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“Indiana Fashion Week Welcomes the Godmother of Fashion to Help Bring Industry to Indiana”
Indianapolis, IN (February 21, 2019) Fern Mallis, host of the much heralded Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis series at New York’s 92nd Street Y, former Senior Vice President of IMG Fashion, and Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) when she created New York Fashion Week, will be honored with the first-ever INDFW Legendary Trailblazers of Fashion Award during the inaugural Indiana Fashion Week (INDFW). Mallis is being honored for her work to “organize, centralize, and modernize” the American fashion industry.
Presented by the Indiana Fashion Foundation, INDFW is scheduled to take place June 18 – 22, 2019 in Indianapolis, IN. Founded by Indiana-based fashion designer, Denisha “Dlang” Ferguson, INDFW was created to provide educational, entertainment, and exhibition opportunities for individuals and organizations that make up the fashion ecosystem of Indiana. The week’s events include the INDFW Youth Designer Challenge (in partnership with Goodwill Industries), a press preview party, the Making it IN Fashion Industry Day Conference, as well as runway shows featuring the INDFW Emerging Designer Competition. In addition to being honored, Mallis will be a featured guest during the industry day conference and will serve as the head judge for the emerging designer competition.
“I learned about Fern Mallis when I was 15 years old,” says INDFW creator, Denisha “Dlang” Ferguson. She continues, “I was producing fashion shows and really didn’t have a mentor. Then, I learned about how Fern Mallis was a huge catalyst for the elevation of the American fashion industry and she instantly became a major motivation for me. So, with the launch of Indiana Fashion Week this year, I HAD TO have her here and had to honor her because she’s been such a major influence in my life and because her work inspires my efforts to centralize the industry here in Indiana. She’s coming! I’m so excited!”
Mallis says, “I’m really looking forward to attending the inaugural INDFW. I’m flattered that Denisha has been such a fan of mine for so many years. I’m also looking forward to seeing the talent coming out of this region as famous designers Bill Blass, Halston, Stephen Sprouse and Norman Norell all hail from Indiana.”
For more information about INDFW, visit www.IndianaFashionWeek.com.
About Fern MallisThe award-winning creator and organizer of Fashion Week in New York and cities across the globe, Fern Mallis has been an industry game changer in the world of fashion and design for more than 35 years. A former senior vice president of IMG Fashion and executive director of CFDA, she is the author of Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis, published by Rizzoli, which features no-holds-barred interviews, combined with never-before-seen personal photographs from interviewees such as Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Michael Kors, Tommy Hilfiger, Betsey Johnson, Polly Mellen, Bruce Weber and more. Her live one-on-one interviews have included Valentino, Vera Bradley, Rosita & Angela Missoni, Iman, Alexander Wang, Russell Westbrook, Thom Browne, and Iris Apfel among others. She is currently the president of her own leading international fashion and design consultancy, Fern Mallis LLC.
About Indiana Fashion FoundationThe Indiana Fashion Foundation (IFF) is an organization dedicated to uniting fashion professionals from across Indiana in an effort to mobilize the fashion industry in the state. Focusing specifically on positively impacting economic and environmental sustainability, IFF endeavors to INvoke industry leaders, INspire all, INvest in emerging talent, foster INnovation in the areas of thought & design, and to establish INdustry by creating opportunities for growth and stability in fashion statewide while being a bridge to connect globally.