Fern Mallis, creator of New York Fashion Week, will make the trip to Omaha this year during Omaha Fashion Week's 10th Anniversary Season! Mallis will sit on a celebrity panel to evaluate the 10 designers to reach our VIP Runway Finale on Saturday August 26th. Omaha Fashion Week presented by SAC Federal Credit Union is excited to announce this new first in our ten-year history.

Mallis’ credentials are extensive including but not limited to, former Senior Vice President of IMG Fashion, former Executive Director of Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), and has served as advisor to several fashion weeks and brands worldwide on branding, image, creative business strategies, and event production. Her connections within the fashion industry are numerous as is apparent in her recently published book Fashion Lives: Fashion Icons with Fern Mallis in which she interviews some of the world’s best known fashion personalities, including Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger, Alexander Wang, Tim Gunn, Michael Kors and many others at the prestigious 92nd Street Y.

In preparing for the August 2017 season, the OFW team knew it was time to take the bi-annual fashion event to the next level. For ten years OFW has supported emerging designers in the Omaha fashion community. “So many of our designers have reached significant milestones in their development – it was time to take our mentoring program to the next level to better serve the diverse needs of our designers.” The upcoming season will feature two separate competitive tracks for designers.

The Emerging Designer track will continue to take designers who are students, or have never shown a collection on a runway, through the ins and outs of preparing for a runway show. The OFW Emerging Designer Selection Panel consists of experts in education, design, and business. They include: Dr. Barb Trout (Ph.D. Emeritus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln), Dan Richters (Designer), Denise Ervin (Designer), Nanci Stephenson (M.S., ASID, Program Coordinator and Lead Instructor of Fashion Design and Interior Design), and Sam Hohman (CEO of Credit Advisors Foundation, founding Board Member of Fashion Institute Midwest).

The Featured Designer track will largely focus on expanded mentorship and consultation with the panel on commercial opportunities post-show. The OFW Featured Designer Selection Panel is comprised of experts in design, manufacturing, entrepreneurship, and branding. They include: JLynn Hausmann (President and owner of JHaus, 2013 Zappos Emerging Designer), Kelly Valentine (Owner/Operator and Founder of Scout: Dry Goods & Trade), Nick Huff (Co-Owner of Hutch), Pamela Finn (CEO, The Finn Group, Tehra & b and Creative Hong Kong Limited) and Vanessa Barrett (Interior Designer and Stylist, Owner of Vanessa Collezione).

During Monday through Thursday night shows, designers will compete for 10 spots in the VIP Runway Finale and the opportunity to be evaluated by The Godmother of Fashion herself, Fern Mallis. The Friday night Homecoming Show will be a retrospective look at the most iconic designs from the past decade of OFW.

Follow Fern: Twitter | Instagram | Facebook

See the exclusive interview with Fern Mallis in the Omaha World Herald!