
Paris Vogue Edito-In-Chief, Carine Roitfeld, Elle Magazine Style Director, Kate Lanphear, Vogue Nippon Fashion Director at Large, Anna Dello Russon and Teen Vogue Accessories Director Taylor Tomasi are names of the fashion gods to us here at goat. boutique. See below how the women behind the fashion game became it’s key players.
FASHION INSIDERS MAKE OBVIOUS ICONS. EDITORS, BUYERS, AND GLOSSY CONTRIBUTORS HAVE ACCESS TO THE BEST OF EACH SEASON AND BOAST ACUMENS INCUBATED (APPETITES SUPPRESSED) OVER COCKTAILS WITH FASHION’S MOST INCISIVE MINDS. NOT TO MENTION, THEY’RE PREVUE TO BEAUTY REGIMES EVEN JOCELYN WILDENSTEIN CAN’T BUY.
PERHAPS TOO OBVIOUS. BECAUSE, SAVE FOR A FEW BOLDFACE EXCEPTIONS—DIANA VREELAND, ANNA PIAGGI, ISABELLA BLOW—THE FASHION INSIDER HAS LONG BEEN VICTIM OF FRANKENSTEINIAN FATE: HER NAME OFT OVERSHADOWED BY THE FACES (MODELS, CELEBS, EVEN PHOTOGS) SHE’S MADE FAMOUS.
OF LATE, THOUGH, IT SEEMS FASHION’S NEOPHILISM HAS STRUCK AGAIN. IN THE PAST 24 MONTHS, MODELS AND CELEBRITIES—ONCE THE GO-TO IT-GIRLS FOR FASHION SPECTATORS—HAVE BEEN RATHER POINTILY ELBOWED OUT. ENTER THE LIKELIEST OF STYLE ICONS, THE ORIGINAL FASHIONISTA: THE EDITRIX. THE STYLE MAKERS HAVE BEEN ELEVATED FROM THE SHADOWY TRENCHES OF THE CATWALK TO THE SMACK CENTRE OF THE RUNWAY SPOTLIGHT—A GUCCI, TOM FORD-ERA ONE, AT THAT.
CARINE ROITFELD, PARIS VOGUE’S LEADING LADY, IS THE LONGSTANDING VANGUARD OF THE EDITRIX ELITE. HER THREAD ON THE POPULAR FASHION SPOT FORUMS HAS OVER 500,000 VIEWS, BEATING OUT LOU DOILLON, THANDIE NEWTON, AND DAPHNE GUINNESS—COMBINED. LAST YEAR, FRENCH VOGUE PAID HOMAGE TO ROITFELD’S AMERICAN COUNTERPART, ANNA WINTOUR, WITH A DOPPELGANGER MODEL DONNING THE ICE QUEEN’S SIGNATURE BOB AND SUNGLASSES.
MEANWHILE, ELLE’S SENIOR FASHION EDITOR, KATE LANPHEAR, HAS HER OWN FACEBOOK GROUP, COMPLETE WITH JAUNTY HYBRID MONIKER: LANPHEARITES UNITED. EVEN THE STREETSTYLE BLOGS, ONCE THE MOST ARDENT PREACHERS OF ACCESSIBLE DRESSING, HAVE TRADED THE EVERYGIRL FOR THE GODS. VIRGINIA SMITH, OLIVIER ZAHM, AND MELANIE HUYNH NOW MAKE REGULAR APPEARANCES ON THE SARTORIALIST.
ANNA DELLA RUSSO, FASHION EDITOR OF VOGUE NIPPON, IS USUALLY QUICK TO CALL A TREND, ALTHOUGH PERHAPS NOT ONE SO PERSONAL.
“IT’S ABOUT US, ABOUT THE PEOPLE THAT WORK IN FASHION. WHAT YOU WEAR, WHAT YOU EAT, WHEN YOU SLEEP, WHEN YOU WAKE UP,” DELLA RUSSO SAYS. “IT’S THE NEW PHENOMENON.”
DELLA RUSSO’S RIGHT: ONE ROUND MARKS A TREND, THE SECOND MAKES A BONA FIDE PHENOM. SO WHILE WINTOUR, ROITFELD, AND ALT REPRESENT THE VENERABLE APEX OF EDITOR STYLE, THERE’S A NEW BREED OF UP-AND-COMING INSIDERS STOMPING (THE EFFECT; THE CAUSE? HARDYS AND ALAIAS) INTO THE SPOTLIGHT. CALL THEM THE NEW GUARD: TAYLOR TOMASI, ACCESSORIES DIRECTOR OF TEEN VOGUE; THE AFORE-MENTIONED AND FORMIDABLE KATE LANPHEAR; AND JULIA FRAKES, WRITER FOR PAPER MAGAZINE.
BUT WHY HAVE THOSE THAT FURNISHED THE REFERENCE SUDDENLY BECOME, WELL, THE REFERENCE?
DELLA RUSSO CREDITS THE NASCENT INTEREST TO A GREATER THIRST FOR REALISM. THE BOOM IN STREETSTYLE TRENDS AND UNDONE GLAMOUR WOULD POINT IN THAT DIRECTION. AND WHILE IT’S NEVER IN GOOD FORM TO CONTRADICT A PROFESSIONAL TRENDSETTER’S FORECASTS, FASHION HAS NEVER REALLY BEEN ABOUT REALISM. FOR ALL THE RHETORIC, THE STREETSTYLE IS PAINSTAKINGLY AFFECTED, THE UNDONE GLAMOUR METICULOUSLY DONE (AND REDONE), AND THE FASHION EDITOR NO MORE REAL THAN MAKESHIFT BALI SHE’S CREATED FOR HER SUMMER SWIMWEAR ISSUE.
LIKE A BOUQUET OF BLACK BLOSSOMS, THIS INSIDER IS A CULMINATION OF IMPOSSIBLES: CRIMINALLY STYLISH, GENETICALLY BLESSED, INCREDIBLY CONNECTED. SHE SYNTHESIZES HEMLINES AND BOTTOM LINES FROM ATOP KIRKWOOD HEELS AND TAKES HER EASE IN THE LESS-THAN-EASY-TO-ACCESS STUDIOS OF THEYSKENS OR GHESQUIERE.
NOT UNLIKE THE SEESAWING OF FASHION ITSELF, HER RISE IS MORE ABOUT THE FALL OF HER PROGENIES THAN HER OWN CONSCIOUS STABS FOR THE SPOTLIGHT. PERHAPS SHE’S REAL ONLY BECAUSE THE OTHERS HAVE BEEN EXPOSED AS OH-SO-FAKE.
THE CURTAINS HAVE BEEN DRAWN ON THE CELEBRITY MACHINE, THE PUPPETEERING STYLISTS RUTHLESSLY EXPOSED. THE DIEHARD FASHION CROWD HAS BEEN SOURED BY THE STARS’ NATURALLY BRUMMAGEM TASTES AND THEIR TENUOUSLY FASHION-RELATED HYPHENATE HOBBIES.
MODELS, FOR ALL THEIR LITHE AND LISSOME BEAUTY, ARE OFTEN BLANK CANVASES THAT, OFF THE RUNWAY, LOOK MORE LIKE BURLAP. (NO SURPRISE, SINCE MOST OF THESE GREEN YOUNG THINGS ARE ROOTED IN THE MIDWEST.)
WE’VE ALSO WITNESSED THE RISE OF THE ONSCREEN EDITOR – SOME REAL, SOME FAKE, MOST PERCHED SOMEWHERE IN BETWEEN. THERE WAS NINA GARCIA, ELLE EDITOR-CUM PROJECT RUNWAY JUDGE-CUM FASHION AUTHOR OF THE LITTLE BLACK BOOK OF STYLE. THEN, MILLIONS SAW MERYL STREEP’S TURN AS THE HISTRIONIC EDITOR, MIRANDA PRIESTLY, IN THE THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. JUST RECENTLY, JOE ZEE AND ANNE SLOWEY BIRTHED THEIR OWN CW REALITY SHOW, STYLISTA.
AMONG OTHER THINGS, GARCIA, ZEE, AND EVEN STREEP HAVE REMINDED US OF THE OBVIOUS: INSIDERS DO HAVE THE BEST STYLE. AND AKIN TO THEIR RESPECTIVE PUBLICATIONS, EACH HARBINGER PURVEYS A DISTINCTLY PERSONAL VISION OF FASHION’S FUTURE. TOMASI: LAYERED IRREVERENCE; DELLA RUSSO: COUTURE-TRASH CHIC; ROITFELD: BON MAUVAIS GOÛT.
BUT AS THE MAKERS OF THE FASHION GAME, THESE GIRLS KNOW ITS RULES BEST. IN, OUT. KNOWINGLY, DELLA RUSSO SMIRKS, “THIS IS OUR MOMENT. LET’S KEEP IT UP, GIRLS, BECAUSE MAYBE THE NEXT ONE THERE WILL BE ANOTHER KIND OF PHENOMENON.”