There is always a first time for everything and who better to remember the first time that New York Fashion Week was centralized than Stan Herman and Fern Mallis.

On Monday, the two sat down at Spring Studios to take a trip down memory lane with IMG’s Ivan Bart.

The two first met when Mallis was a guest editor at Mademoiselle magazine during her senior year of college and Herman was designing out of his studio in the Garment District. Their paths then went opposite ways, until they met again when Mallis was named Executive Director of the Council of Fashion Designers of America and Herman was appointed the organization’s President.

“At the time, America wasn’t a hub for fashion and we wanted to change that,” Herman explained. “I knew Mallis would be the person to be able to change that.”

Mallis took on the responsibility of securing sponsors, a venue, and getting all of the American designers on board to show in Bryant Park for the first time.

Herman remembered how the industry was different in the ‘60s and ‘70s.

“We were not the kind of industry that was generating money like it is now,” Herman said. “People didn’t necessarily ‘want’ to be in it like they do now. We had no power and no money. When you count 25, 30, 50 years of my career it’s a weird feeling to see the transition [of the fashion industry]. All that said, I know one thing that will not change:  fashion shows will be here forever.”

Pictured: Ivan Bart, Fern Mallis, and Stan Herman.