Mallis Leaving IMG
Fern Mallis, seen by many as the creator of New York Fashion Week, is leaving IMG Fashion, a division of IMG Worldwide.
The senior vice president of IMG Fashion is leaving the company to form her own international consulting business, called Fern Mallis LLC. She will continue to consult with IMG Fashion on fashion events and other projects.
Mallis helped found New York Fashion Week as executive director of the event’s predecessor, 7th on Sixth, which was organized by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. When IMG Worldwide acquired the event from the CFDA, she continued to oversee its development from a single-city event to a worldwide operation with events in New York, Miami, Australia, Berlin, London, Mumbai and Istanbul—and, until a few years ago, Los Angeles.
In 2003, IMG staged its first Los Angeles Fashion Week event, dubbed Mercedes-Benz Shows L.A. Two seasons later, the event merged with Smashbox Studios’ competing event, Smashbox Fashion Week, forming Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Smashbox Studios, which ran for six years.
IMG Fashion also announced that Mercedes-Benz USA has renewed its title sponsorship for IMG’s biannual New York shows, which are moving next season from Bryant Park to Lincoln Center. The luxury automaker is also renewing its sponsorship for IMG’s annual swimwear runway event in Miami Beach, Fla. The events will continue to be called Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim, respectively, through 2013.—Alison A. Nieder
