“You’ll never work in this town again!”

If I had a dime for every time I’ve heard the words “You’ll never work in this town again!” – I would have exactly 10 cents, as I’ve only heard it once in my life… Therefore, I had to share this story with all of you. So "buckle up - it's going to be a bumpy ride..."

Recently, I had one of the hugest publicists in the business call my office screaming like a lunatic at one of my sweet and hardworking interns as she read her the riot act as to why she despises me. Everyone in the biz whispers about how mean and nasty this woman is but no one dares to say anything to her about her behavior. They just chalk it up to "fashion". Now I know for a fact that I am a tough pill to swallow, but I didn’t know I evoked such hatred from certain people within this lovely industry. I know some of you are under the impression that I am the sweetest things since sliced bread, but this is not always true. What I “attempt” to be in my journey is fare, understanding and compassionate. So when people take to bullying people I care about and/or people that can’t defend themselves, I use my voice and my well worked out muscles to protect them. I am neither saint nor brute – just Malcolm.

Well it turns out this publicist whom shall remain nameless for now, also has a reputation for being one of the industry’s biggest bullies. She has made many an intern and/or fledgling fashionista actually weep from her verbal attacks and tirades. She is legendary for using the “f-word” the way most of use the words "this, that and those". Is it just me or is the f-word a bit more juvenile than it is vulgar? It always seems to reek of a lack of vocabulary and/or education. Anyway this irate publicist accused me of badmouthing her “all over the industry” after hearing that I said “verbatim” – “I don’t work with her anymore because our spirits didn’t mix.” I don’t know if this qualifies as “badmouthing” as when I said it to her “best friend” I was under the impression I was being quite diplomatic…

This publicist has now declared “Malcolm is through in fashion! He will never work in this town again!!!” I swear when I heard this I thought to myself “Do people still make these ridiculous threats.” It’s like something she must have heard in one of those old Hollywood movies starring Joan Crawford or Bette Davis. I also wondered if industry darlings like Phillip Lim and/or Peter Som are ever told things like this - or is it just me. I could actually imagine her putting out a cigarette in one of those stand-up ashtrays after she declared me finished... I am sure she said it loud enough for all of her poor interns and underlings to hear. Then it finally hit me… That’s it… Most of the people in this business are simply playing some role... All reliving some ficticious scene from an old Hollywood movie watched in the wee hours of an insomniac’s playtime. Unfortunately most of these roles aren’t even worthy of being called classics – they are simply tired, over rehearsed and just plain old “bad”. I think I would respect some of the “crazies” in the business a bit more if they were a bit more original in their craziness. Imagine if the role of publicist had been originally been played by Mother Teresa or Mahatma Gandhi.

I wish I could say at this point that after my intern informed me of this obnoxious telephone call I decided to take the “high road”. But the high road sometimes is best left for those aforementioned... For me, I don't really mind getting right down in the trenches and duking it out with the best of them… No, the high road isn’t always for me. Surprisingly, what I did do after receiving this telephone call message on this late Friday afternoon was to give myself a solid three day cool-off period. I would use these three days to see if I would still be filled with the same anger and sense of outrage I had felt as my intern relayed this vile message. The vile message that she was forced to write down word for word just in case she had gone home for the weekend before I returned to the office from my outside meetings.

Do you know what upset me the most? It was the fact that this poor girl had to receive such venom directly into her gentle spirit. To pour salt into her wound, she now had to repeat these words to her boss whom had arrived earlier than expected and whom she also knew would be a bit wounded by this woman’s poison. Meanwhile, I was not wounded in the least... I simply imagined myself as a cowboy in one of those old Westerns wherein the tough guy would take out his pocket knife, cut into the victim's wound and suck out all the venom before spitting it onto the ground. You see – I too know how to play a role… But I digress…

So I waited the entire weekend to see if on Monday morning that nagging “pang” left from Friday’s unfortunate incident would still be there… And on Monday morning, as I rubbed my stomach and chatted with my inner voice I could still feel the “pang” as if it were a pregnancy that had been carried to term. It was less than 30 minutes before I made the call...

I will not go into the gruesome and gory details of this call void of vengeance and motivated by purpose. My purpose was to finally say – “Enough is Enough!!!" All you need to know is that I haven’t heard a word from this self-acclaimed bad-ass/nail spitting publicist since this phone call... I guess she is out and about ruining my career. But what I will share with you is this, “The f-word sometimes serves it purposes.”- - - no matter how juvenile I still find it.

To be quite honest, I even waited a complete week before I shared this story with all of you… Mostly because I really had important work to do last week with the launch of the DFD T-shirt collection and simply did not want any of the negative energy associated with this encounter to commingle with our positive efforts... But for some reason, I knew that I had to share this bit of my journey as well…

What I can say about this entire episode is that I have learned a very important lesson about myself… I truly do love everything that makes me - M... I love the part of me which is so sensitive that the gentle words of a poem or a well delivered line in a favorite movie can move me to tears. I love my innate sense of elegance and poise that has been instilled in me by my mother and her AKA sorority sisters as well as my sense of power, strength and fairness inherited from my father and the venerable gentleman of his Omega Psi Phi fraternity. But what I also inherited from my father is my red hot Jamaican blood that flows through my every vein that says to all those that dare mistake me for some mere “fashion batty boi” - “If you ever use that language and/or attitude towards me or anyone I know or care about – I will FUCK YOU UP... Yes, I will fuck you up and still be the head of my own luxury brand.”

To all of you that believe that I may have finally gone over the deep edge, I respect you all but what I am saying is simply this…. The days of these fashion bullies are truly over... Never let anyone tell you that they can make you or break you as this is not true… They can of course attempt to throw roadblocks in your path, roadblocks that can easily be maneuvered by hardwork and perseverance. But no one – I tell you “No One” - can make or break you… I beg of you all to never give anyone this sort of insane power over your future... Your future is your own... Ask Marc!!!

Do you all think that it is by any coincidence that fashion’s Golden Boy, Marc Jacobs has finally said, “Enough Is Enough”… But everyone wants to call him crazy... This is no coincidence at all… People, individuals just like me, you and everyone else, are finally saying – “Enough is Enough!” “I will work in this town again… But I will do it my way… And you know what else - Fuck You!!!”

Sorry I couldn’t resist the f-word just one more time… That one felt really good and grown up…

p.s. Mark your calendars – I promise you all – I won’t be going anywhere… I will work everyday in this tow to make sure that I am still here…