I would develop an app called Notebook, an all-in-one tool for reporters who are out on assignment and writing and reporting the news. Not only would it be include a writing function to write a story or quick cutline, or caption, for a photo, but it would also allow for photo and video shooting and editing in the app. A function for looking up back stories for the story in the publication’s archives (once the archives are synced up to the app) and looking up information for the story is also possible via the app.
If a reporter looking up information for a story and doesn’t know where to look, the app would direct the writer to the proper source of information — whether that was a scientific study available online, a criminal record for an out-of-state convict or background information about the organization of a business, the app would pull up the information for the reporter so as to provide context for the story.
The app would also allow for audio production for those in radio and are recording or producing a segment for a radio show. This function would also help those recording and editing a podcast. The app would have the capability of syncing with the website of the station or publication that piece is for, so as soon as the piece was ready to be published, a reporter, editor or producer could do so immediately from the app.
Publishing the story or segment (for radio and television stories), as well as promoting the piece on social media, would also be available via Notebook. This function would behave much as the popular service HootSuite, which schedules posts for all social media sites from one platform. This tool would come in handy for those who manage a news outlet’s social media profiles and need to upload content to the likes of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Bonnie and Clyde (1967) is to this day a film that can still be said to show very fashionable looks, just like it did when the film was first released in more than 50 years ago. Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty were immaculately dressed in the movie by Theodora van Runkle. The clothes were classic enough for the ensembles to fit in with the Great Depression time period, but designed in a modern enough style for each piece to not give off the appearance of a period ensemble. Dunaway and Beatty can very well be said to look sharply dressed, sophisticated and even elegant, which made the styles the two actors wore in the film to be trendy looks, indeed. Since fashion most consider “classic” styles haven’t changed that much since the release of the late 1960s film, many who watch Bonnie and Clyde understandably consider the actors, in their prime, to be trendsetters in their now 52-year-old roles in that film.
Miracle on 34th Street (1994) Courtesy of imdb.com.
Other films that portray similar classic styles in fashion include Miracle on 34th Street (both the 1947 version and the 1994 version), The Imitation Game and Mona Lisa Smile. The tailored, mid-century looks women wore in these films remain popular for working women to this day, making them appropriate for the office and dressy social occasions. Modern styles, too, make for aesthetically-pleasing fashion in recent films. About Time, A Star is Born and The Devil Wears Prada are all films in which the main actors are outfitted in styles I find to be accessible and enjoyable — Rachel McAdam’s red wedding dress, Lady Gaga’s jeans and knotted-up t-shirt and Anne Hathaway’s numerous high-fashion looks on the job make for enjoyable fashion-watching in each of those movies.
Anna Karenina (2012) Courtesy og imdb.com.
Some films, however, show fashion that are truly works of art. Anna Karenina, Marie Antoinette, The Young Victoria and Titanic all feature actors and actresses dressed in some of the most beautiful clothes I’ve ever seen. Anna Karenina’s Jacqueline Durran, Marie Antoinette’s Milena Canonero, The Young Victoria’s Sandy Powell and Titanic’s Deborah Lynn Scott all designed some of the most jaw-dropping film fashion in cinema history.
Bibliography
Bonnie and Clyde. Arthur Penn. Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway. Warner Bros. 1967. Film.
Miracle on 34th Street. George Seaton. Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara. 20th Century Fox. 1947. Film
Miracle on 34th Street. Les Mayfield. Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins. 20th Century Fox. 1994. Film.
The Imitation Game. Morten Tyldum. Benedict Cumberbatch, Keira Knightly, Matthew Goode. The Weinstein Company. 2014. Film.
Mona Lisa Smile. Mike Newell. Julia Roberts, Kirsten Dunst, Julia Styles. Sony Pictures Entertainment. 2003. Film.
About Time. Richard Curtis. Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams. Universal Pictures. 2013. Film.
A Star is Born. Bradley Cooper. Bradley Cooper, Lady Gaga. Warner Bros. Pictures. 2018. Film.
The Devil Wears Prada. David Frankel. Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep. 20th Century Fox. 2006. Film.
Anna Karenina. Joe Wright. Kiera Knightly, Jude Law, Aaron Taylor-Johnson. Focus Features. 2012. Film.
Marie Antoinette. Sofia Coppola. Kirsten Dunst, Jason Schwartzman, Rip Torn. Columbia Pictures. 2006. Film.
The Young Victoria. Jean-Marc Vallee. Paul Bettany, Emily Blunt, Rupert Friend. Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions. 2009. Film.
Titanic. James Cameron. Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane. Paramount Pictures. 1997. Film.
Although my personal fashion and style library is limited, the few fashion books I have are very informative and have shed light on people and topics I’m interested in. The few I have in my library are only a start, and after researching other titles I should invest in, I plan to expand my collection of fashion, style and beauty books, especially on certain eras and figures in the fashion industry.
Audrey: The 50s by David Wills (Photo courtesy of Amazon)
The first, on Audrey Hepburn, is called “Audrey: The 50s” by David Wills. The book is an interesting compendium of photos and text about the life and style of actress Audrey Hepburn, who was just as much a fashion icon as she was an actress. Her perspective on fashion and her colleagues’ recollections of Hepburn’s style shed light on the Givenchy muse. “Sabrina” costume designer Edith Head, most fittingly, said, “Audrey Hepburn knew more about fashion than any actres…this was a girl way ahead of high fashion.” Wills’ work documents mostly the fashion Hepburn wore and championed in the 1950s, but briefly looks into the styles of her early life and in her later years. More styles and the story behind those styles pre- and post-1950s would have been nice to see. The book, published in October 2016, was published by Dey St., an imprint of William Morrow Publishers.
100 Ideas That Changed Fashion (Photo Courtesy of Goodreads)
“100 Ideas That Changed Fashion” by Harriet Worsley documents the big ideas and concept that drove the fashion industry forward. From the Delphos gown to the protest dress to Hip Hop, the array of diverse ideas in the fashion industry and the social and political changes that led to those ideas is detailed in engaging text and captivating photos. Information on each development in fashion history allows for the reader to gain perspective on what those developments in fashion meant and what those ideas mean today. The book was published in March 2012 by Laurence King Publishing.
100 Years of Fashion by Cally Blackman (Photo courtesy of Book Depository) and The Fashion Industry and Its Careers by Michele Granger (Photo courtesy of Douban)
Despite my fashion library being limited, a few on my list will make excellent additions to the collection: “100 Years of Fashion” by Cally Blackman, “The Fashion Industry and its Careers” by Michael M. Granger and “Vogue: The Covers” by Dodie Kazanjian are three I look forward to acquiring in the coming months. The information about fashion history, the artistry of fashion photography and the facets of the fashion industry I haven’t yet explored are all topics I’m intrigued by and excited to read about.
While there are many informative and illuminating books on fashion, beauty, style and similar topics, a few titles stand out that are recommended by those who are well-read in fashion and style literature. Written by fashion journalists and style writers, these books provide a detailed and rich history and appreciation of fashion, style, beauty, jewelry and design.
The End of Fashion by Teri Agins (Photo courtesy of Goodreads)
Two fashion publications, Fashionista and WhoWhatWear, have “The End of Fashion: How Marketing Changed the Clothing Business Forever,” by Teri Agins, on their list. Fashionista’s Lauren Indvik wrote in 2016, “If you only read one book on this list, read this,” about the book that details how high-quality design ceased to be the main consideration when fashion consumers bought clothes and marketing started driving sales instead. With the rise of consumer culture and sustainable fashion now becoming increasingly important topics in the modern fashion industry, this book appears to be an important text in the history of why we buy what we buy.
The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake (Photo courtesy of Women’s Wear Daily)
Another detailed piece about fashion history, “The Beautiful Fall: Lagerfeld, Saint Laurent and Glorious Excess in 1970s Paris” by Alicia Drake, is so informative and well-researched that it not only comes recommended by three different fashion publications — Fashionista, Harper’s Bazaar and Who What Wear — but, according to Fashionista’s Indvik, “Lagerfeld even sued Drake in 2006 for publishing so many personal details about his life.” The tome profiling the rivalry between two of fashion’s most prolific names is said by Harper’s Bazaar’s Kristen Bateman to also document the impact the two men made on the modern fashion world.
Gods and Kings by Dana Thomas (Photo courtesy of Women’s Wear Daily)
The lives of Lagerfeld and Saint Laurent aren’t the only ones in the history of fashion to come under scrutiny in the literary world. “Gods and Kings: The Rise and Fall of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano” by Dana Thomas analyzes how two high-profile men in the fashion industry more recently made a name for themselves, garnering massive successes before falling victim to tragedy or, as Who What Wear’s Schiffer puts it, “fall from grace.” The book also found a place on Fashionista’s list of best fashion books, with the site’s Lauren Indvik writing it is “an important document of the fashion of the ‘90s and early aughts.”
The Battle of Versailles by Robin Givhan (Photo courtesy of Goodreads)
Robin Givhan’s “The Battle of Versailles,” too, comes recommended by both Fashionista and Who What Wear. The maturation of the American fashion industry and the rise of ready-to-wear is the subject of the Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion critic’s 2015 book, detailing the national fledgling fashion industry’s rise in the 1960s and ‘70s. Fully titled, “The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled Into the Spotlight and Made History,” the book explores the “iconic runway faceoff of 1973,” according to Who What Wear’s Jessica Schiffer.
Women in Clothes by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits and Leanne Shapton
While not exactly a book about fashion history, “Women in Clothes” by Sheila Heti, Heidi Julavits and, apparently, 639 others contains views on fashion and style from a vast number of women, including Tavi Gevinson, Lena Dunham and Cindy Sherman, according to Harper’s Bazaar. In the words of Who What Wear, the book “is a celebration by women all over the world of how the garments we wear every day shape who we are.” The book promises to be a fascinating treatise on what women outside the fashion elite think of the industry and of the fashion themselves.
New York Times fashion reporter Elizabeth Paton is a fresh new voice in the journalism industry, writing about topics as varied as Riyadh’s first fashion week, how a burgeoning Middle Eastern country is becoming an increasingly influential player in fashion, culture and politics and how two high-end fashion brands created racist products. The British national and fashion reporter’s voice in each piece she writes for The New York Times gives depth, context and meaning to an event or development in fashion that might not otherwise seem all that important to the average fashion reader.
In a piece Paton wrote dated April 17, 2018, Paton looks at Saudi Arabia’s first fashion week and how the event was an indication of the historically closed-off country opening its borders to foreign influence and global communication. The London-based reporter details how talent in the country’s emerging fashion industry is developing and how the conservative nation’s first fashion week is a marker of larger efforts to “[spearhead] the easing of many long-standing social restrictions,” as Paton writes in her April 2018 piece “As Saudi Arabian Society Opens, A Fashion Reporter Looks Past the Runway.”
“The country is experiencing a time of great change, propelled by the ascendance of the king’s son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, 32,” Paton writes. “In recent months Saudi Arabia has given women permission to drive, join the military, visit sports arenas and cinemas and as of last week, attend public fashion shows.”
That freedom was the backdrop for Arab Fashion Week Riyadh, only one of many significant events in the fashion industry Paton reports in a global or wider context. In a shorter piece published Feb. 7 of this year, Paton outlined Adidas and Gucci’s reaction to backlash against one brand’s balaclava with a high enough neckline to cover the face, with an opening for the mouth that closely resembled blackface.
“Less than a week into Black History Month, in two episodes of retail deja vu, Adidas and Gucci have apologized and pulled products criticized as racist,” Paton wrote in “Gucci and Adidas Apologize and Drop Products Called Racist.” “The sweater included bright red lips ringing an opening for the mouth, a detail widely denounced as evoking blackface imagery.”
Paton’s reporting on that issue included past faux pas committed by fashion brands. From advertising campaigns based on racial stereotypes to products designed with racist characters in mind, Gucci and Adidas are far from the only two fashion companies to make questionable decisions about representing or advocating for diversity.
“Dolce & Gabbana was excoriated for advertisements laden with stereotypes about Chinese people,” Paton wrote. “Zara has featured a skirt with a character like Pepe the Frog, a figure embraced by far-right groups. Prada adorned bags with charms…that resembled black monkeys with outsize red lips.”
No matter the issue Paton reports on, she always ensures each piece includes history and context that keeps the topic she’s reporting on seeming like it’s reported on in a vacuum. The details and information she includes in her reporting makes each piece both engaging and educational, and keeps the reader moving throughout the story and allows the reader to connect the issue to a larger meaning.
Emily Weiss, creator of Into the Gloss and Glossier, is prolific in the fashion world. (Photo courtesy of CNBC via Glossier)
“Skin First. Makeup Second.” That’s the slogan Emily Weiss’s online beauty retail site, Glossier, uses to state the website’s — and the creator’s — objective. The beauty entrepreneur, both in her professional presence and in her personal life, prioritizes health and wellness over following industry- or expert-prescribed beauty trends. Weiss, the product of a Connecticut upbringing and New York University education, formerly worked in the beauty industry as a stylist’s assistant before launching her blog, Into the Gloss. The now-9-year-old blog is a reflection of Weiss’s intent to force beauty into a more honest and consumer-driven industry.
Weiss’s take on beauty, which Business of Fashion acclaimed as “a unique perspective on both beauty and her customer,” is a fresh and uncommonly democratic view of an industry that often relies on experts, celebrities and fashion insiders to create, market and celebrate. Her mission to make beauty more consumer-driven and give ordinary beauty customers the chance to look at what glamorous women have in their bathrooms compelled the once unmotivated high school student-turned NYU studio major to wake up at 5 a.m. to write.
“It wouldn’t have been possible without passion,” Weiss said in a 2015 Fashionista story by Lauren Indvik. “Unless you are totally obsessed with what you’re doing, it’s hard to get up at 5 a.m.”
The passion — and early hours — paid off. After leaving her full-time job at Vogue, Weiss focused on making her work for Into the Gloss her main gig. Since the blog was “never about me,” as she told Fashionista, she made content for her site about the beauty routines, favorite products and wellness habits of other women, strategically including the voices of other writers on the site after she started working at Into the Gloss full-time. These other writers, who write columns on topics as diverse as personal skin-care routines to updated ways to pull off yesterday’s makeup trends to who had the best look during March Madness, add to the decidedly populist nature of the blog and contribute to a brand that utilizes the voices of the fashion and beauty industry’s “outsiders.”
The consumer-driven content on Into the Gloss wouldn’t be Weiss’s last effort to take the creation and marketing of beauty products out of the hands of the glitterati and put it into the hands of the masses. The latest incarnation of Weiss’s brand, Glossier (pronounced just like dossier, according to The New York Times), is an online retailer selling makeup, haircare, skincare, body and fragrance products that the site claims is inspired by the people who use them.
“We make products for the people who inspire them: you,” reads the about page of the Glossier site. “We don’t believe beauty is made in a boardroom — it happens when you get involved.”
The popular beauty product site, as of 2015, raised $10 million from investors and hired 25 employees The New York Times claimed was mostly young women. The company’s success is due, in part, to the inclusion of products many beauty customers can’t live without. That concept, Weiss told Fashionista, was centered on “hard-hitting universal products designed to be the backbone of a woman’s beauty routine.” These kinds of products, which range in price from $12 to $26, and include items like Priming Moisturizer, perfecting skin tint, face mist, limited-edition metallic eyeliner and coconut-scented balm, among many other products.
The business encompasses the same democratic spirit as the products Glossier sells. Weiss hires employees who can hit the ground running and “do their thing.”
“My jobs is to empower all these ambitious, powerful people to do what we brought them in to do,” said Weiss to Fashionista’s Lauren Indvik. “We’re a sum of all parts — we win because of everyone there.”
Indvik, Lauren. “How ‘Into the Gloss’ and Glossier Founder Emily Weiss Turned A Side Project Into A Burgeoning Beauty Brand.” Fashionista. April 24, 2015. https://fashionista.com/2015/04/emily-weiss. Accessed April 13, 2019.
Hamish Bowles has a long career at Vogue celebrating – and criticizing – fashion. (Photo by Getty Images)
Hamish Bowles, international editor-at-large for Vogue, is described as many things by those who know him and write about him. Among the adjectives: dandy, professor, “British style maharishi” (as Interview called him in a Feb. 2009 piece). However, of the many things he is called, collector and student of fashion might very much be two to be the most fitting.
According to a Sept. 2013 story in The New York Times by Geraldine Fabrikant, Bowles first indicated his interest in fashion when he and his mother, out for a walk in their north London neighborhood, passed by an Indian woman dressed in what was described as an elaborate sari. The two-year-old Bowles ran up to the woman, and yelled at his mother, “Mummy, mummy, look, it has gold threads.”
The interest was not a passing one. As a boy driving across North Africa with his family in a Volkswagen camper, he would visit antique fairs on his travels, befriending women who would give him pieces of Victorian lace. It wasn’t long after that he started reading fashion magazines and looking at the work of Cecil Beaton, and it dawned on him he should start collecting. As a boy, he couldn’t collect much. However, his efforts to collect historic garments eventually led to not only a deeply contextual understanding of fashion and its major players, but also to a life curating shows that include the works of designers like Charles James, a mid-century master of couture. Bowles’ collection, housed in storage units in New York, numbered upwards of 2,000 pieces, according to fashion designer Narciso Rodriguez in the 2009 Interview piece.
With his long career in the Vogue family, Bowles not only established a name for himself as a top fashion editor, writer and collector, but as an accessible figure in the fashion industry, too. His visits to the Yayoi Kusama museum, documented in polka dot-laden photos on Instagram, and his celebratory tweets about his travels engage his 191,000 Instagram followers and his 57,000+ followers on Twitter, not to mention his fans and admirers across other platforms online and in print. The push to bring the professor of fashion to a place that was more popular came from Anna Wintour herself, who gave him “wacky” assignments that one rival editor said was an effort to get him away from work that was too “Mandarin.”
“The new mandate brings a sense of range to what might have been perceived as a sequestered, gilded Vogue life,” Hamish agreed in the New York Times piece.
The marriage of Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin is often blown out of proportion by tabloid magazines and high-end fashion publications alike. (Photo courtesy of Getty)
Writers at Elle regularly use hyped-up or exaggerated writing in pieces about topics ranging from the British royal family to the latest “it” couple to a pop star’s red-carpet looks. One example of the kind of language Elle writers use can be found in an online photo gallery piece of some of Taylor Swift’s recent looks. One description of what she’s wearing reads, “Swift looked like a fabulous disco ball at the 2018 American Music Awards. While that is the only example in that photo gallery’s text on the Elle website, other stories Elle publishes online resort to this over-the-top language.
A story by Elle’s Mehera Bonner contains numerous images of Kylie Kardashian and her baby daughter, Stormi, as Kylie is putting on makeup. The story contains a video, as well, with a sentence preceding it (capitalization is Bonner’s), “Like, HERE’S STORMI SAYING ‘BYE’ AND MELTING HEARTS IN THE PROCESS.” The concluding sentence of that story similarly falls back on language that inflates the situation, “In conclusion: Stormi is the best KarJenner, fact.”
Another Elle story by writer Daisy Murray leads with a misleading headline, “Justin Bieber Complains Wife Hailey Baldwin ‘Doesn’t Even Love Me No More’ In Candid Instagram Video.” The story then goes on to detail the couple being affectionate with each other in Bieber’s Instagram video, and his complaint is clearly a joke, not an actual complaint. While the headline is arguably the most hyped-up part of the story, Murray seems to take advantage of the fact that the Biebers are well-documented to have continuing issues they are working through in their marriage. The headline capitalizes on that ongoing story many publications are writing about.
Cindy Crawford founded skincare line Meaningful Beauty, and the infomercials to promote the brand feature a beauty journalist interviewing Cindy like it’s a news segment. (Image courtesy of Getty)
When a customer see an advertisement claiming beauty products help to make a woman more beautiful, reverse the effects of aging or another similar claim, such a broad statement can result in skepticism on the viewer’s part. Some ads meant to sell fashion, beauty or fitness products feature before-and-after images of customers who benefited from that product and lost weight, reversed signs of aging or otherwise beautified themselves. While there are many companies to resort to such tactics as this, one notable example to use this method of promotion is the Guthy Renker skin care line, Meaningful Beauty.
Supermodel Cindy Crawford, now in her fifties, is the face and spokesperson for one of the skin care company’s most famous products, the Meaningful Beauty collection. She, as well as well-known actresses of her generation, make an appearance in the infomercial advertisements for Meaningful Beauty. These women, as well as allegedly real Meaningful Beauty customers, advocate for the skincare line. Television actress Valerie Bertinelli, as well as “Will and Grace” star Debra Messing, advocate for the brand in the advertisement, with Bertinelli asking, “What is Cindy’s secret?” The answer, of course, is meant to be using Meaningful Beauty products.
The advertisement, expectedly, overlooks the plastic surgery procedures Crawford’s resorted to in the past. The former “House of Style” star told Vogue Italia in a 2010 interview she received Botox injections, confirming that her skincare routine doesn’t just depend on cleansers and serums, as she implies in the infomercial.
“What’s the secret?” Kat Dennings asked Crawford in her conversation in the advertisement.
“Meaningful Beauty,” Crawford responded.
While it’s not just actresses and models to vouch for the skincare line, the supposedly real Meaningful Beauty customers to appear in interviews in the advertisement seem to be made up, lit and filmed in order to maximize the youthfulness and glow of their skin. It remains unclear if or how much these customers were paid to appear in the infomercial. However, regardless of compensation for their promotion of the brand, the professional camera crew and glamor shots of these women does lend itself to suspicion that the product advertised actually does what the women in the infomercial said it does.
Bibliography
Guthy Renker. “Meaningful Beauty.” Online video clip. YouTube.com. Posted July 11, 2016. Web. Accessed March 19, 2019.
Smith, Ryan. “Cindy Crawford Talks Botox.” Vogue Italia. July 10, 2010. Web. Accessed March 19, 2019.
Whitney Bauck, associate editor at Fashionista, came to prominence through her fashion blog, Unwrinkling. (Photo courtesy of Fashionista).
Fashionista Associate Editor Whitney Bauck made a name for herself in fashion journalism not just as one of Fashionista’s most visible writers, but also as a fashion reporter with bylines in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other high-profile publications. Bauck’s fashion blog, Unwrinkling (which she hasn’t written on in two years), gained her a following of fashion enthusiasts who care about the sustainability of fashion and read Bauck for her take on being a faithful follower of her religion while also appreciating fashion.
Bauck’s unique take on fashion, style and sustainability earned her more than 5,400 followers on Instagram, which may not seem like much compared to, for example, Hamish Bowle’s 194,000. But it was one facet of her career that catapulted her to a large enough platform to be one of the featured speakers at the Sustainable Fashion Forum in Portland, Ore. on April 26. In addition to being a recognized figure in fashion journalism and being a high-profile fashion writer in the Pacific Northwest, her approach to fashion and fashion reporting joins her love of fashion and her love of her religion, Christianity, which not many other fashion writers or bloggers are doing in as great a number as completely secular fashion writers.
The associate editor of Fashionista is not only inclusive of those who take a more modest approach to fashion, but is also inclusive of those from other religions and makes a point of including diversity in her reporting — an approach many of her readers recognize and appreciate. Her smart and informative voice and her demand for smart, informative voices in fashion make her an increasingly recognizable star in the fashion world.
Madeline Shannon 