Fashion journalism is a component of fashion media, with a focus on writing and photojournalism. Fashion journalists write about and critique fashion events and trends as well as cultivate and maintain relationships with stylists and designers. Fashion journalists are either employed full-time by a publication, or they submit articles on a freelance basis. [1] Fashion photography, which supplanted fashion illustration in the 1900s, is a type of photojournalism used in fashion journalism. The Internet has given rise to a number of outlets for amateur fashion journalism, such as blogs and vlogs.
Fashion journalism developed during the 18th century, when the fashion dolls – dolls designed to display relevant fashion ensembles – were replaced by fashion magazines, notably the Cabinet des Modes , which is recognized to be the first true fashion magazine. [2] This Partisan publication had illustrated fashion plates that "...fed the increasing appetite for French fashion, which was growing in tandem with the expanding urban population's desire to separate itself from the way of life plotted out and decreed by the French Court". [3] It was followed abroad by Journal des Luxus und der Moden (1786–1827) in Germany, Giornale delle Dame e delle Mode di Francia (1786–1794) in Milan, and Gallery of Fashion (1794–1803) in Britain. [4]
During the 19th century, numerous fashion magazines were published, employing fashion journalists reporting on the latest trends from Paris. Among the earliest in Great Britain were Ann Margaret Lanchester, who published her own fashion paper, the Le Miroir de la Mode, and Mary Ann Bell, writing for the La Belle Assemblée in the early 19th-century. [5]
Fashion magazines of the 20th century include Elle and Vogue .
As society increases its dependence on the internet, the journalism industry is becoming far more fluid. Print, being more costly and less convenient, many publications (such as Nylon magazine) have opted to focus on a digital publication. Digital journalism gives the writer unlimited space (rather than forcing an article to fit in a magazine or newspaper layout), allows for links to external resources, and a number of images. Another major advantage of digital media is real-time updates/corrections to misinformation.
Major fashion magazines such as Vogue , Elle , Marie Claire , Cosmopolitan , and Paper Magazine have altered their business models due to the onset of the digital age, creating an online component in addition to print. Social media has also contributed to the rise in these digital magazine platforms, allowing them to be far more interactive than they have been in the past.
The Internet has given rise to a number of outlets for amateur fashion journalism, such as blogs and vlogs.
Journalism is a general liberal arts major that can be studied at many universities. A concentration in fashion journalism is specific to a number of fashion schools. Generally, a fashion journalist needs at least a BA in fields such as journalism, communications, fashion or other related areas. A strong portfolio and experience in reporting on fashion is key to being hired as a fashion journalist post-grad. [6]
Vanessa Friedman is the chief fashion director and fashion critic for The New York Times. Before joining the team at the Times, Friedman was the first fashion editor at the Financial Times, alongside her job editing the pages of Luxury360 vertical. Previously, she was the features editor for InStyle UK . She was the 2012 recipient of the Front Page Award for fashion writing and the 2013 Fashion Monitor Journalist of the Year award.
Robin Givhan is the first and only fashion journalist to win The Pulitzer Prize for Criticism as of 2006. She drew attention to her work after criticizing former US Vice President Dick Cheney for wearing casual attire (a ski cap and parka) to a ceremony commemorating the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. In this piece, Givhan stressed the importance of how political leaders choose to present themselves. [7]
Cathy Horyn is the critic-at-large for New York Magazine's The Cut since 2015, having spent 15 years as the former chief critic of The New York Times with roles at The Washington Post and Vanity Fair. [8] In 2001, she was awarded the Eugenia Sheppard Award for fashion writing by the Council of Fashion Designers of America. [9]
Sarah Mower MBE is a chief critic and columnist for American Vogue. She is also an advocate for young designers as the Ambassador for Emerging talent at the British Fashion Council since 2009. Mower received the MBE in 2011 in recognition of her contributions to fashion. [10]
Suzy Menkes OBE is a veteran fashion journalist who was most recently the Editor of Vogue International, departing in October 2020. [11] She also helmed The New York Times International Edition back when it was the International Herald Tribune as its fashion critic for 25 years, ultimately departing for Condé Nast International in 2014. [12] She now produces a podcast "Creative Conversations With Suzy Menkes" and contributes to Air Mail, a mobile-first digital weekly created by Graydon Carter. [13]
Dame Anna Wintour is a British and American media executive based in New York City who has served as editor-in-chief of Vogue since 1988. Wintour has also served as global chief content officer for Condé Nast since 2020, where she oversees Condé Nast magazines worldwide, and concurrently serves as artistic director of Condé Nast and global editorial director of Vogue. With her trademark pageboy bob haircut and dark sunglasses, Wintour is regarded as the most powerful woman in publishing and has become an important figure in the fashion world. Wintour is praised for her skill in identifying emerging fashion trends, but her reportedly aloof and demanding personality has earned her the nickname "Nuclear Wintour".
Suzy Peta Menkes is a British journalist and fashion critic. Formerly the fashion editor for the International Herald Tribune, Menkes also served as editor, Vogue International, for 25 international editions of Vogue online until October 2020.
Rochas is a fashion, beauty, and perfume house founded in 1925 by French designer Marcel Rochas, the first designer of 2/3-length coats and skirts with pockets and one of the two designers, along with Elsa Schiaparelli, who launched the fashion for padded shoulders in 1931. Rochas had been known primarily for its signature perfume, "Femme," which was packaged in a pink box with black lace.
Cathy Horyn is an American fashion critic and journalist who worked for The New York Times from 1998 until 2014 where she had the highly noted and provocative blog On The Runway. In 2015, she was appointed critic-at-large for New York Magazine's website The Cut, reviewing the Fall 2015 womenswear shows in New York and Paris. Horyn was only the second New York Times fashion critic, having succeeded Amy Spindler who retired in November 2003. She is a supporter of Belgian designer Raf Simons.
Catherine "Kate" de Castelbajac is a former model and fashion journalist who now works as an image consultant and educator. She is the founder of CdeC Academy of Santa Barbara and is affiliated with the Association of Image Consultants International.
Eugenia Benbow Sheppard was an American fashion writer and newspaper columnist for some 80 newspapers (including the Columbus Dispatch, New York Post, The Boston Post, and most notably, the New York Herald Tribune.
Ralph Rucci is an American fashion designer and artist. He is known in particular for Chado Ralph Rucci, a luxury clothing and accessories line. Rucci's clothing designs have appeared in a number of major exhibitions, and he has won some significant fashion-industry awards. He is the subject of a recent documentary, and he and his clothing have received positive critical response in the fashion press.
Vogue Italia is the Italian edition of Vogue magazine owned by Condé Nast International. In publication since 1964, it has been called the top fashion magazine in the world.
Emmanuelle Alt is a French fashion editor who was the editor-in-chief of Vogue Paris from February 2011, succeeding Carine Roitfeld, to May 2021.
Vogue France is the French edition of Vogue magazine, formerly called Vogue Paris from its inception until 2021. The magazine started publication in 1920 and has since been regarded as one of the top fashion publications.
Josephus Melchior Thimister was a Dutch interior decorator and noted fashion designer who launched his eponymous fashion label, THIMISTER in 1997. In 2001, the editor-in-chief of Vogue USA Anna Wintour named Josephus Thimister as one of the Twenty-First Century's best fashion designers. In 2010, Cathy Horyn writing for The New York Times described his couture show and its pieces as, "fascinating (…) quite clear in military shapes and broken elegance. Dresses like melted down family silver". After a brief period with Karl Lagerfeld as an assistant, he worked as a designer at Jean Patou before being appointed director of luxury prêt-à-porter at the house of Balenciaga. It was for the next five and a half years that Thimister would spend reviving the brand with his pure, succinctly modernist vision. He then set up his own Paris-based house in 1997, and thereafter presented both haute couture and prêt-à-porter collections under his name.
Nicola Formichetti is a fashion director and fashion editor. Born in Japan, he is most widely known as the artistic director of the Italian fashion label Diesel and for being a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter Lady Gaga. He worked two years with the French fashion house Mugler as artistic director.
Edward Kobina Enninful is a Ghanaian-born British editor and stylist who was the editor-in-chief of British Vogue and the European editorial director of Condé Nast. He was appointed fashion director of the British fashion magazine i-D at the age of 18, a position he held for more than two decades. He subsequently held the positions of contributing fashion editor at Vogue Italia and American Vogue, as well as creative fashion director at W magazine. Enninful was appointed editor-in-chief of British Vogue in 2017 but stepped down after a short tenure in 2023.
Penelope Rowlands is an Anglo-American author, editor, and journalist best known for her 2005 biography, A Dash of Daring: Carmel Snow and Her Life in Fashion, Art, and Letters, about the Irish-born editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar.
Jean Ward Patchett Auer was a leading American fashion model of the late 1940s, 1950s, and early 1960s. She was among the best known models of that era, which included Dovima, Dorian Leigh, Suzy Parker, Evelyn Tripp and Lisa Fonssagrives. Patchett was the subject of two of Vogue Magazine's most famous covers, both shot in 1950 by Erwin Blumenfeld and Irving Penn. She was famous for being one of the first high-fashion models to appear remote; previously, models had appeared warm and friendly. Irving Penn described her as "a young American goddess in Paris couture".
Jessica Michault is an American fashion journalist and is the Executive Editor of ODDA magazine.
Zoran Ladicorbic, known as Zoran, is an American fashion designer who launched his business in 1976. He is particularly known for extremely minimalist, understated garments following the American sportswear principle, in neutral colors and high quality natural fabrics such as silk, linen and cashmere wool. His clothes have been described as "Gap for the very rich", and as "revolutionary" due to being designed without "built-in obsolescence".
The Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design is the first educational establishment of the Condé Nast Publications Ltd. in London, UK.
Jane Mulvagh is an Irish-born journalist and social historian, specialising in British history. She is best known for her history of Madresfield Court, the English country house upon which Evelyn Waugh based his novel Brideshead Revisited.
Linda Loppa is a Belgian fashion designer and fashion consultant. For nine years, she served as the director of Polimoda in Florence, Italy and is now its strategy and vision advisor.