Fashion Needs More Critique, Not Less.

Much has already been said about the Hedi Slimane/Cathy Horyn tiff so I will keep this brief. I would just like to offer one observation.

Hedi Slimane belongs to a generation of designers that emerged on the scene in the age of luxury fashion conglomerates whose deep pockets and lavish advertising budgets have turned most of the mainstream fashion media (and many bloggers) into little more than extensions of their in-house press departments. Upon joining a venerable fashion house belonging to one such conglomerate, he naturally assumed that he could "manage the message".

Slimane's assumption wasn't entirely unfounded. Even newspapers who are far less beholden to advertisers than glossies frequently offer little more than description dressed up as criticism (by "criticism", I mean assessing the strengths and weaknesses of a collection as opposed to merely describing it). For newspapers, what is at stake is less advertising revenue than access. Simply put, we live in an age where members of the industry seem afraid to voice anything akin to an actual opinion for fear of alienating powerful brands.

Too many designers are unaccustomed to hearing actual fashion critiques because professional fashion criticism is increasingly rare. Ms. Horyn belongs to a dwindling class of fashion critics that include veterans like Suzy Menkes, Lynn Yeager, Robin Givhan and Virginie Mouzet (who sadly will be leaving French daily Le Figaro for yet another Conde Nast title, the yet-to-be launched French language edition of Vanity Fair). At the end of the day, whether the world agrees with Ms. Horyn's assessment of Mr. Slimane's inaugural collection for the house of Saint Laurent is irrelevant. She was doing her job.

I think Show Studio founder Nick Knight said it best during the last live fashion panel discussion streamed on his site yesterday: "Fashion needs a strong critical forum." I agree. Informed fashion criticism by independent professional journalists plays a valuable role for designers and consumers alike. We need more of it, not less.

Sincerely,

The Luxe Chronicles

Comments

[willowblue]

Fashion doesn’t just need critique; it also needs more OBJECTIVE critique.
Cathy Horyn is an engaging writer whose insider observations are phrased in provocative and occasionally overly-intellectualized ways.

But she can be tactless (or pointed, depending on POV) and sometimes unfortunately - as Mr Slimane alleges - ignorant.

She has slammed Ricardo Tisco because, she claims, she ``wants him to do better''. Now, I fail to see how comparing Hedi Slimane with Raf Simons in a profile of the latter - as good as putting Slimane down - could encourage any designer to do better,if that's the idea.

Squaring off two contemporary rivals against each other is not the same as measuring someone against a pacesetter, such as Raf Simons with Helmut Lang, a comparison that Ms Horyn has put up in her own defense.

It is also odd that the designer, after a long hiatus from fashion, could hold a grudge for so long. What words actually transpired between them?

But Ms Horyn, alas, seems possessed of the same egotism, with a blog rant about her ban from SL/YSL/WHATEVER - unable to realize her original lapse, due probably to deadline pressure.

My point is: who's minding the minder??

Her review was fair. The collection wasn't good, it wasn't bad, for the pumped-up volume about the designer's debut.

But again, it should be seen in context - SL/YSL/Whatever is like Manderley in Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca: the ghost of the mistress still haunts the house, and there's even a poltergeist, throwing his weight about! Down, down, Mr B!

The diktat is to stay true to the house codes, and SL/YSL/Whatever's style remains contemporaneous, if only with a certain demographic. It can be seen as timeless- or quaint.

The finale was truly odd - was Slimane channeling the founder, or Christo the fabric-wrap artist, with abundant cloth??

There's room for Mr Slimane to `do better', with his collections and SL/YSL's press relations.

Oh, as for the ig'nant bit about Cathy Horyn. Yeah, she panned Galliano once for a Dior collection of bland suits - meant, she sniffed, for the lookalike masses of the new China and India markets.

Hullo, Cathy Horyn?? China - and probably India - do not want fashion unifo
rms. They want Bling, Busy, Beaded...stand-out clothes that announce the wearer's status. And purse size.

[Fashion Abecedaire]

I've been looking forward to your take on the matter and you didn't disappoint.

Lucie

[Zina Tasreen]

You left out Vanessa Friedman of FT -- she's one of the more objective critics out there.