Presented in partnership with Spotlight Magazine, we invite you to join us in the beautiful Canoe Place Inn & Cottages Grand Ballroom for an engaging discussion moderated by Sydney Sadick, the Spotlight Editor-in-Chief. We’ll delve into various topics with Fern Mallis, the visionary behind New York Fashion Week, and the esteemed designer Nicole Miller. Expect insightful conversations on career growth, personal branding, style transformation, and the vibrant East End shopping experience.
About Fern Mallis
Ms. Mallis is widely credited as the creator of “Fashion Week” in New York City in 1993 under the auspices of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), where she served as Executive Director for 10 years. 7th on Sixth, as it was first known, organized, centralized and modernized the American runways allowing American designers to compete head-on with Milan and Paris, forever changing the global fashion business. Acquired by IMG in July 2001, Ms. Mallis led new Fashion Weeks in Miami and Los Angeles, Berlin and Moscow, expanded Mumbai, and added Sydney and Melbourne to its portfolio, among others.
Prior to joining IMG, while Ms. Mallis was the Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) from 1991 to 2001, she furthered the organization’s original charter to promote American fashion as a “recognized branch of American art and culture.” Ms. Mallis organized 10 annual CFDA Fashion Awards Galas, was instrumental in the creation and worldwide licensing of Fashion Targets Breast Cancer– a campaign that has sold over $100 million in merchandise to date and has generated close to $100 million in donations for hundreds of breast cancer organizations worldwide. She oversaw two editions of the highly successful fundraiser “7th on Sale,” which grossed more than $8 million for AIDS charities. Mallis also implemented the Foundation’s burgeoning philanthropic goals to raise money for design scholarships and numerous other initiatives to benefit the designers and the industry at large.
A founding board member of the Design Industries Foundation Fighting Aids (DIFFA), Ms. Mallis also served on the Board of The Partnership for the Homeless and created their Furnish a Future program. She has also been instrumental in the creation and success of The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Initiative for Women’s Heart Disease. The recently launched “Sidewalk Catwalk” exhibition in NY’s Fashion district- was chaired by Ms. Mallis.
About Nicole Miller
Nicole Miller is an American-born designer trained at both the Rhode Island School of Design and Ecole de la Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne in Paris. While RISD inspired her sense of freedom and creativity, Chambre Syndicale instilled a mastery of the classical techniques of couture. Miller skillfully drapes silhouettes to achieve a natural body consciousness that is both sensual and dynamic. Often inspired by film imagery and foreign culture, Nicole Miller sets trends with fashion’s print and color elite. The Nicole Miller brand was launched in 1982 and became well-known in the retail industry for popularizing the little black dress. Over the past 40 years, the brand has garnered a loyal following of celebrity fans, including Keke Palmer, Miley Cyrus, and Blake Lively, amongst others. Nicole is a CFDA member and has been the recipient of numerous industry awards, such as the Legend of Fashion Award (2006), Fashion Group International Lifetime Achievement Award (2012), and the Visionary Woman Award (2014). She was named Fashion Designer of the Year at Hamptons Fashion Week (2022).
About Sydney Sadick
Sydney Sadick is the founding editor-in-chief and publisher of SPOTLIGHT Magazine, the first print publication to target GenNow in The Hamptons which launched in May 2022. In addition, Sydney contributes to multiple television shows across the country to deliver entertainment and fashion news segments, in addition to sitting on roundtables and covering red carpet events. Sydney has made regular appearances on Good Morning America, The Today Show, E! Daily Pop, Inside Edition, NBC New York Live, and more, appearing in over 150 segments. Sydney is the author of the best-selling book “Aim High,” which debuted as #1 on Amazon in Fashion & Business.
