10
00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:53,199
Speaker 1: interview with Fern Malice. My special guest today is Fern Malice.

11
00:00:53,640 --> 00:00:58,120
Speaker 1: She is the president of fashion and design consultancy Fern

12
00:00:58,200 --> 00:01:02,200
Speaker 1: Malice LLC. Previously, she was the executive director of the

13
00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:06,320
Speaker 1: Council of Fashion Designers of America, where she has been

14
00:01:06,360 --> 00:01:10,200
Speaker 1: awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award, as well as other such

15
00:01:10,200 --> 00:01:14,680
Speaker 1: awards from Pratt Institute and the Fashion Institute of Technology

16
00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:17,839
Speaker 1: better known as f i T. She is the creator

17
00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:22,760
Speaker 1: of Fashion Week in New York. Fern Malice, Welcome to Bloomberg.

18
00:01:23,080 --> 00:01:25,679
Speaker 1: Thank you, Barry. I'm happy to be here. So let's

19
00:01:25,720 --> 00:01:29,120
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about your background in fashion. Is

20
00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:32,000
Speaker 1: this an area you were always interested in and how

21
00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,160
Speaker 1: did you break into the field. Yes, I guess you

22
00:01:36,200 --> 00:01:38,399
Speaker 1: could say I was always interested in it. I grew

23
00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:41,559
Speaker 1: up in Brooklyn. My dad worked in the government center

24
00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,240
Speaker 1: and his brothers worked there as well. My dad was

25
00:01:45,280 --> 00:01:51,320
Speaker 1: in accessories scarves primarily, and the uncles were in textiles

26
00:01:51,400 --> 00:01:55,760
Speaker 1: and in sportswear. Family business. I grew up in going,

27
00:01:56,240 --> 00:01:58,440
Speaker 1: going with him to work every time I could, every

28
00:01:58,480 --> 00:02:02,320
Speaker 1: day off from school to the garment district when it

29
00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:06,280
Speaker 1: was a bustling, hustling place, all those carts on the street,

30
00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:08,560
Speaker 1: and all those people who knew each other, and and

31
00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,440
Speaker 1: I learned, and I watched, and I loved it, and

32
00:02:11,480 --> 00:02:14,679
Speaker 1: I loved clothing. So what was your first job we

33
00:02:14,680 --> 00:02:18,440
Speaker 1: were working not for a family member. Well, I never

34
00:02:18,480 --> 00:02:21,480
Speaker 1: worked for a family member, Luckily, I just grew up

35
00:02:21,520 --> 00:02:26,440
Speaker 1: surrounded by them and learned about the industry, apprentice assimilating um.

36
00:02:26,480 --> 00:02:29,160
Speaker 1: But my early jobs in high school, my summer jobs

37
00:02:29,200 --> 00:02:33,920
Speaker 1: were at Simplicity Patterns, which was a big deal at

38
00:02:33,960 --> 00:02:36,040
Speaker 1: that time when people used to make their own clothes,

39
00:02:36,440 --> 00:02:38,840
Speaker 1: and and a department store. Do you ever remember the

40
00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:42,000
Speaker 1: name or backs thirty fourth Street that I worked in

41
00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,880
Speaker 1: our backs one summer. I kind of remember one read

42
00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:46,800
Speaker 1: off a root for in New Jersey. Oh, you know

43
00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:49,880
Speaker 1: they eventually they did expand and then they you know,

44
00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,960
Speaker 1: shut down like everything else. Um, but those were my

45
00:02:54,000 --> 00:02:57,120
Speaker 1: first jobs in school. I was in school. But then

46
00:02:57,200 --> 00:03:00,840
Speaker 1: my first real job was at Mademoiselle magazine at Conde Nast.

47
00:03:01,200 --> 00:03:04,160
Speaker 1: So what did you do for Mademoiselle? Um? Well, I

48
00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:08,160
Speaker 1: actually that's how my career really started. I want to contest.

49
00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,400
Speaker 1: I was a Mademoiselle guest editor, which was a very

50
00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:14,600
Speaker 1: big deal when I was growing up. They picked twenty

51
00:03:14,720 --> 00:03:18,079
Speaker 1: students from around the country to guest edit their college

52
00:03:18,080 --> 00:03:21,200
Speaker 1: issue come to New York for a month. Today it

53
00:03:21,240 --> 00:03:24,520
Speaker 1: would be a reality TV show with twenty girls out

54
00:03:24,560 --> 00:03:27,079
Speaker 1: to kill each other in some apartment to get the

55
00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:31,600
Speaker 1: job or the boyfriend. And it was an extraordinary experience.

56
00:03:31,639 --> 00:03:34,360
Speaker 1: Sylvia Plath was a guest editor Ally McGraw bet C.

57
00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:39,800
Speaker 1: Johnson before me and before they were famous, but well

58
00:03:40,000 --> 00:03:43,040
Speaker 1: before they when they were in college getting getting the

59
00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:47,200
Speaker 1: junior senior year of college and I was at the

60
00:03:47,280 --> 00:03:51,520
Speaker 1: University of Buffalo. Came back and did my my guest editorship,

61
00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:53,960
Speaker 1: and then I was the only one of my twenty

62
00:03:54,000 --> 00:03:55,760
Speaker 1: in that group that was asked to stay on at

63
00:03:55,760 --> 00:03:57,640
Speaker 1: the magazine with a full time job. So what did

64
00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:00,400
Speaker 1: you do with the magazine going forward? After After that forward,

65
00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:03,920
Speaker 1: I was in the college competitions area and then merchandising

66
00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:07,120
Speaker 1: and marketing UM. But in the college camp area, it

67
00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:13,080
Speaker 1: was very interesting because we're talking I graduated in sixty nine,

68
00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:17,120
Speaker 1: being revealing my age here people do the math, but

69
00:04:17,920 --> 00:04:20,120
Speaker 1: it was when the world was coming apart. It was

70
00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,279
Speaker 1: Vietnam War. It was craziness. And so going to college

71
00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:28,400
Speaker 1: campuses to talk about a fashion magazine, and Mademoiselle was

72
00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:30,799
Speaker 1: more than a fashion magazine. It was really the thinking

73
00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:33,240
Speaker 1: woman's magazine. At its time, it was one of the

74
00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,359
Speaker 1: best books in the Counting Nest stable. So you started

75
00:04:36,440 --> 00:04:40,159
Speaker 1: postfringe but pre polyester. Is that affair? Yeah, you could

76
00:04:40,160 --> 00:04:43,200
Speaker 1: say that, you know, and and it was a great experience.

77
00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:45,440
Speaker 1: And then when I moved into the merchandising area, I

78
00:04:46,200 --> 00:04:50,120
Speaker 1: in my twenties was traveling to every single state in

79
00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,960
Speaker 1: the country, going to department stores when they all had

80
00:04:54,520 --> 00:04:58,800
Speaker 1: regional names and identities before they were all bought by Macy's,

81
00:04:58,839 --> 00:05:01,800
Speaker 1: and doing story events, bringing the magazine to life. It

82
00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:04,440
Speaker 1: was a great experience. So how did you go from

83
00:05:04,440 --> 00:05:08,000
Speaker 1: working for a magazine to setting up your own consultancy?

84
00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:10,240
Speaker 1: What was in between that? There were several things in

85
00:05:10,279 --> 00:05:14,279
Speaker 1: between that, including working for Gimbals East as fashion director

86
00:05:14,480 --> 00:05:17,400
Speaker 1: on the Uptown store when that was there. Um, I

87
00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:20,360
Speaker 1: worked on Seventh Avenue for a short time. I hated

88
00:05:20,400 --> 00:05:23,920
Speaker 1: that side of the business. Um, why what was what

89
00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,360
Speaker 1: was the problem? You know? I like it was the

90
00:05:26,440 --> 00:05:30,279
Speaker 1: nitty gritty mathiastically like selling. I liked being the one

91
00:05:30,400 --> 00:05:33,280
Speaker 1: people wanted to come to. It just wasn't the right

92
00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,320
Speaker 1: fit for me. Um. But eventually I opened up a

93
00:05:36,480 --> 00:05:40,000
Speaker 1: PR firm um And I basically did that because I

94
00:05:40,040 --> 00:05:43,040
Speaker 1: thought I had nine full one one on my forehead.

95
00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:45,720
Speaker 1: Everybody would call me for where do I get this?

96
00:05:45,760 --> 00:05:47,680
Speaker 1: How do I get that? Can you connect me with this?

97
00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:50,560
Speaker 1: Can you? I was like one of my central booking

98
00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,200
Speaker 1: information here, and I realized I could get paid for

99
00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:56,400
Speaker 1: that information. So I opened up a PR firm in

100
00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,080
Speaker 1: my friends offices who are architects and interior designers, and

101
00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:03,919
Speaker 1: at the time two place it contextually they were designing

102
00:06:03,920 --> 00:06:07,640
Speaker 1: Studio fifty four. So that was a fun, heady time

103
00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:11,320
Speaker 1: to be around them. And this is mid to late

104
00:06:11,360 --> 00:06:15,800
Speaker 1: seventies now, Yes, and we I had a PR firm

105
00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:18,680
Speaker 1: and I started representing. The first one was a fashion

106
00:06:18,720 --> 00:06:21,640
Speaker 1: client was Shri, a Varry store that was very famous

107
00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,520
Speaker 1: on the West Side, Selma Wiser and a few other

108
00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:27,960
Speaker 1: fashion friends. And then it shifted to architecture and interior

109
00:06:28,000 --> 00:06:33,640
Speaker 1: design and representing all the major furniture companies and textile

110
00:06:33,680 --> 00:06:36,280
Speaker 1: companies because I love that world. I love the whole

111
00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:40,880
Speaker 1: design world, how it all connects and lifestyle. And I

112
00:06:41,040 --> 00:06:44,239
Speaker 1: then ran left that to join one of my clients,

113
00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:47,400
Speaker 1: which was the I d C m Y International Design Center,

114
00:06:47,400 --> 00:06:50,359
Speaker 1: New York in Long Island City, was right over the bridge.

115
00:06:50,800 --> 00:06:55,480
Speaker 1: It was an extraordinary project building a million square feet

116
00:06:55,480 --> 00:06:59,799
Speaker 1: of showrooms for the interior furnishings industry. And we helped

117
00:06:59,800 --> 00:07:02,159
Speaker 1: bill that and I was very much involved in that,

118
00:07:02,279 --> 00:07:06,280
Speaker 1: working with I AM Paying Partners and Coffee Seagull and

119
00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,920
Speaker 1: UM I AM and the Vanielli's who did the graphics.

120
00:07:09,960 --> 00:07:12,800
Speaker 1: It was a wonderful time in my life. I d

121
00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:15,280
Speaker 1: C opened a building in New York. Now, didn't they

122
00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:21,560
Speaker 1: know they's either the decorator and design. Yes, there were

123
00:07:21,560 --> 00:07:25,680
Speaker 1: several design buildings in new but it's not I I

124
00:07:25,800 --> 00:07:28,240
Speaker 1: d C was competition to all those buildings in Long

125
00:07:28,280 --> 00:07:31,000
Speaker 1: Island City, and people were very nervous that everybody was

126
00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:35,880
Speaker 1: going to go over the bridge. It didn't work out,

127
00:07:36,240 --> 00:07:38,440
Speaker 1: you know, going over the bridge in New York if

128
00:07:38,480 --> 00:07:41,640
Speaker 1: you're if you're not going to the airport or going home,

129
00:07:42,520 --> 00:07:45,640
Speaker 1: you don't cross the water. I mean in Chicago, Paris,

130
00:07:45,640 --> 00:07:49,480
Speaker 1: everywhere else. You cross the water all day long with Chicago.

131
00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:52,680
Speaker 1: But New York it didn't work, and we had they

132
00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,360
Speaker 1: were closing lanes of the bridge all the time. They

133
00:07:55,520 --> 00:08:00,400
Speaker 1: really screwed it up big time. It was all time

134
00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,040
Speaker 1: million dollar complex and it still is one of the

135
00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,640
Speaker 1: most extraordinary set of buildings that old factories that were

136
00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,240
Speaker 1: retrofitted to design showrooms. The best architects in the world

137
00:08:10,280 --> 00:08:12,960
Speaker 1: designed them all. And now that whole area is hot

138
00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:16,520
Speaker 1: as a pistol. That was Premazon. Now if I wish

139
00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,080
Speaker 1: when I was there that I bought property Among Island

140
00:08:19,080 --> 00:08:24,920
Speaker 1: City for Amazon. They were building Huge was the first

141
00:08:24,920 --> 00:08:28,480
Speaker 1: building that you know, we thought, okay, when the rest

142
00:08:28,480 --> 00:08:30,080
Speaker 1: of this going to happen, But it took a long

143
00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:33,319
Speaker 1: long time. By the way, you mentioned um department stores

144
00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,960
Speaker 1: that are no longer with us. Let's test your memory.

145
00:08:36,040 --> 00:08:37,880
Speaker 1: We're sitting standing in a building. We're sitting in a

146
00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:42,520
Speaker 1: building Alexander's, alexand that's exactly right by the way. Alexander's

147
00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:44,679
Speaker 1: is the store I was thinking of on Route for

148
00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,800
Speaker 1: that had the giant was it a calleder? It was

149
00:08:47,840 --> 00:08:51,200
Speaker 1: a giant piece of artwork on the outside of the building.

150
00:08:52,040 --> 00:08:55,880
Speaker 1: On Route four. I want to say, just passed Hackensack,

151
00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:57,920
Speaker 1: But I was a kid with I don't go root

152
00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:01,839
Speaker 1: for right bridge and tunnels. You never leave Manhattan unless

153
00:09:01,840 --> 00:09:04,280
Speaker 1: you go into the Hamptons. That's the not to or

154
00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:09,440
Speaker 1: or an airport. So let's talk about before Fashion Week.

155
00:09:09,880 --> 00:09:14,000
Speaker 1: What was the state of the fashion industry before this

156
00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:21,679
Speaker 1: event existed, well before Fashion Week was formally created and organized,

157
00:09:21,920 --> 00:09:24,680
Speaker 1: centralized and modernized, which is what I like to say,

158
00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,360
Speaker 1: Um we did. There were fashion shows. I mean, the

159
00:09:28,400 --> 00:09:33,200
Speaker 1: industry had its bi annual timetable to get its collections

160
00:09:33,200 --> 00:09:36,160
Speaker 1: out in front of buyers. But it was a very

161
00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:41,000
Speaker 1: very exclusive, insider event. If you weren't in the industry,

162
00:09:41,040 --> 00:09:42,600
Speaker 1: you didn't know about it. If you went by a

163
00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:45,800
Speaker 1: building on Seventh Avenue, you might think what's going on?

164
00:09:45,880 --> 00:09:48,920
Speaker 1: If there's a line outside getting in or something. If

165
00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:51,439
Speaker 1: they were fifty shows, they were in fifty different locations

166
00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:55,920
Speaker 1: and nobody talked to each other. It was uptown, downtown, midtown.

167
00:09:56,559 --> 00:09:59,280
Speaker 1: You know, if somebody had a show in the Pierre

168
00:09:59,320 --> 00:10:02,680
Speaker 1: Hotel and morning, they'd have to take everything down in

169
00:10:02,679 --> 00:10:04,680
Speaker 1: the afternoon because somebody had a our mits for there

170
00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,480
Speaker 1: that night, and then somebody wanted to rent it again

171
00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:09,640
Speaker 1: the next day, you'd put it all back in there.

172
00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:14,319
Speaker 1: It was a bit chaotic. Um sounds complicated and expensive,

173
00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,320
Speaker 1: and it was complicated, expensive, and it was. It was

174
00:10:17,720 --> 00:10:22,319
Speaker 1: at a time when the American designers weren't really well

175
00:10:22,400 --> 00:10:27,000
Speaker 1: known and reaching out to Europe. The biggest European expansion

176
00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:31,600
Speaker 1: was Calvin Klein maybe doing Fragrance. And so I'm glad

177
00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:35,360
Speaker 1: you brought that up because I'm now my perspective on

178
00:10:35,400 --> 00:10:40,400
Speaker 1: this is colored by pop culture and movies like the

179
00:10:40,440 --> 00:10:44,400
Speaker 1: Devil Wears product. But you very much get the sense

180
00:10:44,520 --> 00:10:48,400
Speaker 1: that both Paris and Milan were much more structured and

181
00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:51,720
Speaker 1: organized or is that just you know, that's the truth.

182
00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,840
Speaker 1: Paris and Milan were the that that's where it was,

183
00:10:54,920 --> 00:10:57,480
Speaker 1: that that's what it was about. London a little bit

184
00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,880
Speaker 1: New York was somewhat of an afterthought. York was treated

185
00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:04,120
Speaker 1: as their last on the calendar. They're waiting to see

186
00:11:04,160 --> 00:11:05,920
Speaker 1: what we do in Europe and they're gonna copy us,

187
00:11:05,960 --> 00:11:09,079
Speaker 1: and it was it was crazy. So I had just

188
00:11:09,240 --> 00:11:12,680
Speaker 1: been hired. This is back in ninety one. I was

189
00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,000
Speaker 1: selected as the executive director of the c f d

190
00:11:15,120 --> 00:11:17,960
Speaker 1: A after they did a very long search, after I

191
00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:20,560
Speaker 1: left the design universe of I, D C and Y

192
00:11:20,600 --> 00:11:24,559
Speaker 1: and all of that, And there was this little organization,

193
00:11:24,600 --> 00:11:26,760
Speaker 1: the c FDA, which had done a big AIDS benefit

194
00:11:26,840 --> 00:11:30,480
Speaker 1: called seventh on six, seventh on Sale, and that's when

195
00:11:30,720 --> 00:11:34,200
Speaker 1: I got involved with them and I was hired as

196
00:11:34,200 --> 00:11:39,439
Speaker 1: their executive director. It was March of one, and I

197
00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:43,160
Speaker 1: believe that I remember exactly. I was hired at the

198
00:11:43,200 --> 00:11:45,480
Speaker 1: end of March. I didn't start till mid April. There

199
00:11:45,480 --> 00:11:49,880
Speaker 1: was a market Week Fashion week in between. Michael Cores

200
00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:52,400
Speaker 1: had a show in an empty loft space and Chelsea

201
00:11:52,960 --> 00:11:55,280
Speaker 1: And when you turn the base music on in a

202
00:11:55,360 --> 00:11:58,040
Speaker 1: space for a fashion show, that's very loud, and if

203
00:11:58,040 --> 00:12:00,800
Speaker 1: things aren't nailed down, they tend to tremble. Well, the

204
00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:05,520
Speaker 1: ceiling trembled and plasters started falling off from the ceiling.

205
00:12:05,559 --> 00:12:08,200
Speaker 1: And the ceiling literally was falling down on the runway.

206
00:12:08,280 --> 00:12:10,440
Speaker 1: He brought the roof down. Well, there you go. He

207
00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:14,280
Speaker 1: brought the roof down, and plaster was on the shoulders

208
00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:16,679
Speaker 1: of Naomi and Cindy and Linda and all the one

209
00:12:16,760 --> 00:12:20,800
Speaker 1: named supermodels of the day. But when but they kept walking?

210
00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,000
Speaker 1: But when it landed in the lapse of Susie Mankis

211
00:12:24,000 --> 00:12:27,000
Speaker 1: from the International Herald Tribune carried Donovan, the fashion critic

212
00:12:27,040 --> 00:12:29,480
Speaker 1: at the New York Times. They wrote the next day,

213
00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:33,280
Speaker 1: we live for fashion, we don't want to die for it.

214
00:12:32,800 --> 00:12:36,160
Speaker 1: And I looked at all that and I said, I

215
00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,360
Speaker 1: think my job description just changed and it beat My

216
00:12:39,480 --> 00:12:43,199
Speaker 1: job then started immediately when I got there, to figure

217
00:12:43,240 --> 00:12:45,960
Speaker 1: out a way to do safe sound places for the

218
00:12:45,960 --> 00:12:49,400
Speaker 1: American designers to do their runway shows. So the concept was,

219
00:12:49,480 --> 00:12:53,000
Speaker 1: let's get all this together in one place, one location,

220
00:12:53,160 --> 00:12:56,800
Speaker 1: one week, make it safe, make it accessible, make it

221
00:12:56,880 --> 00:13:01,120
Speaker 1: more reasonable and more efficient, amortized the costs for everybody.

222
00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,360
Speaker 1: And so how did you end up finding a way

223
00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:07,360
Speaker 1: to Bryant Park, which, if we're talking one Brian Park

224
00:13:07,600 --> 00:13:12,760
Speaker 1: was still a little city, but it was on It

225
00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:16,839
Speaker 1: was in the last throes of its renovation. At the restaurant,

226
00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:19,400
Speaker 1: wasn't there right? For people who are not familiar with this,

227
00:13:19,520 --> 00:13:24,040
Speaker 1: Brian Park is basically the full city block behind the

228
00:13:24,040 --> 00:13:28,280
Speaker 1: New York Public Library. In the sixties seventies, eighties, it

229
00:13:28,400 --> 00:13:33,000
Speaker 1: was very much haven for drugs and right Needle Park

230
00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:35,559
Speaker 1: and um, when I used to visit my dad's office

231
00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:38,000
Speaker 1: on Madison Avenue, we would say, if you're come in

232
00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:41,720
Speaker 1: by train, don't go up. And now my office on

233
00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:44,960
Speaker 1: which is pretty it's one of the most beautiful urban

234
00:13:44,960 --> 00:13:48,200
Speaker 1: renovation ever. A jewel of the city. It is. It

235
00:13:48,320 --> 00:13:51,760
Speaker 1: is a very very special place. And the lawn there

236
00:13:51,960 --> 00:13:54,080
Speaker 1: was it was like the backyard to the garment center.

237
00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:57,400
Speaker 1: Because it was a block away from Seventh Avenue Broadway,

238
00:13:57,400 --> 00:14:00,680
Speaker 1: where all the showrooms were. It was walking to everything.

239
00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,920
Speaker 1: There's lots of public transportation and subways. Block away from

240
00:14:05,120 --> 00:14:08,160
Speaker 1: Times Square, two blocks from Grand Central. I mean, you

241
00:14:08,160 --> 00:14:11,319
Speaker 1: don't get a better location than Brian Park. It's pretty

242
00:14:11,400 --> 00:14:13,960
Speaker 1: much smack dab in the center of the city. You

243
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:17,079
Speaker 1: can get to it from anywhere easily. Yeah, and so

244
00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:22,160
Speaker 1: we we began. My job became find a place. So

245
00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:24,760
Speaker 1: I was riding around New York. I look at every

246
00:14:24,800 --> 00:14:28,360
Speaker 1: empty pier, every big parking lot. Can we put tents

247
00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,440
Speaker 1: up here? How big can we do this? Um San Herman,

248
00:14:31,480 --> 00:14:34,000
Speaker 1: who was the president of the CFD eight office, is

249
00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:38,360
Speaker 1: actually on the corner of and sixth overlooking Brian Park

250
00:14:38,720 --> 00:14:41,400
Speaker 1: and he was on the board of the community board

251
00:14:41,440 --> 00:14:44,200
Speaker 1: there and work closely with Dan Biederman, who I know

252
00:14:44,320 --> 00:14:51,360
Speaker 1: you've interviewed her the big and we wound up eventually

253
00:14:51,400 --> 00:14:54,200
Speaker 1: making a deal with with Dan and with Brian Park.

254
00:14:54,640 --> 00:14:57,720
Speaker 1: It was literally the backyard to the to the industry.

255
00:14:57,960 --> 00:15:00,560
Speaker 1: People loved it there and I used to for again

256
00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:03,200
Speaker 1: for people who may not have actually seen this, and

257
00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:06,880
Speaker 1: you could find time lapse photography about it. The part

258
00:15:07,080 --> 00:15:10,560
Speaker 1: goes from this big open space that's I don't know,

259
00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:12,520
Speaker 1: let's call it half a city block, and that's the

260
00:15:12,600 --> 00:15:16,800
Speaker 1: lawn and suddenly a giant set of tents go up

261
00:15:16,840 --> 00:15:19,760
Speaker 1: and a little city. Now what they do is in

262
00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:23,960
Speaker 1: the winter there's a ice skating rink and a lodge

263
00:15:24,080 --> 00:15:29,520
Speaker 1: that's temporary right well that they disappeared January, so they're

264
00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:33,120
Speaker 1: gone already, but you still have urban space there and

265
00:15:33,160 --> 00:15:35,440
Speaker 1: you still have the ice skating rink. But if you

266
00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:40,120
Speaker 1: watched Fashion Week show up, it was an amazing bit

267
00:15:40,160 --> 00:15:43,040
Speaker 1: of logistics to build it and then you could go

268
00:15:43,120 --> 00:15:46,640
Speaker 1: see the video and you don't really you it's hard

269
00:15:46,680 --> 00:15:49,560
Speaker 1: to imagine that this is a temporary space. When you

270
00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:52,840
Speaker 1: see images from the fashion show, it always looks amazing.

271
00:15:53,240 --> 00:15:56,240
Speaker 1: So how what was it like setting up that first one?

272
00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,320
Speaker 1: It was pretty extraordinary. Uh. I mean we had started

273
00:16:01,360 --> 00:16:04,360
Speaker 1: first at the MACLo Hotel, which was the then became

274
00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:06,920
Speaker 1: the Millennial Hotel, just to see if we can get

275
00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:09,960
Speaker 1: more than three designers to do something together, because their

276
00:16:10,000 --> 00:16:12,280
Speaker 1: egos is such that nobody wants to do anything in

277
00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:16,640
Speaker 1: the same space. But they really genuine problem a problem

278
00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:22,320
Speaker 1: at the beginning was first, is there jockeying for absolutely,

279
00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,200
Speaker 1: it's it's the war room with the with the slots

280
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,760
Speaker 1: and moving the post. It's around until you got his

281
00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:30,960
Speaker 1: calendar that work. That's the wedding where all sorts of

282
00:16:31,000 --> 00:16:33,880
Speaker 1: crazy stuff and you had to deal with that only

283
00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:38,040
Speaker 1: with much bigger egos. Yeah, you could say that, but

284
00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:41,280
Speaker 1: but they understood at the beginning that this was gonna

285
00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:43,320
Speaker 1: If this is gonna work, we all have to do

286
00:16:43,360 --> 00:16:46,440
Speaker 1: it together. So the first seasons we did have Calvin

287
00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,200
Speaker 1: Klein in the tents and Donna Karen and Ralph Lauren

288
00:16:49,800 --> 00:16:52,720
Speaker 1: Um who Eventually those designers moved out to do their

289
00:16:52,760 --> 00:16:56,000
Speaker 1: own thing, which was fine, but it helped get this

290
00:16:56,120 --> 00:16:58,680
Speaker 1: off the ground. We invited all the European press and

291
00:16:58,720 --> 00:17:03,040
Speaker 1: buyers to come and it changed the world and it

292
00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:06,119
Speaker 1: changed the fashion industry. How long did it take before

293
00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:08,760
Speaker 1: you realized, hey, we have something here. Oh, it didn't

294
00:17:08,800 --> 00:17:14,199
Speaker 1: take long at all. It happened very quickly, and I'm

295
00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:18,160
Speaker 1: extremely proud of what that meant to these people into

296
00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,760
Speaker 1: the industry, into our city and our culture. But that

297
00:17:21,920 --> 00:17:25,879
Speaker 1: first season, that first sound check, when the music really

298
00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:28,959
Speaker 1: went blasting, you know, goose bumps all over, you know,

299
00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:32,080
Speaker 1: you just couldn't believe it was really happening. We did

300
00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:36,160
Speaker 1: a ribbon cutting with Dincin and Mayor Dincon's wife. Let's

301
00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:39,480
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about the business of fashion, because,

302
00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:43,359
Speaker 1: after all, um, it is a business whose purpose is

303
00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:47,440
Speaker 1: to sell products to consumers. How do you look at

304
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:50,760
Speaker 1: the world of fast fashion. After there's a show in

305
00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:54,600
Speaker 1: Paris and Milan, it seems two weeks later they're cheap

306
00:17:54,680 --> 00:17:58,119
Speaker 1: knockoffs from China hanging on the racks in the US.

307
00:17:58,760 --> 00:18:00,600
Speaker 1: Is this a good thing? Is this a thing? How

308
00:18:00,640 --> 00:18:02,440
Speaker 1: do we how do we think about this, well, it

309
00:18:02,520 --> 00:18:04,840
Speaker 1: depends on who you are. If you're a consumer who

310
00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:08,639
Speaker 1: wants to buy something really fast and of the moment,

311
00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:12,520
Speaker 1: and that's really inexpensive, it's a great thing. If you're

312
00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:17,760
Speaker 1: a designer and you know a company with integrity, who

313
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:21,280
Speaker 1: plays by the rules of time and place and making

314
00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:23,640
Speaker 1: something and putting out a quality product, it's not such

315
00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:28,320
Speaker 1: a good thing. If you're into sustainable fashion in the industry,

316
00:18:28,520 --> 00:18:30,640
Speaker 1: it's not such a good thing because there's a ton

317
00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:35,400
Speaker 1: of stuff that's being made that is filling landfills, um.

318
00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:36,920
Speaker 1: You know, there's there are a lot of problems. But

319
00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:40,000
Speaker 1: fast fashion has woken up a lot of people. I

320
00:18:40,040 --> 00:18:41,719
Speaker 1: mean the H and m s of the world and

321
00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:45,399
Speaker 1: top Shop and Sarah's and what have you. Um, But

322
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:48,040
Speaker 1: the customer who's buying that is not the customer who's

323
00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:52,600
Speaker 1: buying really designer clothes. People know the difference. The luxury

324
00:18:52,680 --> 00:18:56,159
Speaker 1: business right now is doing very well. The LVMH is

325
00:18:56,240 --> 00:19:00,639
Speaker 1: the um. Louis utan Chanel I never really thought of

326
00:19:00,720 --> 00:19:06,199
Speaker 1: fast fashion as a threat to the either aspirational luxury

327
00:19:06,320 --> 00:19:08,960
Speaker 1: or full own luxury. But I do look at e

328
00:19:09,080 --> 00:19:13,840
Speaker 1: commerce and everything being online, as well as things like

329
00:19:14,000 --> 00:19:18,600
Speaker 1: rent the Runway and predd up porter as potentially satisfying

330
00:19:18,640 --> 00:19:20,919
Speaker 1: some of the demand for those products. How does the

331
00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:25,520
Speaker 1: industry look at either e commerce or high end pre

332
00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:30,320
Speaker 1: owned or even rentable um fashion. I think those are

333
00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:32,680
Speaker 1: all the different aspects of the industry that have evolved

334
00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,840
Speaker 1: over the years. UM. I think you know, rent the

335
00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:39,720
Speaker 1: runway is a brilliant business. Jennifer Hyman started. I worked

336
00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:43,119
Speaker 1: with her at IMG we were there at the same time. UM,

337
00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:47,720
Speaker 1: it's quite remarkable read the rental business period is becoming

338
00:19:47,760 --> 00:19:52,920
Speaker 1: a big, big business because people it's also sustainable. Also,

339
00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:54,359
Speaker 1: you don't need to buy this stuff, you don't need

340
00:19:54,400 --> 00:19:57,280
Speaker 1: to own it in your closet. UM. All of that

341
00:19:57,440 --> 00:19:59,760
Speaker 1: is great, but e commerce is very much a part

342
00:19:59,760 --> 00:20:04,560
Speaker 1: of everybody's business. The highest end luxury people that everybody's

343
00:20:04,600 --> 00:20:08,400
Speaker 1: available on e commerce one way or another, whether it's

344
00:20:08,440 --> 00:20:12,399
Speaker 1: their own site or their part of Matches Fashion or

345
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:17,480
Speaker 1: Netta Porte or uh some of the very big UM conglomerates.

346
00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:20,280
Speaker 1: You know, UM, what's the word I'm thinking of? Who

347
00:20:20,280 --> 00:20:22,760
Speaker 1: you know? Who put all the different looks together? Far fetched?

348
00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:25,120
Speaker 1: Who has all the different stores on it? I mean

349
00:20:26,359 --> 00:20:30,280
Speaker 1: the e commerce, the online business is enormous. This holiday season,

350
00:20:30,320 --> 00:20:34,719
Speaker 1: it was huge. And what that is hurting more than

351
00:20:34,760 --> 00:20:41,240
Speaker 1: anything is the retail experience. Um. So it's forcing stores again,

352
00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:44,600
Speaker 1: at least smart stores, to rethink what they're doing and

353
00:20:44,680 --> 00:20:49,800
Speaker 1: to create an experience to make shopping matter again. UM.

354
00:20:49,840 --> 00:20:52,320
Speaker 1: I mean it's very sad. And you walk around New

355
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,000
Speaker 1: York and you see all the Forends signs. You know,

356
00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:59,240
Speaker 1: Lord and Taylor is just closed down. Um just the headquarters.

357
00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:01,720
Speaker 1: Now what a New York store, Yes, but but that

358
00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:06,600
Speaker 1: still was an iconic New York store. Um. The Versace

359
00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,919
Speaker 1: stores closing on Fifth Avenue. Um, there's all sorts of

360
00:21:11,200 --> 00:21:13,800
Speaker 1: stores going out everywhere. The Gap store is closing on

361
00:21:13,840 --> 00:21:19,439
Speaker 1: Fifth Avenue. Um. But retailers are looking at creating experiences again.

362
00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:23,600
Speaker 1: I know, Sex of the avenues going under major renovation.

363
00:21:23,960 --> 00:21:27,160
Speaker 1: They've moved you know, accessories up and pan bags down,

364
00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:30,280
Speaker 1: and cosmetics had another set up to another floor. They've

365
00:21:30,359 --> 00:21:34,440
Speaker 1: just bringing in a very fancy restaurant from France the avenue.

366
00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:36,880
Speaker 1: They're trying to create reasons for people to come back

367
00:21:36,920 --> 00:21:38,640
Speaker 1: into the stores, and I think that's a good thing.

368
00:21:39,400 --> 00:21:44,000
Speaker 1: And e commerce companies like Rent the Runway have begun

369
00:21:44,080 --> 00:21:48,760
Speaker 1: to open retail outposts. So there's still there's still people

370
00:21:48,880 --> 00:21:51,399
Speaker 1: like going to a place and seeing it, trying it

371
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:56,000
Speaker 1: on and having that experience. I previously had a conversation

372
00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,440
Speaker 1: with Barbara kan who's a professor at Wharton, and she

373
00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,200
Speaker 1: was telling us about some of the new technology that's

374
00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,760
Speaker 1: come in where you know, when you shop at Amazon,

375
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:11,760
Speaker 1: they have this huge informational advantage. If you click this,

376
00:22:11,840 --> 00:22:14,560
Speaker 1: we we could tell you what everybody else looked at.

377
00:22:14,760 --> 00:22:18,639
Speaker 1: These are the three most popular ingredients of or objects

378
00:22:18,760 --> 00:22:23,760
Speaker 1: or items, not ingredients, These are the three most popular

379
00:22:23,800 --> 00:22:27,200
Speaker 1: items for other people who bought this. What Professor Kam

380
00:22:27,240 --> 00:22:31,480
Speaker 1: was saying is you could they're using RF radio tags

381
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:34,919
Speaker 1: and a smart mirror, and when you bring an item

382
00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:38,840
Speaker 1: in certain stores into the dressing room, the mirror will

383
00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,119
Speaker 1: act very similar to the way Amazon did, and said

384
00:22:42,840 --> 00:22:47,280
Speaker 1: people who looked at this item also looked at this belt,

385
00:22:47,359 --> 00:22:51,560
Speaker 1: the scarf, the successory, and not only are they getting

386
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:55,399
Speaker 1: a higher percentage of sales, but they're also getting a

387
00:22:55,480 --> 00:22:58,600
Speaker 1: higher percentage of anons and other things, Which is a

388
00:22:58,640 --> 00:23:02,040
Speaker 1: long winded way of a sking what is the role

389
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:08,399
Speaker 1: of technology in fashion. It's a huge part of the

390
00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:11,440
Speaker 1: fashion industry. It's a huge part of every industry. I mean,

391
00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:15,040
Speaker 1: technology has changed the way we do everything. It's a

392
00:23:15,040 --> 00:23:17,320
Speaker 1: little bit of big brother watching you in a way,

393
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:19,919
Speaker 1: and it's a little bit scary some day. Some days,

394
00:23:20,359 --> 00:23:22,960
Speaker 1: you know, if you just look at something online, the

395
00:23:23,040 --> 00:23:26,040
Speaker 1: next time you open up your computer, tensites jump in

396
00:23:26,080 --> 00:23:29,119
Speaker 1: your face, like are you looking for a tote bag?

397
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:34,560
Speaker 1: You know here? Whatever, it's I it's invasive. It's as

398
00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:37,360
Speaker 1: it is scary. That's a generational thing you and I

399
00:23:37,440 --> 00:23:41,880
Speaker 1: hate that. Younger folks they could care less about it. PS.

400
00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:46,200
Speaker 1: I've discovered that if I log out of Facebook while

401
00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:50,040
Speaker 1: I'm online, that sort of stuff happens much less because

402
00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,639
Speaker 1: Facebook tracks everything you do on Facebook off Facebook, and

403
00:23:53,680 --> 00:23:55,359
Speaker 1: they're the ones who are serving you a lot of

404
00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:58,399
Speaker 1: that stuff, just making I guess I should be happy

405
00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:01,560
Speaker 1: that I've been I've been act on Facebook like six

406
00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,400
Speaker 1: seven months ago, and I can't. I can't get back

407
00:24:04,440 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 1: on no matter what. I've tried everything, connecting with everybody

408
00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:12,080
Speaker 1: under the sun, and I have to two pages, you know,

409
00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:17,080
Speaker 1: a verified one and a personal one, both of them

410
00:24:17,200 --> 00:24:20,120
Speaker 1: I can. I cannot log on to Facebook. I get

411
00:24:20,200 --> 00:24:23,159
Speaker 1: messages all day long from people on emails. So and

412
00:24:23,240 --> 00:24:26,320
Speaker 1: so commented, I said, I can't see any of it.

413
00:24:26,640 --> 00:24:30,160
Speaker 1: So if anybody's listening from Facebook, come on, please tell

414
00:24:30,160 --> 00:24:34,679
Speaker 1: me how to get You're losing a good, good customer here.

415
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:37,280
Speaker 1: I'd like to be back on. Well, we'll forward this

416
00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:40,119
Speaker 1: to someone there and make sure they if it was Twitter,

417
00:24:40,160 --> 00:24:42,600
Speaker 1: I could help you. I have no contact that U

418
00:24:43,200 --> 00:24:45,480
Speaker 1: Actually that's not true. I do have contacts on Facebook,

419
00:24:45,480 --> 00:24:47,960
Speaker 1: but I don't know if I can help you with it. Um.

420
00:24:48,080 --> 00:24:52,160
Speaker 1: After I slag them constantly about being such a we'll

421
00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:56,480
Speaker 1: say something nice. Um. So let's let's we talked about

422
00:24:56,520 --> 00:25:02,080
Speaker 1: e commerce. This raises a really interesting question. Is fashion

423
00:25:02,200 --> 00:25:06,679
Speaker 1: and clothing the sort of thing that people are always

424
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,240
Speaker 1: going to go into a store for? Or can you

425
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,240
Speaker 1: have Will we eventually get to the point where the

426
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:16,960
Speaker 1: stores become virtual and people don't have to go physically shopping. Now,

427
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:23,760
Speaker 1: that will never happen. That's your forecast that they're the

428
00:25:24,119 --> 00:25:28,440
Speaker 1: smart ones will adapt and and change and evolve as

429
00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:32,199
Speaker 1: any smart business. But I think you still want to

430
00:25:32,240 --> 00:25:35,159
Speaker 1: go and see and touch and feel, and if you

431
00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:41,000
Speaker 1: can make the experiences unique and service be an important

432
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 1: part of it. I mean, I'm a little nervous in

433
00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,440
Speaker 1: New York in a few months. There's a new name,

434
00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:48,160
Speaker 1: and Marcus is going to open up in the city

435
00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:51,439
Speaker 1: and the Nordstrom's in this year. I mean, those are

436
00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:55,679
Speaker 1: two serious department stores opening in New York City in

437
00:25:55,720 --> 00:26:00,200
Speaker 1: a time when people are just nervous about shop being

438
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:03,280
Speaker 1: and going to stories. Are we saturated with big department

439
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:05,920
Speaker 1: stores in New York City? No, I don't think we

440
00:26:06,000 --> 00:26:08,600
Speaker 1: are at all. That's why I think this is gonna

441
00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:11,960
Speaker 1: be interesting having the two of them open. But it's

442
00:26:11,960 --> 00:26:14,879
Speaker 1: going to be interesting. That's I don't want to pass

443
00:26:14,960 --> 00:26:18,760
Speaker 1: judge and I don't want to predict. We'll see. Nordstrom's

444
00:26:18,840 --> 00:26:20,800
Speaker 1: is new to New York this. I mean there's a

445
00:26:20,840 --> 00:26:24,560
Speaker 1: men's store that opened first, but that's has a very

446
00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:28,439
Speaker 1: different culture. And even Marcus is going to open in

447
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,440
Speaker 1: Hudson Yards, you know, and that's going to be interesting.

448
00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,800
Speaker 1: It's not a place with a lot of foot traffic yet,

449
00:26:34,040 --> 00:26:36,880
Speaker 1: not yet anyway to be a destination, although there's certainly

450
00:26:37,040 --> 00:26:39,560
Speaker 1: between the high Line and everything else that's over there,

451
00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:43,320
Speaker 1: there's certainly a ton of tourist traction making its way

452
00:26:44,040 --> 00:26:46,360
Speaker 1: near the Hudson Yards. It's really not all that far

453
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:50,439
Speaker 1: away from that um you mentioned, um Nordstrom I know

454
00:26:50,560 --> 00:26:55,960
Speaker 1: Nordstrom in Suburbia from Nordstrom Rack. How do you Although

455
00:26:55,960 --> 00:26:57,960
Speaker 1: that's not true because I've gone to the north Stroom

456
00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:01,359
Speaker 1: that is in UH at Roosevelt Field. I don't go

457
00:27:01,400 --> 00:27:04,000
Speaker 1: to malls, so I don't remember, but I've been in

458
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:09,399
Speaker 1: Nordstrom's and Nordstrom Rack, which raises the question, what do

459
00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:12,760
Speaker 1: you think about this sort of outlet center shopping that

460
00:27:13,359 --> 00:27:16,520
Speaker 1: has blown up over the past I don't know, twenty years.

461
00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:19,560
Speaker 1: For a while, I think this still happens in New York.

462
00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:23,360
Speaker 1: The tourists would get on a bus and drive an

463
00:27:23,359 --> 00:27:26,280
Speaker 1: hour and a half north to go to the giant

464
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:31,840
Speaker 1: outlets center that's up in just north of White Plains,

465
00:27:29,800 --> 00:27:34,359
Speaker 1: And it took me a while to access that. But um,

466
00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,960
Speaker 1: I literally bus loads of people go up there to

467
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,320
Speaker 1: go shopping. Is that a viable business? Is it the

468
00:27:40,400 --> 00:27:43,400
Speaker 1: same clothes that you see in the main stores? What?

469
00:27:43,400 --> 00:27:46,360
Speaker 1: What are your thoughts about? It's definitely a viable business.

470
00:27:46,359 --> 00:27:49,439
Speaker 1: And Woodburry Commons is quite phenomenal. I mean the amount

471
00:27:49,520 --> 00:27:53,560
Speaker 1: of stores they have and they create those shopping um

472
00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:59,080
Speaker 1: destination um to replicate the headquarters stores, so it's not

473
00:27:59,160 --> 00:28:01,600
Speaker 1: just a bunch of rack closed somewhere. You know, you

474
00:28:01,640 --> 00:28:03,600
Speaker 1: feel like you're in a berbery, you feel like you're

475
00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:06,440
Speaker 1: in a in a you know, Barneys or whatever is

476
00:28:06,480 --> 00:28:10,359
Speaker 1: up there. But it's not the same merchandise that you

477
00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:13,679
Speaker 1: can find in the current lines. It's it's generally past

478
00:28:13,720 --> 00:28:17,679
Speaker 1: season or it's um and in many cases there's separate

479
00:28:17,680 --> 00:28:21,160
Speaker 1: business companies make stuff for that lit stores, they make

480
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:23,560
Speaker 1: other lines that you can't even buy anywhere else that

481
00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:27,560
Speaker 1: they're a lower price. UM. I don't think those customers

482
00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,760
Speaker 1: getting on the buses at you know, um the big

483
00:28:30,800 --> 00:28:33,960
Speaker 1: hotels in the city, at the what's the bus m

484
00:28:34,080 --> 00:28:36,560
Speaker 1: what's across the streets from the Times, what's called the

485
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 1: bus terminal Port Authority, thank you. Um. They are bus

486
00:28:42,880 --> 00:28:45,560
Speaker 1: loads of people, like you say, tourists and a lot

487
00:28:45,600 --> 00:28:49,040
Speaker 1: of Asians. UM, fill up those buses and go there.

488
00:28:49,080 --> 00:28:53,040
Speaker 1: They mark, they market to people. So tours come here

489
00:28:53,120 --> 00:28:56,920
Speaker 1: from China and Japan and elsewhere, and part of the

490
00:28:56,960 --> 00:29:00,240
Speaker 1: week or two they spend in the United States eights

491
00:29:00,760 --> 00:29:03,360
Speaker 1: is a bus pulls up in from the hotel as

492
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 1: part of their vacation and they go up to the

493
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: Woodbury Outlets centers. That's what my understanding is. I was

494
00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:12,280
Speaker 1: up there years and years ago. In fact, to do

495
00:29:12,320 --> 00:29:16,480
Speaker 1: a radio show for w R with John Hamburg years ago.

496
00:29:16,880 --> 00:29:20,720
Speaker 1: We did it from Woodbury Commons and it always intrigues

497
00:29:20,760 --> 00:29:24,040
Speaker 1: me that I should go there. But I got across

498
00:29:24,080 --> 00:29:26,240
Speaker 1: the bridge, got across the water, and we know you

499
00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,560
Speaker 1: won't do that airports and in the Hampton's we got that.

500
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:32,560
Speaker 1: Um So let's talk a little bit about the power

501
00:29:32,600 --> 00:29:36,880
Speaker 1: of brands. How important are brands, whether it's a designer,

502
00:29:37,400 --> 00:29:42,160
Speaker 1: a manufacturer or retailer. Do brands still carry the same

503
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:47,760
Speaker 1: cachet and power that they used to? Well, that depends

504
00:29:47,800 --> 00:29:51,160
Speaker 1: on the brand, you know. I mean the sneak the

505
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:53,920
Speaker 1: biggest thing in the world now, sneakers you know, from

506
00:29:53,960 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 1: whether it's Nike, Adidas, whomever. Um, I notice you're wearing

507
00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:02,960
Speaker 1: a pair of Yeasys. I am not wearing. Get out

508
00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:06,680
Speaker 1: of here when you have nothing else to do, Google furnace,

509
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,080
Speaker 1: Kanye West. Trust me. That's why I've brought that up.

510
00:30:10,240 --> 00:30:12,720
Speaker 1: I know you guys have had a falling out and

511
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 1: a reconciliation and we just had a little bruhaha, no no, no, no,

512
00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:24,200
Speaker 1: squirremat and I purposely did not wear I'm a sneaker head.

513
00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:31,280
Speaker 1: And I purposely did not wear anything today. Yeah, these

514
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:35,560
Speaker 1: are royal birds, they're wool. They're kind of funky online things.

515
00:30:35,600 --> 00:30:38,760
Speaker 1: But um, but brands. But brands matter to some people.

516
00:30:38,800 --> 00:30:41,800
Speaker 1: Some people are very brand conscious. I mean, you know

517
00:30:41,840 --> 00:30:44,840
Speaker 1: the phenomena of Supreme having a name on something in

518
00:30:44,880 --> 00:30:48,120
Speaker 1: a line outside that store. But you know what seems

519
00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:51,600
Speaker 1: to be resonating more with people now are brands and

520
00:30:51,720 --> 00:30:55,520
Speaker 1: companies that stand for something and give back and have

521
00:30:55,600 --> 00:30:59,280
Speaker 1: a moral purpose for existing. People are really looking for

522
00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,200
Speaker 1: some hatchment to a company and why they're doing certain

523
00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 1: things like when Nike did took their stand with Kaepernick.

524
00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:09,880
Speaker 1: Colin Kaepernick, can I push back on you? And then

525
00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:13,120
Speaker 1: we'll talk about Gillette. So think about the people who

526
00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:16,400
Speaker 1: were pro and con Colin Kaepernack. The people who were

527
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:20,400
Speaker 1: all up in arms over them taking a knee, their

528
00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:24,280
Speaker 1: red state folks. They're lower disposal income folks. They're older.

529
00:31:24,840 --> 00:31:30,200
Speaker 1: That's not Nike's core demographic. Nike's core demographic or young hip.

530
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: I mean, I think the number was their sales once

531
00:31:34,800 --> 00:31:37,040
Speaker 1: people under thirty five. The business went through the roof

532
00:31:37,080 --> 00:31:39,640
Speaker 1: after it was a genius. It was the best marketing

533
00:31:40,400 --> 00:31:44,400
Speaker 1: um moment of it was totally. It was just it

534
00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,040
Speaker 1: was it was emotional. It was the right thing to do,

535
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,160
Speaker 1: you know, and that's what resonates with a brand when

536
00:31:50,200 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 1: they do that, that's when you really want to support

537
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:58,400
Speaker 1: a company. So now we're recording this the day after

538
00:31:58,720 --> 00:32:02,640
Speaker 1: Nike did their big release about their UH sneakers that

539
00:32:02,800 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 1: lace up automatically for three hundred and sixty dollars. I

540
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,760
Speaker 1: haven't seen them yet, but it was all over the

541
00:32:08,800 --> 00:32:13,840
Speaker 1: press yesterday wired Verge. So you get your automatic laceup

542
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:16,640
Speaker 1: sneakers and go in your driverless car, right, So, you

543
00:32:16,680 --> 00:32:18,640
Speaker 1: have a button over here you can loosen it or

544
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:21,560
Speaker 1: tighten it. And there's also what makes it so interesting

545
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,239
Speaker 1: is it comes with an app for your phone that

546
00:32:24,360 --> 00:32:27,800
Speaker 1: tracks your activity, your calories, burn your miles, all that stuff.

547
00:32:28,160 --> 00:32:32,440
Speaker 1: So it's a smart sneaker, not just a self lacing sneaker.

548
00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:35,800
Speaker 1: And if you're engaging in sports. This wasn't supposed to

549
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:40,080
Speaker 1: be an ad for Nike, but um, I'll speak to

550
00:32:40,080 --> 00:32:43,160
Speaker 1: Phil Night whenever he wants. When you move and play

551
00:32:43,200 --> 00:32:46,960
Speaker 1: a sport, the sneaker actually adapts to what you're doing

552
00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 1: to provide better support. And you know the technology, Well,

553
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:55,800
Speaker 1: think about the first time you tried on a dry

554
00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:59,760
Speaker 1: fit shirt where they wis the water away? If you're

555
00:32:59,760 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 1: you may mentioned Dinkins playing tennis, if you've ever played

556
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,400
Speaker 1: a sport where you're just drenched and your close stick

557
00:33:05,440 --> 00:33:09,080
Speaker 1: to you and the technology is brilliant and it really

558
00:33:09,200 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 1: is just fascinating. So back to brands, Brands that are

559
00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:18,880
Speaker 1: innovative and pushing the envelope and stand for something. You're

560
00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 1: telling us this really makes a difference. Resonates, Yes, what

561
00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:27,520
Speaker 1: about have you seen the Gillette add on that I

562
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:30,120
Speaker 1: might not? Now maybe I'm just a New York liberal

563
00:33:30,160 --> 00:33:33,280
Speaker 1: East Coast you know, socialist summer camps. The line from

564
00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:36,840
Speaker 1: the Woody Allen movie. Um, I watched that, and I'm like,

565
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:39,800
Speaker 1: I don't understand what. Hey, don't let your kids bully

566
00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:43,800
Speaker 1: other kids. What they to complain about? Well, apparently we're

567
00:33:43,880 --> 00:33:46,840
Speaker 1: on our little Manhattan Island bubble, so we see the

568
00:33:46,840 --> 00:33:50,600
Speaker 1: world differently than some other folks. Well, I hope they

569
00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:54,440
Speaker 1: stayed with that, because I think that kind of advertising

570
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,960
Speaker 1: marketing is brilliant. I mean, we need more of that everywhere.

571
00:33:58,520 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 1: I'm that that that universe needs to get those messages out.

572
00:34:03,520 --> 00:34:05,600
Speaker 1: So when you stop and think about it, whether you

573
00:34:05,840 --> 00:34:09,719
Speaker 1: whether you're a snowflake who's triggered by one of these things,

574
00:34:09,840 --> 00:34:13,080
Speaker 1: or you think it's fine, or anything in between, if

575
00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:17,239
Speaker 1: you just think about it from an advertising and marketing perspective.

576
00:34:17,640 --> 00:34:20,520
Speaker 1: We're talking about Gillette and that's a win for them.

577
00:34:21,040 --> 00:34:25,239
Speaker 1: Everything is so saturated and cluttered. To break through is

578
00:34:25,320 --> 00:34:29,360
Speaker 1: not easy to do. You're absolutely right, so bravo to

579
00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:32,759
Speaker 1: these companies for doing that. Let's for now stick with

580
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:36,600
Speaker 1: the business of fashion and what sort of changes are

581
00:34:36,640 --> 00:34:40,480
Speaker 1: coming our way. You mentioned issues and retailing UM, and

582
00:34:40,520 --> 00:34:44,000
Speaker 1: we talked earlier about fast fashion. What other changes do

583
00:34:44,040 --> 00:34:47,279
Speaker 1: you see coming um to this industry. Some of the

584
00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:50,319
Speaker 1: things that I see on the horizon are a lot

585
00:34:50,360 --> 00:34:53,759
Speaker 1: of designers and a lot of people doing what we

586
00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:59,480
Speaker 1: want to call um genderalist fashion, clothing that is designed

587
00:34:59,520 --> 00:35:01,880
Speaker 1: for a man a woman. There's a lot of that

588
00:35:02,080 --> 00:35:05,400
Speaker 1: starting to happen. Really, I've seen that with sneakers. What

589
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:11,399
Speaker 1: else is genderless sweaters, tops, pants? I mean, what makes

590
00:35:11,400 --> 00:35:15,239
Speaker 1: it different depends on how how it's designed. There's a

591
00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:18,279
Speaker 1: lot of that happening now and I think it's I

592
00:35:18,320 --> 00:35:22,560
Speaker 1: think it's really interesting. There's a lot of seasonless clothing

593
00:35:22,600 --> 00:35:26,120
Speaker 1: that is year round because of the technology and textiles

594
00:35:26,160 --> 00:35:29,640
Speaker 1: and the layering of clothing. There's also a lot more

595
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:34,600
Speaker 1: size inclusivity happening. Where what does that mean? Define that

596
00:35:35,440 --> 00:35:38,800
Speaker 1: For many years, all the good brands and designer clothes

597
00:35:38,800 --> 00:35:42,080
Speaker 1: you'd buy would if I'm talking women, now you know

598
00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:45,520
Speaker 1: you'd go up to maybe a size twelve, maybe a Fortunately,

599
00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:49,640
Speaker 1: now they're going up to all the plus sizes being

600
00:35:49,680 --> 00:35:55,680
Speaker 1: included in creating collections for big girls and people who

601
00:35:56,680 --> 00:36:00,360
Speaker 1: who are not model size zero in two, four six,

602
00:36:00,880 --> 00:36:04,319
Speaker 1: I mean that that's a huge I think fourteen or

603
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:08,280
Speaker 1: sixteen is the biggest size in America of the most people,

604
00:36:08,320 --> 00:36:11,719
Speaker 1: and most designers don't even address them. Address that. You

605
00:36:11,760 --> 00:36:14,600
Speaker 1: mentioned plus size models. That seems to be that's a

606
00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:16,880
Speaker 1: big part of fashion week now when you see it

607
00:36:16,920 --> 00:36:19,719
Speaker 1: in advertising, when you look at all the adds, they're

608
00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:24,160
Speaker 1: girls across the spectrum from nice and thin and lovely,

609
00:36:24,239 --> 00:36:28,040
Speaker 1: too big and beautiful and proud of it. Ashley Graham

610
00:36:28,120 --> 00:36:31,160
Speaker 1: has opened up doors for lots of people when she

611
00:36:31,440 --> 00:36:33,800
Speaker 1: became the first plus size model. I think on the

612
00:36:33,840 --> 00:36:37,040
Speaker 1: cover of Sports Illustrated. Wasn't um I'm gonna get her

613
00:36:37,080 --> 00:36:40,480
Speaker 1: name wrong? Was it? Kate Hudson. One of the swimsuit

614
00:36:40,560 --> 00:36:43,040
Speaker 1: models was considers plus size and you look at her

615
00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:45,879
Speaker 1: and she's gorgeous and not what you would really think

616
00:36:45,920 --> 00:36:50,080
Speaker 1: of as it's been a very interesting industry that's been

617
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:55,040
Speaker 1: about that thin, skinny you know waif And now they're

618
00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:59,160
Speaker 1: more zoptic and beautiful and and proud of it, um,

619
00:36:59,200 --> 00:37:01,400
Speaker 1: you know, and and fashion now and and at the

620
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:06,520
Speaker 1: shows you see more inclusivity of of and diversity of

621
00:37:06,640 --> 00:37:11,000
Speaker 1: black models and Asian models and Indian models and people

622
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,560
Speaker 1: of all the different ethnic cultures. I mean, that's who

623
00:37:14,680 --> 00:37:17,840
Speaker 1: the customer is, that's who the world is. And designers

624
00:37:17,840 --> 00:37:21,719
Speaker 1: who you know put out that one. You know, I

625
00:37:21,800 --> 00:37:25,319
Speaker 1: don't one blonde girl with straight blonde hair, you know,

626
00:37:25,400 --> 00:37:28,680
Speaker 1: sixty girls work. That's not what it's about. And so

627
00:37:28,960 --> 00:37:31,920
Speaker 1: there's been a demand in the industry and the customers

628
00:37:31,920 --> 00:37:36,080
Speaker 1: and the media have really gotten fired up and said,

629
00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:40,160
Speaker 1: come on, let's reflect what's happening in the world. And

630
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,120
Speaker 1: I think that that's all really good positive changes for

631
00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:46,440
Speaker 1: the fashion industry. And it'll be interesting to see this

632
00:37:46,560 --> 00:37:52,160
Speaker 1: fashion wink that's coming up. Um how again, how how

633
00:37:52,200 --> 00:37:56,280
Speaker 1: that plays out? Because the runway becomes a big bulletin

634
00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,680
Speaker 1: board for what's happening. So that raises a really interesting

635
00:37:59,719 --> 00:38:04,360
Speaker 1: question and how important are the runway shows and events

636
00:38:04,400 --> 00:38:09,040
Speaker 1: like fashion Week to a selling the latest designs but

637
00:38:09,360 --> 00:38:14,960
Speaker 1: be also being an influencer on culture and society. Well,

638
00:38:15,000 --> 00:38:17,280
Speaker 1: I think the importance of fashion week and the fashion

639
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:21,560
Speaker 1: shows is changing. Um. I think we're in a very

640
00:38:22,920 --> 00:38:27,319
Speaker 1: disruptive moment in fashion. People aren't quite sure, um if

641
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:30,400
Speaker 1: they should be doing shows and spending the large amounts

642
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:32,960
Speaker 1: of money for it. But it still is a vehicle

643
00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:39,560
Speaker 1: that generates millions of Instagram moments, you know. So it's

644
00:38:39,560 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 1: become a vehicle for social media to really get the

645
00:38:43,760 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 1: message out or the look out. And that's the good

646
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,200
Speaker 1: news bad news in my mind, because I'm still of

647
00:38:49,280 --> 00:38:52,680
Speaker 1: that generation like you say that, I wasn't born with

648
00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:56,000
Speaker 1: an iPhone in my hand, and you know, and I

649
00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:59,719
Speaker 1: think eventually it's it's all changing so much. I mean,

650
00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:01,879
Speaker 1: I you sit at a fashion show and I find

651
00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:04,960
Speaker 1: it very frustrating that hardly anybody's looking at the runway.

652
00:39:05,000 --> 00:39:07,840
Speaker 1: They're looking at their phone and they're photographing everything, and

653
00:39:08,200 --> 00:39:10,520
Speaker 1: instead of looking at the real thing happening, they're looking

654
00:39:10,520 --> 00:39:13,720
Speaker 1: at it in a two inch by three inch little frame.

655
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:16,240
Speaker 1: You have to be present and then I put it down.

656
00:39:16,480 --> 00:39:18,520
Speaker 1: You know, just look at what you look what's in

657
00:39:18,560 --> 00:39:21,400
Speaker 1: front of you. I really admire concerts where you hear

658
00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:27,040
Speaker 1: people where they say no phones allowed. I just saw um,

659
00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:33,560
Speaker 1: who was it? I just saw a show with I'm

660
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:36,319
Speaker 1: drawing a blank on his name. I'll figure it out.

661
00:39:36,520 --> 00:39:39,640
Speaker 1: I went to a show recently where everybody puts their

662
00:39:39,640 --> 00:39:42,520
Speaker 1: phone in a bag and I actually left the phone

663
00:39:43,200 --> 00:39:45,160
Speaker 1: UM in the car so I didn't have to deal

664
00:39:45,160 --> 00:39:47,080
Speaker 1: with it. Because I thought they'd be a giant line.

665
00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,480
Speaker 1: It turned out it's just a little magnet and they

666
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:52,880
Speaker 1: pop it open. It Really there are people like Dave Chappelle,

667
00:39:52,960 --> 00:39:56,840
Speaker 1: who appears in various places will not allow Assaf Manji

668
00:39:56,960 --> 00:39:58,960
Speaker 1: is another one. Yeah, I mean you look at these things.

669
00:39:58,960 --> 00:40:00,560
Speaker 1: All you see is to see them arms in the

670
00:40:00,800 --> 00:40:02,880
Speaker 1: in the air, and you can't even see who's performing

671
00:40:02,920 --> 00:40:05,040
Speaker 1: because you've got to look through everybody's arms to the

672
00:40:05,080 --> 00:40:07,360
Speaker 1: pictures they're taking. What do they do with all that

673
00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:11,279
Speaker 1: footage and all those pictures? It goes up to Apple

674
00:40:11,400 --> 00:40:15,880
Speaker 1: um or Google Photos and they never look at it again.

675
00:40:16,200 --> 00:40:19,440
Speaker 1: The concept of being present in the moment and participating

676
00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:24,719
Speaker 1: in what's happening right now. I think the current generation,

677
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:28,400
Speaker 1: while they have a lot to speak for, their their motivated,

678
00:40:28,440 --> 00:40:32,279
Speaker 1: they're intelligent. They see the world um in ways that

679
00:40:32,560 --> 00:40:36,520
Speaker 1: we may not. Sometimes it feels like they're missing that

680
00:40:36,600 --> 00:40:40,920
Speaker 1: moment because they're trying to instagram it right, and everybody's

681
00:40:41,000 --> 00:40:44,239
Speaker 1: designing things for that Instagram morble moment. You go to

682
00:40:44,320 --> 00:40:47,360
Speaker 1: any party now or opening for something, it's no longer

683
00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:49,840
Speaker 1: just the step and repeat wall where they're taking pictures

684
00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:53,400
Speaker 1: with the brand's name on their They're finding some unique

685
00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:58,120
Speaker 1: visual that conveys something they're doing. And that's the place

686
00:40:58,120 --> 00:41:01,880
Speaker 1: where everybody, they expect, don't want everybody to take their picture,

687
00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:05,960
Speaker 1: you know, to take their selfie, not not even a

688
00:41:06,000 --> 00:41:08,680
Speaker 1: real picture, take your own picture in front of that

689
00:41:08,680 --> 00:41:12,279
Speaker 1: that Instagram morble spot, you know. And that's how the

690
00:41:12,360 --> 00:41:16,720
Speaker 1: world is viewed now through Instagram. So fashion week becomes

691
00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:20,680
Speaker 1: a place where everybody wants to quickly say out, you know,

692
00:41:20,760 --> 00:41:23,359
Speaker 1: I'm there, I was there. I that's the best look.

693
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:29,799
Speaker 1: Smart companies understand how to track data and and use

694
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:33,800
Speaker 1: that information and can say this was the biggest look

695
00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:35,839
Speaker 1: that came out of that show. This is what we

696
00:41:35,840 --> 00:41:38,840
Speaker 1: should get behind, you know, and this is something we

697
00:41:38,880 --> 00:41:42,680
Speaker 1: should maybe you know, do a bigger production run on,

698
00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:46,319
Speaker 1: you know, if you could use the information correctly. I

699
00:41:46,360 --> 00:41:49,319
Speaker 1: think that there's some value in it. But you know,

700
00:41:49,360 --> 00:41:52,760
Speaker 1: but otherwise, fashion week is is. Fashion shows are still

701
00:41:52,800 --> 00:41:55,920
Speaker 1: the best way to see a designer's vision come to

702
00:41:56,120 --> 00:41:59,640
Speaker 1: fruition from head to toe. What are they thinking? What's there?

703
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:04,120
Speaker 1: What's a look? What's the point of view? But I question, now,

704
00:42:04,440 --> 00:42:08,319
Speaker 1: who's who are you doing it for? Who's again I'm

705
00:42:08,320 --> 00:42:10,279
Speaker 1: getting too old now. I mean I used to go

706
00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:12,719
Speaker 1: and I, you know, everybody in the front row, and

707
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,040
Speaker 1: then the second row and maybe even the third row.

708
00:42:15,120 --> 00:42:17,680
Speaker 1: Now you go, who are these people? You know, I

709
00:42:17,719 --> 00:42:20,000
Speaker 1: didn't know there was a job called influencer when I

710
00:42:20,040 --> 00:42:22,360
Speaker 1: was growing up. I would have applied. Well, when you

711
00:42:22,400 --> 00:42:24,400
Speaker 1: and I were growing up, that wasn't a job that

712
00:42:24,480 --> 00:42:30,359
Speaker 1: didn't exist pre internet, pre mobile, pre cell phone. Um

713
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:33,520
Speaker 1: I forgot. I don't remember the brand, but I read

714
00:42:33,680 --> 00:42:36,600
Speaker 1: uh something not too long ago. It might have been

715
00:42:36,600 --> 00:42:41,440
Speaker 1: in Wired magazine that even ice cream companies are changing

716
00:42:41,480 --> 00:42:47,200
Speaker 1: all their labeling on the packages so they're instagram double like,

717
00:42:47,200 --> 00:42:50,000
Speaker 1: oh look how nice this is? Take a photo and

718
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:53,160
Speaker 1: that's free marketing and advertising for them. So the idea

719
00:42:53,400 --> 00:42:59,240
Speaker 1: of actually building something from the ground up. You're gonna

720
00:42:59,280 --> 00:43:01,360
Speaker 1: get lost in this sea of competition, but if you

721
00:43:01,400 --> 00:43:04,560
Speaker 1: can get in front of enough people via Instagram or

722
00:43:04,560 --> 00:43:07,799
Speaker 1: Facebook or Twitter or what have you, it's a leg up. Yeah.

723
00:43:07,800 --> 00:43:11,040
Speaker 1: I mean models are hired and booked for shows based

724
00:43:11,080 --> 00:43:13,960
Speaker 1: on how many Instagram followers they have. You know, models

725
00:43:13,960 --> 00:43:16,200
Speaker 1: and people celebrities used to have to build a career.

726
00:43:16,560 --> 00:43:19,279
Speaker 1: Now they build their their own platform. They do it

727
00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:23,120
Speaker 1: all by themselves. You know, models have tell their story

728
00:43:23,239 --> 00:43:25,840
Speaker 1: without you don't have to wait for them to be

729
00:43:25,920 --> 00:43:29,360
Speaker 1: on fifteen Vogue covers to have a career. They reach

730
00:43:29,440 --> 00:43:33,040
Speaker 1: out and they do their story and they have millions

731
00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:36,280
Speaker 1: of followers. But you know in Instagram, there was a

732
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:38,880
Speaker 1: one of my favorite jokes I saw was on UM.

733
00:43:39,800 --> 00:43:41,600
Speaker 1: I think it must have been a New Yorker cartoon

734
00:43:41,640 --> 00:43:43,840
Speaker 1: of a couple of people, a couple at a table

735
00:43:43,880 --> 00:43:46,440
Speaker 1: and a restaurant eating and the chef walks over to

736
00:43:46,480 --> 00:43:49,359
Speaker 1: them and looks at them and says, what's the matter.

737
00:43:49,440 --> 00:43:51,960
Speaker 1: Didn't you like the food? And they said, well, yeah,

738
00:43:52,000 --> 00:43:56,040
Speaker 1: they said, because nobody took a picture. Um, you know,

739
00:43:56,280 --> 00:43:59,880
Speaker 1: I'm trying to pronounce her name, Emily Radoshkowski, who was

740
00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,759
Speaker 1: in the Blurredlines video. I think she has some like

741
00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:08,839
Speaker 1: four million Twitter followers. It's um, it's really shocking, and

742
00:44:08,880 --> 00:44:10,960
Speaker 1: that is here. I could actually pull it up while

743
00:44:11,040 --> 00:44:14,680
Speaker 1: where her official Oh I'm wrong one point three million,

744
00:44:15,280 --> 00:44:18,000
Speaker 1: so but still that's a million people. That's a lot

745
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,839
Speaker 1: of people. Um, she got famous long before that. But

746
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,120
Speaker 1: at a certain point, if you want a career in

747
00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:32,040
Speaker 1: fill in the blank, having the ability to influence or

748
00:44:32,120 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 1: attract in the modern era, being adept at marketing, especially

749
00:44:38,800 --> 00:44:43,040
Speaker 1: online and social networks is a user huge advantage for

750
00:44:43,080 --> 00:44:46,839
Speaker 1: anybody pretty much in any career at risk. It man

751
00:44:46,960 --> 00:44:49,960
Speaker 1: splaining that, but it seems to be a big, big

752
00:44:50,000 --> 00:44:52,839
Speaker 1: part of that many industries. It is. Well, that's how

753
00:44:52,880 --> 00:44:56,080
Speaker 1: people get their information online and on a screen on

754
00:44:56,120 --> 00:44:58,719
Speaker 1: a cell phone on I mean, I have nieces who

755
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:01,000
Speaker 1: don't ever turn television and they watch everything on their

756
00:45:01,040 --> 00:45:05,640
Speaker 1: computer on their laptops. I never never have TV on. So,

757
00:45:05,640 --> 00:45:08,360
Speaker 1: so what does all of this mean for the future

758
00:45:08,520 --> 00:45:13,359
Speaker 1: of fashion and clothing? If people aren't watching TV, if

759
00:45:13,400 --> 00:45:16,719
Speaker 1: they're not paying attention to what's going on around them,

760
00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:25,760
Speaker 1: how do um companies and manufacturers and advertisers reach the audience, well,

761
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,359
Speaker 1: you know how it affects them all. I mean, at

762
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:30,400
Speaker 1: the end of the day, people are still wearing clothing.

763
00:45:31,239 --> 00:45:34,440
Speaker 1: You know, people haven't all the last week they I

764
00:45:34,480 --> 00:45:36,560
Speaker 1: guess walked out on the subways with no pants on

765
00:45:36,640 --> 00:45:38,799
Speaker 1: or something. There was some it was a big deal

766
00:45:39,160 --> 00:45:42,239
Speaker 1: pant day or something. But people are still getting up

767
00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:45,040
Speaker 1: every day and putting clothing on, and they're still wearing clothes.

768
00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:50,560
Speaker 1: They still buy things. So the industry is not going

769
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:54,399
Speaker 1: too far away, um, But how people reach out to them,

770
00:45:54,480 --> 00:45:57,000
Speaker 1: that's that's a good question. I mean, you have to

771
00:45:57,080 --> 00:46:00,920
Speaker 1: be you have to hire smart and Brighten, um and

772
00:46:00,960 --> 00:46:02,759
Speaker 1: I and you have to get into that head of

773
00:46:02,760 --> 00:46:06,880
Speaker 1: that millennial and some of those young people who are

774
00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:09,759
Speaker 1: really out there thinking coming up with clever ideas. You

775
00:46:09,800 --> 00:46:11,920
Speaker 1: have to create experiences and you have to create something

776
00:46:11,960 --> 00:46:14,640
Speaker 1: that resonates. And that's why I said, it's whether it's

777
00:46:15,200 --> 00:46:18,880
Speaker 1: resonating about the environment and things that matter to people.

778
00:46:19,520 --> 00:46:23,960
Speaker 1: This generation is finally caring about the environment because it's

779
00:46:24,000 --> 00:46:27,440
Speaker 1: the planet that they're they're growing up in. And I

780
00:46:27,480 --> 00:46:31,040
Speaker 1: think there's more and more attention to that learning about that.

781
00:46:31,239 --> 00:46:34,960
Speaker 1: Brands that are making a real concerted effort to do

782
00:46:35,080 --> 00:46:38,600
Speaker 1: something that is sustainable and correct. Um. And we're all

783
00:46:38,640 --> 00:46:40,719
Speaker 1: still learning about that and don't even know what all

784
00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:43,439
Speaker 1: those words mean. UM. You know. I'm on the board

785
00:46:43,480 --> 00:46:47,400
Speaker 1: of the f I T Foundation. UM, and our gala

786
00:46:47,480 --> 00:46:51,800
Speaker 1: this year in April is honoring is focusing on sustainability.

787
00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:54,959
Speaker 1: It's gonna be surrounded by a conference for two days

788
00:46:55,000 --> 00:47:00,360
Speaker 1: about the issue of sustainability, with great people speaking. UM.

789
00:47:00,400 --> 00:47:04,520
Speaker 1: It's all about the young generation. These kids in school,

790
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:09,200
Speaker 1: they care about that, they recycle, they they they they

791
00:47:09,239 --> 00:47:13,240
Speaker 1: really work things through. And companies have to start having

792
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:16,920
Speaker 1: a message that matters. UM. And I think that that's

793
00:47:17,760 --> 00:47:21,520
Speaker 1: where somehow those messages get through. You. Can you stick

794
00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:23,040
Speaker 1: around a bit? I have a bunch of more questions

795
00:47:23,080 --> 00:47:26,040
Speaker 1: for you. We have been speaking with Fern Malice of

796
00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 1: the Firm Alice Consultancy and fashion icons at the Street. Y.

797
00:47:32,640 --> 00:47:35,399
Speaker 1: If you enjoy this conversation, be sure and stick around

798
00:47:35,480 --> 00:47:38,200
Speaker 1: for the podcast extras. Will we keep the tape rolling

799
00:47:38,280 --> 00:47:41,759
Speaker 1: and continue discussing all things fashion. You can find that

800
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:46,960
Speaker 1: wherever your Finer podcasts are sold iTunes, Overcast, Stitcher, Bloomberg

801
00:47:47,000 --> 00:47:51,759
Speaker 1: dot com. We love your comments, feedback and suggestions Right

802
00:47:51,840 --> 00:47:55,160
Speaker 1: to us at m IB podcast at Bloomberg dot net.

803
00:47:55,520 --> 00:47:57,799
Speaker 1: Follow me on Twitter at Rid Halts. You can check

804
00:47:57,840 --> 00:48:01,000
Speaker 1: out my daily column at Bloomberg dot com m slash Opinion.

805
00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:04,560
Speaker 1: I'm Barry with Holts. You're listening to Masters in Business

806
00:48:04,920 --> 00:48:21,759
Speaker 1: on Bloomberg Radio. Welcome to the podcast, Fern. Thank you

807
00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:23,840
Speaker 1: so much for doing this. I've been looking forward to

808
00:48:23,920 --> 00:48:26,640
Speaker 1: having this conversation. I was going to drag my wife

809
00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:30,920
Speaker 1: in UM because she spent a long time teaching fashion

810
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:37,560
Speaker 1: illustration and Design UM and has since retired. But uh,

811
00:48:38,360 --> 00:48:40,160
Speaker 1: there's a bunch of other things I wanted to get

812
00:48:40,200 --> 00:48:44,920
Speaker 1: to that I didn't, including fashion icons with Fern Malice.

813
00:48:45,320 --> 00:48:47,360
Speaker 1: So let's talk a little bit about the series you

814
00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:51,040
Speaker 1: do with the Street. Why how did the idea for

815
00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:53,360
Speaker 1: this come up? And and tell us a little about

816
00:48:53,360 --> 00:48:57,600
Speaker 1: the program. Well, I'm very, very proud of this, this series,

817
00:48:57,760 --> 00:49:00,120
Speaker 1: almost as proud as I am of having created some

818
00:49:00,200 --> 00:49:05,080
Speaker 1: week UM because yeah, now it really means a lot

819
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:09,279
Speaker 1: to me. And when I left i MG Fashion, when

820
00:49:09,320 --> 00:49:12,880
Speaker 1: the tents we're moving from Brian Park to Lincoln Center,

821
00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:15,319
Speaker 1: it was time for me to leave. I said, you

822
00:49:15,360 --> 00:49:18,160
Speaker 1: know what, I've done this for almost nineteen years at

823
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:21,239
Speaker 1: Brian Park. It was my baby. It's moving to a

824
00:49:21,280 --> 00:49:25,319
Speaker 1: new location, which I wasn't basically so thrilled with. Neither

825
00:49:25,400 --> 00:49:28,600
Speaker 1: was the industry. And it's out of there already. UM,

826
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:31,839
Speaker 1: I said, you know what, I needed break and so

827
00:49:31,920 --> 00:49:35,720
Speaker 1: I took I took time off. I was happily able

828
00:49:35,760 --> 00:49:39,680
Speaker 1: to do that. UM. And I experienced what I call

829
00:49:39,840 --> 00:49:42,040
Speaker 1: and it's in my book, because I have a book

830
00:49:42,040 --> 00:49:45,880
Speaker 1: called Fashion Lives from this series. Um, what became the

831
00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:49,080
Speaker 1: coffee phase of my life, which meant that all of

832
00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:51,799
Speaker 1: a sudden, you know, I'm I'm trying to just chill

833
00:49:51,880 --> 00:49:54,680
Speaker 1: and enjoy my house in the country, and and I'd

834
00:49:54,680 --> 00:49:56,640
Speaker 1: get calls can I meet you for a cup of coffee?

835
00:49:56,640 --> 00:49:58,280
Speaker 1: I have this idea I want to talk to you about.

836
00:49:58,600 --> 00:50:00,759
Speaker 1: I have this new project coming. Can we go out

837
00:50:00,800 --> 00:50:03,040
Speaker 1: for a cup of coffee? My friend told me I

838
00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:04,719
Speaker 1: should talk to you. You're a good one to help

839
00:50:04,719 --> 00:50:07,600
Speaker 1: me on this new startup. Can we have a cup

840
00:50:07,600 --> 00:50:09,759
Speaker 1: of coffee? I said. Everybody wanted to take me out

841
00:50:09,760 --> 00:50:11,840
Speaker 1: for a cup of coffee. Nobody wanted lunch of dinner.

842
00:50:11,960 --> 00:50:16,040
Speaker 1: It was just coffee. I was crazy. Um, And it

843
00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:18,080
Speaker 1: was oddly enough, over a cup of tea and a

844
00:50:18,120 --> 00:50:21,399
Speaker 1: good friend of mine, a photographer, Timothy Greenfield Sanders, who said,

845
00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:23,720
Speaker 1: I'm going to introduce you a friend of mine, Betsy,

846
00:50:23,840 --> 00:50:27,680
Speaker 1: who's uh, who handles speaking tours and all this. You

847
00:50:27,719 --> 00:50:31,440
Speaker 1: have great stories and to tell about ps. She introduces

848
00:50:31,480 --> 00:50:34,320
Speaker 1: me to Susan Engle from Street wy Is ahead of

849
00:50:34,360 --> 00:50:38,040
Speaker 1: their programming, and we have a cup of coffee and

850
00:50:38,600 --> 00:50:41,680
Speaker 1: she said, you know, we've always loved fashion up here

851
00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:45,760
Speaker 1: at the Y. We've done one offs, you know, Diane

852
00:50:45,800 --> 00:50:48,200
Speaker 1: from Furstenberg has been up here or this one or

853
00:50:48,239 --> 00:50:51,799
Speaker 1: Calvin through the years, but nothing that's been concrete, like

854
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:54,640
Speaker 1: a series. And they do have some very good series there.

855
00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:58,520
Speaker 1: And for people who don't know, the sty is truly

856
00:50:58,680 --> 00:51:01,480
Speaker 1: the pre eminent cultural and stitution in New York. I

857
00:51:01,520 --> 00:51:07,320
Speaker 1: mean President's prime ministers, authors, actors, celebrity, anybody doing anything

858
00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:11,520
Speaker 1: that matters it gets up there and and is interviewed

859
00:51:11,600 --> 00:51:15,839
Speaker 1: or talk to somebody in their auditoriums um, it's extraordinary place.

860
00:51:15,920 --> 00:51:18,120
Speaker 1: You can go there three fifty days a year and

861
00:51:20,200 --> 00:51:25,080
Speaker 1: every night there's something politics. It's unbelievable. So Susan said,

862
00:51:25,120 --> 00:51:28,600
Speaker 1: would you be interested interviewing fashion designers and doing something

863
00:51:28,640 --> 00:51:31,640
Speaker 1: with us, and I said, you know, I'm the usually

864
00:51:31,640 --> 00:51:33,839
Speaker 1: the one being interviewed, but I'm sure I could string

865
00:51:33,920 --> 00:51:38,839
Speaker 1: together some intelligent questions. We named it Fashion Icons with

866
00:51:38,880 --> 00:51:41,600
Speaker 1: Fern Malice, and she said, let's see if we can

867
00:51:41,640 --> 00:51:44,160
Speaker 1: get some good people. So the first one was Norma

868
00:51:44,200 --> 00:51:47,319
Speaker 1: Camali and there's an old, old pal and I think

869
00:51:47,360 --> 00:51:49,960
Speaker 1: one of the most creative designers in the world. And

870
00:51:50,000 --> 00:51:53,160
Speaker 1: the next one was Calvin Klein. And when I had

871
00:51:53,239 --> 00:51:55,480
Speaker 1: Calvin on the stage, I said to him, one of

872
00:51:55,480 --> 00:51:59,040
Speaker 1: my first questions to him was, why are you doing this.

873
00:51:59,200 --> 00:52:02,080
Speaker 1: You're out of your business. You sold it. At that moment,

874
00:52:02,120 --> 00:52:04,600
Speaker 1: it was like over ten years ago. You have nothing

875
00:52:04,640 --> 00:52:07,320
Speaker 1: to sell and pitch, no new fragance, nothing coming out.

876
00:52:07,680 --> 00:52:10,239
Speaker 1: And he said, I'm doing it because you asked me,

877
00:52:10,840 --> 00:52:12,960
Speaker 1: and I'm doing it for you, and I'm doing because

878
00:52:12,960 --> 00:52:15,359
Speaker 1: the why you know, he talked about important to why

879
00:52:15,360 --> 00:52:18,239
Speaker 1: I was and I was like, good answer. And that

880
00:52:18,400 --> 00:52:22,320
Speaker 1: kicked off this series where people buy tickets and it

881
00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:24,560
Speaker 1: was like eight or nine hundred people in the auditorium

882
00:52:25,160 --> 00:52:28,919
Speaker 1: and it's been Calvin and Donna and Tommy Hilfiger and

883
00:52:29,560 --> 00:52:34,080
Speaker 1: Tom Ford and Mark Jacobs and Andre Leon Tally and Diane,

884
00:52:34,560 --> 00:52:37,359
Speaker 1: and it just goes on and on and on, and

885
00:52:38,239 --> 00:52:43,839
Speaker 1: it's now in my eighth year. I do maybe it depends.

886
00:52:43,880 --> 00:52:47,560
Speaker 1: Scheduling is a nightmare some years six or seven. Some

887
00:52:47,680 --> 00:52:51,719
Speaker 1: years it's ten. Some years it's three. You're not too

888
00:52:51,719 --> 00:52:55,640
Speaker 1: far away from a hundred. Well, I'm forty forty three,

889
00:52:55,680 --> 00:52:58,760
Speaker 1: and that might get I have a lot of people

890
00:52:58,800 --> 00:53:02,560
Speaker 1: on the horizon, but dates are not confirmed. But I mean,

891
00:53:02,600 --> 00:53:05,520
Speaker 1: in addition to the people I mentioned, I've done Leonard Lauder,

892
00:53:05,560 --> 00:53:09,160
Speaker 1: you know who was one an extraordinary interview. Mr Valentino,

893
00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:14,799
Speaker 1: Victoria Beckham Emon and Cindy Crawford and the Massonis and UM,

894
00:53:14,840 --> 00:53:19,160
Speaker 1: Alexander Wang and Zach Posen, and I mean just the whole,

895
00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:21,919
Speaker 1: the whole group. I just said our Arthur L. Gore,

896
00:53:22,040 --> 00:53:25,440
Speaker 1: the photographer UM. In December, I did Peter Marino, the

897
00:53:25,560 --> 00:53:30,480
Speaker 1: architect who talk about retail is retail important. On one

898
00:53:30,520 --> 00:53:35,280
Speaker 1: Street in Manhattan, from Street from Madison to Fifth. He's

899
00:53:35,320 --> 00:53:38,880
Speaker 1: designed the Fendi store, the Door store at the Chanel Store,

900
00:53:39,480 --> 00:53:43,480
Speaker 1: the Zena store, the Louis Utan store, and Bulgary. It's

901
00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:46,640
Speaker 1: one architect and his office has done all of that

902
00:53:46,680 --> 00:53:51,240
Speaker 1: in a block. I mean, it's extraordinary and creating experiences

903
00:53:51,280 --> 00:53:53,279
Speaker 1: that make you want to come in those stores and

904
00:53:53,280 --> 00:53:57,440
Speaker 1: spend time there and buy something. So you know, it's

905
00:53:57,719 --> 00:54:00,719
Speaker 1: it's the with and breath of the industry. Um. So

906
00:54:00,760 --> 00:54:03,720
Speaker 1: if people want to find either the video or audio

907
00:54:04,040 --> 00:54:08,600
Speaker 1: of fashion icons with fern Malice at where do they

908
00:54:08,600 --> 00:54:11,800
Speaker 1: go from? You can go to the Wise YouTube channel

909
00:54:11,840 --> 00:54:14,560
Speaker 1: and put in fern Malice and fashion icons and you

910
00:54:14,600 --> 00:54:18,960
Speaker 1: can get, um like a three to five minute clip. Um,

911
00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:21,680
Speaker 1: the whole interview is not available. Well, when are we

912
00:54:21,719 --> 00:54:24,160
Speaker 1: going to make that available? You know this whole podcasting

913
00:54:24,200 --> 00:54:26,640
Speaker 1: thing is going to be big one day. We have

914
00:54:26,719 --> 00:54:31,120
Speaker 1: to have you actually and how long did these conversations? Minutes?

915
00:54:31,160 --> 00:54:36,000
Speaker 1: An hour? Usually an hour and a half. And uh

916
00:54:36,320 --> 00:54:38,279
Speaker 1: and I'd say a life story. It's it is the

917
00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:41,799
Speaker 1: definitive interview of these people's lives. I walk out of

918
00:54:41,840 --> 00:54:44,560
Speaker 1: there and you learned who they are? How how did

919
00:54:44,600 --> 00:54:47,480
Speaker 1: you become this person? You grew up Most of these

920
00:54:47,520 --> 00:54:50,560
Speaker 1: people grew up with nothing and had started a business

921
00:54:50,640 --> 00:54:53,360
Speaker 1: with nothing. And I'm fascinated, how do you build a

922
00:54:53,360 --> 00:54:56,279
Speaker 1: billion dollar business? How did who did you fire? How

923
00:54:56,280 --> 00:54:59,440
Speaker 1: did you when you made your first sale? Well? Who who?

924
00:54:59,520 --> 00:55:02,560
Speaker 1: So the tables in did you need to hire ten people.

925
00:55:02,880 --> 00:55:05,200
Speaker 1: How much money did you need to borrow? How do

926
00:55:05,239 --> 00:55:07,080
Speaker 1: you do this? How did it go to the next step,

927
00:55:07,080 --> 00:55:09,120
Speaker 1: and how did it go to that? You know, to

928
00:55:09,200 --> 00:55:12,359
Speaker 1: hear Michael Cores tell his story about being on the

929
00:55:12,520 --> 00:55:16,120
Speaker 1: you know, ringing the bell when the Stockholm public you know,

930
00:55:16,120 --> 00:55:18,160
Speaker 1: and his mother looking up at him at the podium

931
00:55:18,200 --> 00:55:21,239
Speaker 1: going fiction tie you know, I mean, you know he

932
00:55:21,239 --> 00:55:23,480
Speaker 1: said it was better than his bar mitzvah, you know,

933
00:55:23,600 --> 00:55:27,120
Speaker 1: and I mean wonderful stories of these people's lives and careers.

934
00:55:27,239 --> 00:55:29,400
Speaker 1: So we have to get this stuff. We have to

935
00:55:29,520 --> 00:55:33,560
Speaker 1: free the content, get it out from behind wherever it is.

936
00:55:33,760 --> 00:55:35,680
Speaker 1: And uh, well, we'll help you do that. That'll be

937
00:55:35,680 --> 00:55:38,160
Speaker 1: easy enough to do. So I only have you for

938
00:55:38,239 --> 00:55:40,799
Speaker 1: a limited amount of time, and I wanted to get

939
00:55:40,840 --> 00:55:43,480
Speaker 1: to my favorite questions I asked all of my guests.

940
00:55:43,719 --> 00:55:45,160
Speaker 1: So we'll put you on the hot seat for a

941
00:55:45,239 --> 00:55:49,359
Speaker 1: few minutes. Let's start with an easy one. Tell us

942
00:55:49,400 --> 00:55:53,760
Speaker 1: the most important thing people don't know about Fern malice.

943
00:55:55,600 --> 00:55:59,360
Speaker 1: M hmm, what is the muscle? I mean, not really

944
00:55:59,800 --> 00:56:03,359
Speaker 1: a soft inter real pussy cat. People think, um, your

945
00:56:03,400 --> 00:56:06,080
Speaker 1: reputation as you're a tough cookie, but you're telling me.

946
00:56:06,239 --> 00:56:09,400
Speaker 1: It's marshmallow inside. All right. That's good to know your

947
00:56:09,400 --> 00:56:12,360
Speaker 1: assistant is laughing at behind your back, just so you know,

948
00:56:12,920 --> 00:56:17,680
Speaker 1: do you agree with that? Um? Who are some of

949
00:56:17,719 --> 00:56:20,799
Speaker 1: your early mentors who influenced your career? You know, I'd

950
00:56:20,840 --> 00:56:27,719
Speaker 1: have to say my dad, my uncle's um my, my sisters, um,

951
00:56:27,920 --> 00:56:30,080
Speaker 1: you know this family around me. There were there were

952
00:56:30,120 --> 00:56:35,440
Speaker 1: a few in business, but I never was that like

953
00:56:36,040 --> 00:56:40,480
Speaker 1: satched myself to somebody. What about designers who influenced the

954
00:56:40,520 --> 00:56:46,799
Speaker 1: way you look at clothing and fashion? All of all

955
00:56:46,880 --> 00:56:51,680
Speaker 1: of them, all of the above, Madelin, all right here, So, um,

956
00:56:51,760 --> 00:56:55,120
Speaker 1: let's talk about books. Not the one you wrote, will

957
00:56:55,160 --> 00:56:57,640
Speaker 1: include that in all of our links. But what are

958
00:56:57,640 --> 00:57:00,319
Speaker 1: the same some of your favorite books? What do you

959
00:57:00,360 --> 00:57:04,000
Speaker 1: read to relax fashion? Non fashions? You know when I

960
00:57:04,000 --> 00:57:07,080
Speaker 1: reach relaxed or you know, three or four newspapers every

961
00:57:07,200 --> 00:57:12,400
Speaker 1: every day. Um. But you know, one of my favorite

962
00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:14,240
Speaker 1: books of all time is a book called A Thousand

963
00:57:14,280 --> 00:57:18,760
Speaker 1: White Women. It is so good. Get it on Amazon

964
00:57:18,880 --> 00:57:22,160
Speaker 1: one White Women. What's it about? It's about a time

965
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:27,640
Speaker 1: when President Grant was the president and and they were

966
00:57:27,720 --> 00:57:31,440
Speaker 1: looking to assimilate some of the Indian tribes and bought

967
00:57:31,480 --> 00:57:35,000
Speaker 1: and take their land basically. Um, so there was a

968
00:57:35,040 --> 00:57:41,120
Speaker 1: deal struck between um, some of the Indian chiefs two

969
00:57:41,480 --> 00:57:47,160
Speaker 1: give well with the chiefs and the administration to give

970
00:57:47,280 --> 00:57:51,240
Speaker 1: them the tribes a thousand white women to become part

971
00:57:51,280 --> 00:57:55,800
Speaker 1: of their tribes, to assimilate the cultures. It's quite fascinating.

972
00:57:56,200 --> 00:58:00,920
Speaker 1: But I've also just starting the Becoming Michelle Obama's which

973
00:58:00,960 --> 00:58:04,080
Speaker 1: is best selling book, and I think it was released

974
00:58:04,080 --> 00:58:07,080
Speaker 1: in either end of November December. And I went to

975
00:58:07,120 --> 00:58:11,120
Speaker 1: see her talk at Barkley Center and she's great. That

976
00:58:11,400 --> 00:58:15,600
Speaker 1: met her and a couple of times since extraordinary, very

977
00:58:15,680 --> 00:58:18,280
Speaker 1: nice short dress. Well, she was very important to the

978
00:58:18,320 --> 00:58:22,840
Speaker 1: fashion industry, was she? That she wore so many young

979
00:58:22,920 --> 00:58:26,360
Speaker 1: designers and unknown designers and up and coming designers and

980
00:58:26,600 --> 00:58:33,840
Speaker 1: established designers, and she fashion was a huge messaging for her.

981
00:58:33,960 --> 00:58:35,960
Speaker 1: When was the last time we saw a first lady

982
00:58:36,080 --> 00:58:39,200
Speaker 1: who did that? Is that Jackie? Oh? Jackie was an

983
00:58:39,280 --> 00:58:43,200
Speaker 1: important one. Um, then it wasn't oh, but it was

984
00:58:43,280 --> 00:58:47,240
Speaker 1: jack Jackie Kennedy. Yes, Um, I think Michelle o Well,

985
00:58:47,480 --> 00:58:52,800
Speaker 1: you know Nancy Reagan had her fashion moments with Gallanos

986
00:58:52,920 --> 00:58:56,919
Speaker 1: and certain designers that she wore An Arnold skazzi and um,

987
00:58:56,960 --> 00:59:00,800
Speaker 1: but Michelle Obama was a champion of the American fashion

988
00:59:00,800 --> 00:59:05,640
Speaker 1: industry quite quite fascinating. Um, so what are you excited

989
00:59:05,680 --> 00:59:12,240
Speaker 1: about in the fashion industry right now? M'm I'm excited

990
00:59:12,280 --> 00:59:16,400
Speaker 1: about seeing what's going to be coming up in the

991
00:59:16,440 --> 00:59:19,440
Speaker 1: next few weeks and how things are going to evolve

992
00:59:19,440 --> 00:59:22,880
Speaker 1: and change. And is this an important important fashion especially

993
00:59:22,880 --> 00:59:26,040
Speaker 1: important fashion show for or is this Well, it's the

994
00:59:26,080 --> 00:59:28,480
Speaker 1: first of this year, it's the you know, it's the

995
00:59:28,680 --> 00:59:32,800
Speaker 1: fall collections that we're going to be seeing. Um, I mean,

996
00:59:32,800 --> 00:59:35,160
Speaker 1: it's fashion Week, It's there's another one going to be

997
00:59:35,200 --> 00:59:38,560
Speaker 1: in September. So so tell us about a time you

998
00:59:38,720 --> 00:59:43,480
Speaker 1: failed and what you learned from the experience. You know,

999
00:59:43,560 --> 00:59:48,600
Speaker 1: I wish, I I can't. I don't remember something where

1000
00:59:48,600 --> 00:59:50,920
Speaker 1: I could say I really failed at it. I mean

1001
00:59:51,000 --> 00:59:54,960
Speaker 1: I've been a good, good girl. Um. You know, well,

1002
00:59:55,120 --> 00:59:57,000
Speaker 1: I don't mean a bit. I mean sometimes you try

1003
00:59:57,040 --> 00:59:59,000
Speaker 1: something and it doesn't work out, and there's a life

1004
00:59:59,080 --> 01:00:02,640
Speaker 1: lesson in it, not necessarily good versus bad. But gee,

1005
01:00:02,680 --> 01:00:04,800
Speaker 1: that didn't turn out the way I was hoping. But

1006
01:00:04,960 --> 01:00:08,360
Speaker 1: here's my takeaway. The most recent one was the chicken

1007
01:00:08,360 --> 01:00:12,280
Speaker 1: soup I made last weekend, I bought a really expensive

1008
01:00:12,520 --> 01:00:16,480
Speaker 1: free range chicken and it was tasteless. So the soup

1009
01:00:16,640 --> 01:00:19,240
Speaker 1: wasn't as good as my normal chicken soup really because

1010
01:00:19,240 --> 01:00:21,240
Speaker 1: it just didn't have all that fat and it just

1011
01:00:21,640 --> 01:00:23,960
Speaker 1: you know, the chicken didn't fight part the same way,

1012
01:00:24,080 --> 01:00:27,960
Speaker 1: So that was a mini failure. Um, what do you

1013
01:00:27,960 --> 01:00:30,400
Speaker 1: do for fun? What do you do outside of work

1014
01:00:30,480 --> 01:00:35,840
Speaker 1: to either relax or you know, stay busy and interested? What? What?

1015
01:00:35,840 --> 01:00:39,600
Speaker 1: What non fashioned stuff keeps you occupied? I have a

1016
01:00:39,600 --> 01:00:42,560
Speaker 1: house out in the East End, and I love going

1017
01:00:42,560 --> 01:00:45,760
Speaker 1: out there, thank god. It keeps me sane and it's

1018
01:00:45,760 --> 01:00:49,480
Speaker 1: not a lake, and I just so enjoy being there.

1019
01:00:49,520 --> 01:00:52,480
Speaker 1: I'm a very good gardener, and I do like cooking

1020
01:00:52,480 --> 01:00:55,000
Speaker 1: on the weekends in spite of my not so great

1021
01:00:55,040 --> 01:00:58,320
Speaker 1: chicken soup. Have you become a year round hamp tonight,

1022
01:00:58,360 --> 01:01:01,760
Speaker 1: because that's been more and more totally Yeah, for years.

1023
01:01:01,800 --> 01:01:05,360
Speaker 1: I think it mostly became a much more year round

1024
01:01:05,440 --> 01:01:11,040
Speaker 1: after nine eleven, I'd say, but I think about because

1025
01:01:11,040 --> 01:01:13,920
Speaker 1: people started moving out there and getting out there and

1026
01:01:13,960 --> 01:01:16,919
Speaker 1: living out there. But um, yeah, I've had that house

1027
01:01:16,920 --> 01:01:19,280
Speaker 1: since I was at the cfd A, and I remember

1028
01:01:19,280 --> 01:01:21,520
Speaker 1: a moment when I thought I can't do this. I'm

1029
01:01:21,520 --> 01:01:23,560
Speaker 1: not married. Why am I buying a house by myself?

1030
01:01:23,880 --> 01:01:25,080
Speaker 1: And I said, what am I going to have at

1031
01:01:25,080 --> 01:01:27,440
Speaker 1: the end of this ten years? Here? A lot of

1032
01:01:27,480 --> 01:01:29,840
Speaker 1: clothes to show for it? You know, it's the best

1033
01:01:29,840 --> 01:01:33,160
Speaker 1: decision I've ever made in my life. So what sort

1034
01:01:33,160 --> 01:01:35,320
Speaker 1: of advice would you give to a millennial or a

1035
01:01:35,400 --> 01:01:38,880
Speaker 1: recent college graduate who's interested in a career in fashion?

1036
01:01:40,080 --> 01:01:45,560
Speaker 1: I'd say why, Um, I'd say, you know, like every

1037
01:01:45,600 --> 01:01:49,480
Speaker 1: other thing you're interested in, become a sponge, just absorbital

1038
01:01:49,520 --> 01:01:52,760
Speaker 1: and just shut up a little bit and listen, you know,

1039
01:01:52,960 --> 01:01:55,720
Speaker 1: just listen. You don't you don't really have the answers

1040
01:01:55,720 --> 01:01:59,400
Speaker 1: to everything, um, as much as they think they do.

1041
01:02:00,120 --> 01:02:03,800
Speaker 1: Uh I and I think we need to at some

1042
01:02:03,880 --> 01:02:09,840
Speaker 1: point also listen more to some of these millennials. And finally,

1043
01:02:10,200 --> 01:02:12,080
Speaker 1: what is it that you know about the world of

1044
01:02:12,120 --> 01:02:15,680
Speaker 1: fashion and marketing today that you wish you knew thirty

1045
01:02:15,760 --> 01:02:18,120
Speaker 1: or so years ago when you were really gearing up

1046
01:02:18,160 --> 01:02:21,800
Speaker 1: your career. It's hard to say, because I wish thirty

1047
01:02:21,960 --> 01:02:26,400
Speaker 1: years ago I understood technology the way we have it now,

1048
01:02:26,440 --> 01:02:30,720
Speaker 1: because it's it's it's just so different. But if I

1049
01:02:30,760 --> 01:02:33,960
Speaker 1: could have done something differently, then I would have learned

1050
01:02:34,000 --> 01:02:39,000
Speaker 1: more about finance and business and numbers. I mean I

1051
01:02:39,080 --> 01:02:41,680
Speaker 1: never took that very seriously. I always said, oh, I'm

1052
01:02:41,680 --> 01:02:43,720
Speaker 1: on the creative side. Let somebody else worry about that.

1053
01:02:44,200 --> 01:02:48,240
Speaker 1: And I think that's important to always have an understanding

1054
01:02:48,280 --> 01:02:53,120
Speaker 1: and a grip on the financial implications inside of everything

1055
01:02:53,160 --> 01:02:57,400
Speaker 1: you're working on. Quite fascinating. We have been speaking with

1056
01:02:57,400 --> 01:03:02,040
Speaker 1: Fern Malice. She is the head of Malice LLC as

1057
01:03:02,080 --> 01:03:06,520
Speaker 1: well as the creator of Fashion Week, runs the Fashion

1058
01:03:06,720 --> 01:03:09,880
Speaker 1: Icons with Fern Malice at the Street Why. If you

1059
01:03:10,000 --> 01:03:12,360
Speaker 1: enjoy this conversation, be sure and look up an Inch

1060
01:03:12,440 --> 01:03:14,600
Speaker 1: or down an Inch on Apple iTunes and you can

1061
01:03:14,600 --> 01:03:17,560
Speaker 1: see any of the other two hundred and fifty or

1062
01:03:17,600 --> 01:03:20,440
Speaker 1: so of these conversations we've put together over the past

1063
01:03:20,920 --> 01:03:25,560
Speaker 1: five years. We love your comments, feedback and suggestions. If

1064
01:03:25,600 --> 01:03:27,920
Speaker 1: you're not happy with this show, well right to us

1065
01:03:27,960 --> 01:03:31,320
Speaker 1: at m IB podcast at Bloomberg dot net and tell

1066
01:03:31,400 --> 01:03:34,640
Speaker 1: us why. If you are happy, go to Apple iTunes

1067
01:03:34,640 --> 01:03:37,360
Speaker 1: and give us a good review. We'd appreciate that. I

1068
01:03:37,360 --> 01:03:39,800
Speaker 1: would be remiss if I did not thank the crack

1069
01:03:39,880 --> 01:03:44,000
Speaker 1: staff who helps put together these conversations each week. Medina

1070
01:03:44,080 --> 01:03:48,480
Speaker 1: Parwana is our producer. Caroline O'Brien is my audio engineer.

1071
01:03:49,040 --> 01:03:52,320
Speaker 1: UH Taylor Riggs is our booker. Michael bat Nick is

1072
01:03:52,360 --> 01:03:56,320
Speaker 1: my head of research. Attica val Brunn is our project manager.

1073
01:03:56,960 --> 01:04:01,000
Speaker 1: I'm Barry Ritolts. You've been listening to Masker's Business on

1074
01:04:01,160 --> 01:04:08,640
Speaker 1: Bloomberg Radiom