“I’m a good lesson in aging. They should stick a needle in and take the serum out.”
At 95, fashion designer Stan Herman wasn’t overstating the fact, during a “Fashion Icons” conversation with Fern Mallis at 92NY on Tuesday night. He explained, “I still think like a young person. I just don’t look like a young person.”
In November, he published his memoir “Uncross Your Legs, a Life in Fashion” and he recently extended his QVC contract through 2025, but he is no longer driving himself from New York to Pennsylvania. The designer has been working with the home shopping company for 31 years, and is now on once month. Herman has been known to sell more than 100,000 robes in a day. Having recently done a “Today’s Special Value” [TSV] show — an all-day affair — Herman said, “When I saw myself at the end of the day, if I didn’t look like a mummy…”
In addition to the CFDA’s board of directors, Herman does the same for the Bryant Park Foundation and the Garment District Alliance. He said that he also has a yet-to-be-announced deal in play.
A self-described “centrist,” Herman wishes that he was more adventurous and that he had become more political earlier in his lifetime, as in before the AIDS crisis. Of middle European descent and having lived through World War II, Herman addressed the rocky times that exist today. “There are some rumblings right now that are very much the same. With what’s going on in the world now, it’s a very difficult time,” said the designer, who has designed uniforms for companies like Sandals, FedEx, and JetBlue as well as the Central Park Conservancy.
The two years spent writing his book longhand called for a hearty dose of self-reflection. “Looking at yourself is not an easy thing. As I wrote it, I didn’t like myself,” Herman told Mallis, laughing.
But pulling up all those memories was “actually delicious,” with Herman realizing that he had “lots of friends” and people he could talk to, as well as levels and layers of his life that he had not thought about. “I hope that some of you live to be 95. You’d be surprised how the memories stay with you,” Herman said.
Having lived with his late partner Gene Horowitz, a proven writer, for years changed Herman’s life and indirectly helped when writing the memoir. The pair routinely read aloud their day’s writings each evening. Despite not having been born an intellectual or ever becoming one, Herman said that many intellectuals seemed to gravitate toward him.
The fact that the travel writer Jan Morris wrote a memoir in her 90s was a source of inspiration to start and finish the book. Like Morris, Herman fell in love with Italy’s Trieste, “”one of those backwater cities that nobody ever goes to. But when you go there, you lose your heart.” Visiting Trieste a couple of years ago helped to jump-start the book and he interpreted being mesmerized by a wide-eyed trigger fish at the aquarium as a sign from Horowitz to start writing. “If my life sounds romantic, it is. It always has been. By my nature, I am a romantic — I love romantic music — Wagner and Strauss. I love the female voice and I like people.”
After Herman claimed to have left “some of the sex part out” of the book, Mallis replied, “You could have fooled me.”
“Yes, it’s none of your business. I will take that to my grave,” Herman said with a laugh.
From his standpoint, every designer has a story and almost every one should write a memoir. “We don’t have enough history in our business,” Herman said, adding that as “a very open person,” he always picks up a call. He said, “I was president of the CFDA [Council of Fashion Designers of America] for 16 years. That was pretty heavy stuff to sit in a room controlling Ralph Lauren and Donna Karan…there are so many stories to be told.”
After the CFDA sent copies of “Uncross Your Legs” to its members, Herman has heard from numerous young designers and established ones like Tom Ford. Still on the CFDA board, Herman said, “I believe that within the next five years nothing will be the same. Young designers will find a whole new route. All of us old designers will just disappear. We’re going. The party’s over. But there’s always a party the next day.”
Having worked side-by-side with Herman during her tenure at the CFDA, Mallis recalled some of the awards shows they orchestrated with the help of such talents like filmmaker Douglas Keeve, event planner Robert Isabell and publicist Kevin Krier.
Ralph Rucci, who was in Tuesday night’s crowd, was singled out for his couture talents. “To look at a Ralph Rucci design is really to look at the Earth moving right on its axis,” Herman said, adding that he was moved to tears attending one of Rucci’s shows and went backstage afterward to tell him.
Herman’s CFDA led to liking every designer, but he had a problem with Oscar de la Renta, although not in the beginning of their careers. De la Renta did not think that Herman should be CFDA president, Herman claimed. In that role, however, Herman said he “was not a threat to any designers and they could open up their hearts to him.” Recalling his out-of-nowhere election, Herman said WWD headlined that news with “’Stan Who?”
Before that happened Horowitz had died of a heart attack in January 1991 and that void indirectly led Herman four months later to the lead role at the CFDA. The reality was Herman had been ready to retire and came out of the shadows and found a new balance. He continued to design, but remains the oldest and longest serving member of the CFDA. “It’s very Virgo. Everything in my life has longevity to it. I enjoy it and it makes me feel very comfortable,” Herman said.