Jackie Mallon is an Irish writer, and former fashion designer, currently living in New York. After studying at London’s Central St Martins, she worked in the world of Italian high fashion for eight years, stockpiling ideas for the novel she didn’t know she was gearing up to write. That became Silk for the Feed Dogs. Her second novel, We Too Are Gods, will be published through Betimes Books in 2021. She is currently working on her first work of non-fiction, and is Contributing Editor to FashionUnited.com
More about Jackie:
• Trained Irish dancer
• Rain worshipper
• Needlework enthusiast and calligraphist
• Loves to pencil sketch trees
• Former petrol pump attendant
• Lived above a South London pub frequented by Cockney gangsters
• Learned Italian in Milan by reading Harry Potter with dictionary during tram commutes
• Marathon finisher
• Revels in the serenity of airports
Jackie Mallon 
So glad to stumble upon your blog. Already grooving to your style.
Thanks for dropping by and grooving :-)I’m tickled pink. I love the art in your gallery, Is it a cafe in your neighborhood and they hang work of young local artists? The space compliments your paintings beautifully.
you are so multi talented! Nice to meet you Jackie!
It’s very nice to meet you too. Takes talent to know talent I like to think 🙂
Another great saying! ;p
Hi Jackie, I happened upon your piece on the writing.ie web site and was wondering…. I’m a journalist in NI, currently doing some work for the Belfast Telegraph and I wanted to ask if you’d be interested in me doing an interview with you for a feature article? I’d have to pitch it to the editor first but just looking at your blog, there would be plenty to write about, not least your book and your experience in the fashion industry. If you’re up for it, could send me your email address, perhaps via a private message on Twitter or on my my blog (and I’d obviously then delete the post so no-one else sees it.) Btw, as an aspiring author myself, I like what you wrote on the writing.ie site… rejection letters can be tough-going! It’s encouraging to see you’ve ended up with a published book though!
Hi Claire., standby…
Hi Jackie, would you be interested in doing a feature with Sunday World about your book and your career? Give me a shout on roisin.gorman@nth.sundayworld.com. Cheers. Roisin.
I love your blog. I have nominated you for the sunshine awards. The award is for those who are creative and inspiring. http://bulanlifestyle.wordpress.com/2013/12/02/honouring-awards-better-late-than-never/
Oh my goodness! I’m all a-quiver! Oh wait a minute, the pressure. I’ll have to go look now and see what I must to to claim this lovely thing…Thank you very much x
There’s no pressure! It’s all about having some fun with it and recognizing fellow bloggers. I didn’t follow the rules, but then I never do ;p
I am truly honored and will do everything (by the rules if you don’t mind) to claim this treasured prize and do you proud 🙂
Hi Jackie, hope you don’t mind, but I’ve nominated you for a blogging award (or two!) Jx
http://cocktailsandcountrytales.wordpress.com/2013/12/03/the-liebster-award-and-the-versatile-blogger/
I most certainly do not mind! Thank you very much. I shall have to investigate further and see what this lovely thing is all about as I was going ignorantly but merrily along my blogging way and have just been introduced to this awards business in the past few days. I’ve viewed your list and see that I among superior company. I am honored. Thank you again. I’ll try to do you proud :-)xo
Hi Jackie,
You must be a master of time management, have the metabolism of a hummingbird, four arms, two heads, and live in a world with 72 hour days. So perhaps you have some time for another design project due around 2017. There is little money in it but certainly recognition, appreciation and a world wide competition event for your design. Interested? terminalbeard@gmail.com
Jackie: I’m writing to say “thank you”. You left a nice comment regarding the voice reading the excerpt from The Last Island by David Hogan on his web site. The reader is me. I just saw the comment and did a quick Yahoo search of Jackie Mallon which lead me here. Congratulations on Silk For The Feed Dogs and good luck with all of your endeavors. ~ Michael Manion
Hi Michael.
Thanks for getting in touch. Good job on The Last Island. Hope you are enjoying continued success and compliments again.
All the best!
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If you like rain, you should come to Florida. I personally am a fan of thunderstorms. It’s what keeps me here.
I’ve been to Florida but it wasn’t raining. Thunderstorms are pretty exciting though, I’ll give you that. I would like to live in a permanent Autumn.
Hi Jackie, leaving a note here as I don’t think you have a contact form. I stayed up last night to finish your novel. It was so much fun. I worked in Milan, in the entertainment industry, before you were there and tangentially came in contact with that world. Impossible not to if you live there. You capture the spirit of a certain segment of Italy, the schizophrenia of our relationship to sex, and the humdrum of the city so well. I really enjoyed it and am glad you are writing again. I assume you drew a lot from your own experience and you don’t have to answer this, but did you work for a certain fashion icon with a house on an island off the coast of Sicily?
Hey there! Thanks for your lovely response and for losing sleep with my novel. It means a lot as you can comment on the nature of Milanese “Show biz” industries and the people who flit about those worlds. If you cared to write a little review on Amazon of your thoughts, especially as you’ve swam in those waters, I’d be most grateful. I had a reasonable writing day today so your vote of confidence is very timely and hopefully will propel me to do good things tomorrow too! I hope your intriguing project is taking some shape…But you’d have to get me drunk on those giant Milanese cocktails to get me to spill any trade secrets!
The review is in. And you are welcome.
Oh I do miss those cocktails! Standing at the counter feeding myself like a piglet on all the free food in lieu of dinner….How come no one has figured out to do this here???
Even drunk I wouldn’t probably reveal my music industry trade secrets, so I understand!
Thanks so much for the lovely words. Me too, I miss aperitif hour. I saved so much on grocery shopping living in Italy! I wonder if during the country’s current economic struggles these little touches that we came to expect as part of daily life have been compromised…
Thanks for following my blog. I’ve loved looking through your posts, and will look forward to more!
Thank you and likewise!
Thanks for the follow! I’m not too actively reading and blogging at present, but I’ll be back!
No worries, happy to know you!
Likewise!
Inevitably with sofa girls’ endorsement I have to follow and will look for Silk for the Feed Dogs. BTW at 2pm 9/11 I was sitting in the bar atop the old Dublin Brewery. I received calls from Goldman Sachs (daughter in London) and Maersk (son in law in Honk Kong). Asked if any nuclear devices were involved and kept drinking. It induces flatulence – the stout. Also verbal diarrhoea.
Hi Jackie, Thanks for stopping by and for the comment discussion we’ve been having back and forth! Love your passion for life and congrats on the success of your book! I’m following your blog now and look forward to where life next takes you.
Here to discover an email address..but there isn’t one! damn it! Have an idea for a combined post I want to run by you..contactkatebentley@gmail.com xxx
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Oh my, I am so honored! My splutterings have found a home. I love how you have developed them. 😀
I recently read a book review on Silk for the Feed Dogs on somebody’s site and know I would like to read it.I have been around sewing machines all my life and didn’t know what they were called. You are indeed multi-talented and I look forward to getting to know you.
Oh let me guess, you’ve hopped over from Francis’s site? That was a very generous review she gave me. I too have been around sewing machines all my life for my sins (mum was a dressmaker) You will relate to a few of the stories I’m sure! Thanks for your interest. I’m likewise looking forward to making your acquaintance 🙂
Not sure if you do these, but anyway I’ve nominated you for the “Sisterhood of the World” blog award. Yay.
http://spacemonkeytwins.wordpress.com/2014/04/19/thank-you-for-reading-have-an-award/
We share the “religion” of rain worshiping, and I’m very curious about the airport thing…
Hey Jackie Would you be interested in being part of a tagged blog called Why I Write? We were invited by The Gisbourne Gourmet http://thegisbornegourmet.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/why-i-write/ and both feel you would be the person whose answers we would most like to read? Basically you do a short intro about us, answer four questions and then nominate someone else. Our post will have a hand-off nomination to you and feature your website. We know you are busy with your book … but what do you think …any room in your hectic sched for this? If you are game we will post next week. regards SUE and CLAUDIA
Hey ladies,
Hope your summer is going well.
I did this one a few weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. But thanks for thinking of me. You can read my answers here: http://jackiemallon.com/2014/05/25/why-do-you-write/
I look forward to reading your answers and the responses of who you nominate.Thanks again! X
Hi Jackie. You are so incredibly talented. I just took up dressmaking classes this year and I have so much admiration for your work. I am enjoying the creative side of the classes but I do lack the kind of engineering brain you need to be really good. My husband is just relieved I haven’t sewn myself to the material yet. Classes start again in a few weeks. I just feel sorry for the poor teacher. Emma.
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I looked forward to a career in home economics and design once–not necessarily for commercial purposes but for practical family living. My training was not wasted in that I could sew and design for my husband and children, but that was as far as it went. I did sew for friends and suite mates in college, but that got old in a hurry because I could not charge them like I needed to for my time spent.
My mother inspired me with stories about her own mother’s sewing talent and how she followed the “waste not; want not” philosophy in making her a dress from 57 pieces of cloth when she was a small girl. Sewing was never a chore for me and eventually I learned to knit and crochet too. Try two links in my newest blog to get the feel for things I like to do (https://helpmeet39.wordpress.com/2014/10/24/keeping-busy-trying-to-leave-something-of-value/) and (https://helpmeet39.wordpress.com/inside-out/).
Dear Jackie,
I am contacting you on your blog (as I was unable to find an email address) on behalf of the Louise Wilson Memorial Steering Group, as we are trying to make contact with all year groups taught by Professor Louise Wilson at St Martins.
First and foremost, we would like to invite you to attend the memorial service planned in honour of Louise, on Friday 20 February 2015 at St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. It would be greatly appreciated if you could please RSVP, providing your postal address, by the end of the week. A formal invitation will follow in due course.
We would also like to compile contact details for all of Louise’s students, as we would like to establish an alumni network especially for the MA Fashion course, which will be linked to the Louise Wilson MA Fashion Fund.
At present, our lists are not as complete as they should be, so please let me know if you are able to pass on any contacts in terms of fellow students in your year group or beyond.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Noura Sultani
n.sultani1@arts.ac.uk
BA Fashion History and Theory student, Central Saint Martins
Working on behalf of the Louise Wilson Memorial Steering Group
I agree. Airports can be fun. I like the Tokyo airport and airport hotels best.
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Hi Jackie, nice work on your Freddie Burretti feature and thanks for mentioning the film. Hopefully at some point it will grace New York. Cheers Lee
Hi Jackie. I was forwarded your blog by a colleague and find your writing very intriguing. In regards to your article on Edward Enninful, I was wondering about who you would imagine could have been appointed as a black female to lead Vogue UK? On paper, Mr. Enninful was the most qualified regardless of his gender or race. Additionally, I believe you would have a hard time finding someone who has the relationships with the brands and has styled more campaigns for the likes of Dolce & Gabbana, Dior, Lanvin, Gucci, Mulberry, Empirio Armani to name a few. While early reports cited Katie Grand, Emily Sheffield, Sally Singer and Jo Ellison among the candidates, I just don’t see how industry alums were surprised that is was Mr. Enninful.
Hi Asanti, thanks for reaching out. It’s nice to “meet” you. I don’t know that I had particular candidates in mind, or even if I would have the overview to effectively make a short list. I hadn’t heard of Elaine Welteroth who last year became editor of Teen Vogue but now I hear about the magazine like never before so it seems her hire was a solid move that’s working well for them. I don’t intend to take anything from Enniniful’s hire which as you mention is based on an amazing track record. And I agree! But if I think of how iD made Enninful the youngest ever director of an international fashion magazine at only 18 with little to no prior experience, which turned out to be a brilliant step, I wonder could we ever expect that level of boldness in a hire today? (Some might argue Enninful represents just that and for many reasons I would agree) But perhaps someone not completely known outside of the field but a force bursting with the creativity and adaptability to make Vogue mean something new to today’s diverse––but still predominantly female––reader? A level of daring that might be the equivalent of Balmain approaching young and relatively unknown Olivier Rousteing? Only this time, a female. Why not? Now would be the time. While Enninful has an extensive network and is well-loved, I think the power of the Vogue name, its connections and reputation mean the design houses will automatically be on board, the models will be booked and all of that. To address your last sentence, my surprise at his posting was bittersweet. A reaction of “Oh, that’s great…wait a minute, oh…”
This is so fun! I looked up my name…Jackie Mallon…to see if I could find my graduating class photos and I found someone else who shares my name!
Nice to meet you, Jackie Mallon Spenger! What dya know!
Hello Jackie,
I hope you are well and don’t mind my contacting you via your blog,
I am a student journalist writing a tribute to Sophia Kokosalaki. I was wondering whether I might be able to contact you?
Best,
Grace
Hi Grace, I’m happy to help although I had no contact with Sophia after CSM. I have one or two memories though which you might find helpful. You can email me at jackie@fashionunited.com