Who

As the executive director of 7th on Sixth and senior VP of IMG Fashion, Mallis organizes Fashion Week, making her one of the most powerful people in the industry.

Backstory

A Brooklyn native, Mallis grew up in the garment business—her father traded in scarves, and her uncle in textiles. After stints at Mademoiselle and several retail companies, Mallis joined the CFDA as executive director in 1991 when it was still a tiny, disorganized organization. Two years later, after watching the ceiling nearly collapse during a show, she set about reinventing Fashion Week.

Pre-Mallis, Fashion Week wasn't anything like it is today: designers showed in random, unregulated (and occasionally dangerous) venues. She changed that with 7th on Sixth, which took responsibility for organizing shows in tents at Bryant Park, obtaining sponsorship dollars, inviting press, and sorting out the all-important seat assignments. In 2001, the CFDA sold 7th on Sixth to the entertainment and media powerhouse IMG. Mallis followed along and she's now senior VP of IMG Fashion.

Of note

Mallis has made Fashion Week into a major institution—one that generates hundreds of millions in revenue for the city. In recent years, she fought an uphill battle to keep the event in Bryant Park, going head-to-head with a community organization bent on evicting the spectacle; she's since secured the event's presence in Bryant Park through 2010. She has also been making efforts to expand the franchise. In 2003, she launched Fashion Week in LA; Miami followed in 2005. And she's expanding internationally with events in Mumbai, Moscow, Hong Kong, and Sydney. But the legendary toughie—"Fern is a fighter who will punch your lights out to get her point across," a friend once told a reporter—also has a softer side. A tireless fundraiser, Mallis has also used 7th on Sixth to raise more than $30 million for Fashion Targets Breast Cancer and $15 million for AIDS research since the early 1990s.

Personal

Mallis is single. "In this business, I don't meet a ton of straight men." She lives on East 68th Street and spends downtime at her home in Southampton.