FERN’S MET-ROPOLIS: Nearing the 10-year mark for her “Fashion Icon” series at the 92Y, Fern Mallis has found other reasons to celebrate, too.
In honor of the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute exhibition “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” Mallis will be sharing content for “Fashion Icons: From the Archives” from three style authorities. Each of the trio has their own personal histories with the Met and some of those moments will be shared in the upcoming episodes. The first digital content to be released will spotlight Iris Apfel, who is nearing her 100th birthday. Apfel once had 86 of her outfits on display in the Costume Institute. Her two-hour interview is broken into four episodes that will be released starting Monday.
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As of Sept. 6, online viewers of “Fashion Icons: From the Archives” can learn how Zac Posen wound up interning as a high schooler at the Upper East Side museum’s Costume Institute under the late Richard Martin. In order to do so, Posen had to pass muster with Diane Vreeland. In addition, starting later next month, there will be four episodes dedicated to former Barneys New York window dresser Simon Doonan, whose early days involved assisting Vreeland at the Costume Institute.
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The selection of Apfel, Posen and Doonan was determined by viewers, who were invited to vote for which Fashion Icons conversations they wanted released. Apfel, who will mark her centennial on Aug. 29, was overwhelmingly the crowd favorite and received 90 percent of the viewers’ votes.
Mallis’ 10-year milestone will be on Sept. 15 and she has plans to bring back in-person talks to the 92Y this fall. After that first chat with Norma Kamali nearly a decade ago, Mallis has interviewed 50 Fashion Icons including Tom Ford, Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Billy Porter, André Leon Talley, Oscar de la Renta, Betsey Johnson and others.
While this fall’s “Fashiin Icons: From the Archives” releases will tout The Met, the museum already has more merriment in store. The Met Gala is scheduled to return IRL next month and next month’s exhibition is only the first of a two-part yearlong show celebrating American fashion.