Over the course of the past six decades, American fashion rose from a group of behind-the-scenes talents to a powerhouse industry fueled by CFDA founder Eleanor Lambert.
From Sixties Youthquake and Seventies Disco to today’s social conscience among designers, American fashion has significantly contributed to the global fashion narrative. The point is perfectly made in “CFDA at 60: The Rise of American Fashion,” Nian Fish’s film in celebration of the organization’s 60th anniversary.
Nicole Miller, Jeffrey Banks, Edvin Thompson, Kobi Halperin, Hillary Taymour, Indira Scott, Nicole Benefield, Shawn Pean, Teddy Von Ranson, Mimi So, and Jackson Wiederhoeft, were among those who came to The Crosby Street Hotel for the screening of the John Waters-narrated film and the conversation between Nian Fish and CFDA’s Marc Karimzadeh that followed. They were joined Cynthia Rowley, Bonnie Young, Regina Kravitz, Steven Fabrikant, Yigal Azrouel, Sang A Im-Propp, and Michael Maccari.
During the conversation, Fish recalled her start working with Kezia Keeble and Paul Cavavo (a mentor and fellow Buddhist, the late Keeble taught her how to work for 48 hours straight without doing drugs) to one of the most memorable fashion shows she produced (in 1983 in Japan with Marc Jacobs, Stephen Sprouse and Isaia, with Sprouse, in a fashion show first, on a motorcycle with a model crashing through a screen that played Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests).
“I came to New York City in 1959, when I was nine years old,” she recalled. “There was a show called ‘Million Dollar Movie,’ and it was 24 hours of the old movies. I would do my homework in half an hour and watch these movies until midnight. I was absolutely addicted to storytelling. I could quote everything that Katherine Hepburn said. I realized that fashion is storytelling, and so I brought film to fashion so I can do both the things that I love.”
Asked about the unique nature of American fashion, Fish pointed to how it was responsible for a worldwide sartorial staple—the white T-Shirt and blue jeans look, as made cool by Marlon Brandon and James Dean.
Fish also remarked on the way America championed diversity on the runway and in editorial – a point crystallized during 1973’s historic Battle of Versailles. “It was interesting to actually see the diversity that we had,” Fish said. “Trust me, we have a long way to go, but it started with the Americans.
“Americans are activists by nature,” she added. “We’re the ones who started civil rights and women’s rights. And now, we are going to be the activist for our planet. And that’s what I realized is the mission of American designers and that’s how I ended the film.”
The talk ended on a personal point—and the factors that made Nian who she is in fashion.
“Number one, I was very, very, very, very poor,” she said. “And I’m really, really proud of how poor I was. I was so poor that it’s like a joke. I had to take my aunt’s clothes, cut them up and make them into my size when I was 10. I learned how to sew and then went to thrift shops before it was called vintage, and I would buy a 1920s blouse for 10 cents and put it with jeans that I made into flares. I realized I had a look.”
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