VOLTA VOICES |Fern Mallis and Gary Wassner
VOLTA will host the New York fashion scene for one night only! With Fern Mallis and Gary Wassner at the helm, the contemporary art fair will unite with Fashion Fights Cancer to host an art auction and unveil new creations by six renowned New York designers.
We got to know these two icons of the fashion world with this latest edition of VOLTA VOICES.
Get your glasses raised and bids at the ready, and join us for an evening that will unveil the power of creative instinct and help Fashion Fight Cancer continue to nurture the minds, bodies and souls of cancer patients and survivors.
VOLTA X FASHION FIGHTS CANCER
Thursday May 18, 2023 6-9pm
Fashion Fights Cancer host, Fern Mallis
Firstly, Fern, Can you tell us a bit about yourself and why to collaboration with VOLTA x Fashion Fights Cancer was of interest to you?
Fern Mallis : I’ve been in the fashion business for over 4 decades, and I’ve always been involved in important initiatives that make a difference, As a founding board member of DiFFA, back in the 80’s I raised money for AIDS, As Exec Dir of the CFDA I was involved in two 7th on Sale events raising $millions for AIDS; helped create FASHION TAGRETS BREAST CANCER and raised $millions all over the world for Breast Cancer research and awareness; involved in awareness campaigns for Colorectal Cancer; With my younger sister passing from lung cancer, I will continue to help where I can. I also became engaged with this event to work with my friend Gary Wassner who is also dealing with cancer in his family.
Please can you tell us a bit about your personal relationship with art and collecting.
Fern Mallis : My family is very involved with the art world. My Dad always painted, and I have many of his paintings in my country house. My older sister is an Architect, but also a painter who exhibits at the Mercury Gallery in Rockport, Ma. My sister who passed away was also a painter. Her daughters- my nieces are very prominent in the art world. My niece Brooke Lampley is Global Chairman of Fine Arts at Sotheby’s. My niece Alexandra Metcalf just had a one woman show of her paintings and sculptures at 15 Orient in Brooklyn, and she shows in various exhibits and fairs all over the world. I do have a fair amount of art work in my home and my apartment, but by todays standards I don’t qualify as a “collector”, I am an “appreciator”.
You have a long career within the fashion world, including being credited as creating the modern New York Fashion week and have been described as the ‘Godmother of Fashion’. Can you tell us about the relationships you’ve witnessed between art and fashion over the years.
Fern Mallis : Fashion and art have always been related. Designers have always been inspired by artists. They are often found roaming in Museums and Art Galleries getting inspiration.
Are there any aspects of the art and fashion worlds which you’re finding particularly exciting at the moment?
Fern Mallis : I recently enjoyed seeing how Dior worked with artists and craftspeople in India to create monumentsal weavings that were part of ther show in Paris, and are now on exhibit in Mumbai, I am enjoying Daniel Roseberry’s work for Schaiparelli which has always had a close relationship with art and sculpture.
What does Fashion Fight Cancer and your involvement in the event mean to you?
Fern Mallis : I’m happy to be involved and have the opportunity to raise funds to help
Fashion Fights Cancer host, Gary Wassner
Gary, Can you tell us a bit about yourself and why to collaboration with VOLTA x Fashion Fights Cancer was of interest to you?
Gary Wassner : This disease is very personal to me. The progress that has been made in many different categories of cancer has saved countless lives. But the research can never end. Hence, charitable support is necessary.
Please can you tell us a bit about your personal relationship with art and collecting.
Gary Wassner : I purchase very eclectic art. It’s strictly based upon whether or not I am going to want to look repeatedly at a piece of art, or not. I try to purchase works that bring me joy. I am very visual, and the images are the starting point.
You have a long career within the fashion world, what excites you about this collaboration between art and fashion?
Gary Wassner : Fashion has always been art. It’s just more commercial and wearable art. As the years passed, the two worlds became more and more intertwined anyway. There’s so much symbiosis between art and fashion.
You’re a founding member and Chairman of Interluxe Holdings LLC and co-CEO of Hilldun Corporation, through which you invest in the luxury fashion brands. Could you tell us about your thoughts and experience on art and fashion as an investment?
Gary Wassner : Fashion has a more practical side. The utility and materiality of fashion helps to determine value more exactly than the much more subjective, valuations of art.relationship with art and sculpture.
You’re a board member of several fashion focussed institutions in NYC. Could you tell us a little bit more about your passion for supporting these programmes.
Gary Wassner : It’s a vibrant but difficult industry to succeed in. I’ve been working non-stop for 48 years in the industry. If I haven’t learned at least some valuable insights then I’ve wasted a career. I want to give bank whenever I can. Fashion is the closest we get to living a commercial life \and a creative one simultaneously. It’s hard not to love it.
What does Fashion Fight Cancer and your involvement in the event mean to you?
Gary Wassner : All of the above. As I said, my involvement with both FFC and the disease it fights for, is intimate and powerful. If I can help to raise funds for FFC to benefit cancer patients, then I’m doing something worthwhile. What else is a life for?
United by the healing power of creativity, join us at the VOLTA X Fashion Fights Cancer non-profit art auction and fashion event on Thursday May 18, 2023, at the Metropolitan Pavilion.