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Those who’ve grown up in the “business” certainly have grown to love it. For them, fashion is a way of life.
FASHION, INC. is designed to highlight the excitement, the glamour, and the legends that have made this a global industry.
While the business of fashion has captured the imaginations of countless fashionistas, at heart it remains a world of hard work, intensity and frenzied drive, punctuated by well-publicized successes – but often, fraught with crushing defeats.
Fashion sits astride two distinct worlds that often find themselves at odds: art and commerce. However, for many, this uncomfortable pairing is what fuels the fashion dynamic with a diverse group of creative people: entrepreneurs, manufacturers, designers, marketers, forecasters, salespeople, among others.
FASHION, INC. takes a look at the world of fashion from a number of these perspectives, highlighting the work of individuals – some well known, others not – whose passion and skill have contributed significantly to the development of the business. For many, the road to fashion is clear, straight and narrow, with ethnicity and family tradition pointing the way. For others, the draw may be related to the glamour, glitz and opportunity to create something unique. For the entrepreneurs, it’s a business that can produce returns when experience, timing, and luck are all mixed with a bit of old-fashioned chutzpah.
FASHION, INC. also takes viewers to the runways at New York’s Fashion Week and behind-the-scenes in the sample rooms of major manufacturers like Tahari-ASL and Nicole Miller.
Original production on FASHION, INC. began, in earnest, in January 2008, with the cooperation of the Fashion Institute of Technology. Well over fifty people have participated, including fashion insiders like Arthur S. Levine, considered by many to be the master of “fit,” and Fern Mallis, the creator of New York’s legendary Fashion Week.. On the other end of the spectrum there’s Charlie Edelstein, 86-year old fabric salesmen, still working the streets of the Garment Center, and Jake and Andrew Kozinn, continuing a three-generation family tradition at St. Laurie Merchant Tailors.
Today, the nature of the business has changed. That’s part of the story. But the bottom line is that it’s still a commercial endeavor that’s fueled by creative inspiration.
Fashion touches, literally, everything and everybody… As Valerie Steele, the Director of the FIT Museum, explains, “You can imagine fashion as a verb as well as a noun. Fashion is not just the things you wear but fashion is what you do, how you create the person that you are, the person who interacts with the world, and that’s why fashion is really important…”
Partial list of participants:
Teri Agins – Journalist, Author, “The End of Fashion”
Steven Cox - designer Duckie Brown Fashions
George Feldenkreis - CEO and Chairman, Perry Ellis International
Ruth Finley- Publisher - the Fashion Calendar
Gloria Gelfand - Gelfand Marketing Solutions
Lynn Greene - designer, Tahari
Arthur S. Levine
Stan Herman - designer, Stan Herman Studio (former head, CFDA)
Bernard Holtzman- Retired founder Harve Benard
Bud Konheim - CEO Nicole Miller
Arthur S. Levine - Tahari Arthur S. Levine
Fern Mallis – Creator, New York Fashion Week
Jay Mazur – President Emeritus, Unite
Nicole Miller - designer
John Pomerantz - Retired Leslie Fay Brands
Laura Pomerantz – Principal, founder, PBS Real Estate
Meryl Poster - former President of production, Miramax
Herbert Poster - retired owner, Colony Sportswear
Susan Poster - former showroom model
Jack Ratusch – President, Garment Center Synagogue
Arnold Scaasi – designer
Daniel Silver-Partner Duckie Brown
Rubin Singer - designer
Valerie Steele – Director, Museum at FIT
Tomio Taki – Managing Partner, Takihyo LLC
David Wolfe - Creative Director, The Doneger Group
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