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ISSUE 31 - DECEMBER 2014
The business of Being
ANNA WINTOUR
WEEK
WARDROBE
REFRESHERS
LEGEND
DE LA RENTA
ST H LO OL OK IDA S Y
US 4.50
WWW.CRIMEMAGAZINE.COM
FASHION
Winter
BE
PARIS
Celebrate
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The inside REGULARS
DECEMBER 2014
The moments Before
Fashion Week
33 EDITOR’S LETTER
PAGE 134
46 CRIME NOTICES 54 CRIME.COM What to look out for on the website this month.
166 NOTEBOOK 277 STOCKISTS BACKPAGE MOODBOARD The coruscating delights of December nightlife
112 BOOKS SPECIAL: BETWEEN THE COVERS
123 COVER STORY
As the nights draw in, take a good book to bed with you
The Business of being Anna: As long as Wintour’s visions defines vogue, no one is likely to do Wintour better then Wintour herself
114 FROCK ON
IN CRIME
A magnificent new monograph celebrates the gown
139 RULE OF THUMB Designers issued a call to arms this season,
117 COLOUR CHART 119 DANCE COLLECTION 77 LEGEND DE LA RENTA 91 THIRTY WARDROBE REFRESHERS It might be winter, but that’s no reason to cast out
121 OLD BOND STREET
159 STATUS UPDATE Meet magnificent Hayden Williams; Fashion designer and Illustrator.
ARTS 101 FALL GIRL 104 CULTURE CLUBS 110 STAR OF PAGE 112 THE BEAT GOES ON The sound of west Africa has gone global, says Phiona Okumu
We have watched Hayden and his amazing sketches blossom from a seed to a flower, it takes something special to create a successful alternative clothing range. This is exactly what Hayden Williams, in collaboration with Sketch Street has done.
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Winter
ISSUE
EDITOR’S
LETTER The start of a new season brims with excitement: new trends, new muses and the possibility of a new you. So what better way for CRIME to welcome SS14 than with iconic fashion icon Anna Wintour, proving that winter mood is about much more than sex appeal; it is about strength, passion and a confident attitude. Discover SS14’s most exciting new looks from page 16, as our fashion team picks the key trends and reveals the hero purchases that will work for you this season and beyond, and the accessories that will update your look in an instant. The fall/winter seasons always bring with them a degree of cold, but SS14 is truly, irresistibly seductive. Beautiful tactile fabrics – silks, satins, soft wools – beg to caress your skin. A palette of blush, putty, peach and rose, highlighted by magpie embellishments, could create a girlish effect, but instead conjures images of a woman in complete control – a woman who knows her allure is a combination of confidence, awareness and mystery.
Welcome winter
It’s going to be a fabulous season.
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Thibault Camus By Associated Press
PARIS Fashion Week
It ended not with a bang, but with a building, and a farewell. Also some perspective.
After four cities and hundreds of shows, it came down to this: Christophe Lemaire taking his final bow as artistic director of Hermès women’s wear after a serene tour of desert tones, butter leathers and slouchy separates, parachute silk and sueded python. He closed the collections without any drama, letting his work whisper softly and leave a discreet impression. It was kind of anticlimactic. But that’s no bad thing. Fashion has a role to play in life, but not always the starring one. Really, it’s more a support: of character, ideology, intent. This was a fitting reminder. Pun intended. The wake-up call had started with the Louis Vuitton show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault’s new
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Frank Gehry-designed glass-and-steel museum/arts performance space, which looks like nothing so much as a sailing ship from another planet come to Earth in the middle of the Bois de Boulogne. The structure is so startling (in a good way), it was hard to focus on anything else. Clothes? What?
Perhaps because of that, the designer Nicolas Ghesquière decided to hold his show in the darkened “belly” of the building, the better to allow his audience to see the neat, high-necked white dresses crocheted from ribbons of cotton and raffia, the just slightly undersized navy blazers, and A-line skirts made of strips of leather, one side vertical, the other horizontal.
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FASHION TRENDS
After four cities and hundreds of shows, it came down to this: Christophe Lemaire taking his final bow as artistic director of Hermès women’s wear after a serene tour of desert tones, butter leathers and slouchy separates, parachute silk and sueded python. He closed the collections without any drama, letting his work whisper softly and leave a discreet impression. It was kind of anticlimactic. But that’s no bad thing. Fashion has a role to play in life, but not always the starring one. Really, it’s more a support: of character, ideology, intent. This was a fitting reminder. Pun intended. The wake-up call had started with the Louis Vuitton show at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault’s new Frank Gehry-designed glass-and-steel museum/arts performance space, which looks like nothing so much as a sailing ship from another planet come to Earth in the middle of the Bois de Boulogne. The structure is so startling (in a good way), it was hard to focus on anything else. Clothes? What? Perhaps because of that, the designer Nicolas Ghesquière decided to hold his show in the darkened “belly” of the building, the better to allow his audience to see the neat, high-necked white dresses crocheted from ribbons of cotton and raffia, the just slightly undersized navy blazers, and A-line skirts made of strips of leather, one side vertical, the other horizontal. There were fluid ruffled poet dresses and velvet chiffon floral trouser suits echoing the idea of denim jackets (plus some real denim, of course); a print made up of matchbooks and cars and cosmetics; little black dresses over lace-stocking arms; and little sequined dresses over lace-stocking legs, all united by a universal focus on a narrow silhouette, and a refusal to overweight the message. “I was trying not to think too much,” Mr. Ghesquière said backstage after the show, reiterating the idea that he wanted to offer pieces that might fit into a life, not define it.
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Christophe Lemaire’s collection.
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fter all, on the scale of what form had the most impact — those on the runway or the structure outside — there was no contest. Mr. Ghesquière’s was a realistic acknowledgment as to where, in the end, fashion belongs in the hierarchy of amazement. When even Moncler Gamme Rouge, which has a tendency to gussie up its basic offering (technical outerwear that works in the city) with the pyrotechnics of fancy sets and scenarios, drops the extras and lets the clothes — trapeze T-shirts in lacy crochets, chain jacquard or gold beading with matching shorts; blouson jackets in the same fabrications — stand on their own, you know a certain understanding has been reached. Certainly, such was the case (in relative terms, admittedly) at the Alexander McQueen show, choreographed around two glowing Marc Quinn bronze flowers, an orchid and a calla lily (“Etymology of Desire and Prehistory of Desire”), that had been loaned by the artist’s gallery
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and shipped from London for the event. Around them eddied the designer Sarah Burton’s ode to the East, from kimono silks to cherry blossoms and samurai dress, reconfigured in her imagination until it had the subtle power of the sculptures, the same spareness of shape and harnessed allure. Literally: Leather straps or their graphic representations bound the torso on many dresses, from pink and black skater numbers, their sleeves curved in an exaggerated lantern shape and waists belted tight, to flowing silken wraps and millefeuille skirts of hundreds of petals. Flowers were stylized, enlarged and set against the darker background; jacket sleeves were slit from wrist to shoulder; and trousers were flared on a sword edge. And though the black face-straps cupping the models’ chins or obscuring their features lent a distracting and needlessly disturbing dimension to the show (was Ms. Burton commenting on the way women are bound beyond the feet? Was she making a ninja reference?), the mood was less aggressive than restrained; the clo-
thes, especially the suits and day dresses, were easy to imagine in the outside world. This — well, let’s call it a trend, last one of the week — became even more apparent at Miu Miu, where Miuccia Prada seemed to be focusing on pieces for the just-a-little-off-center woman, with a myriad iterations on one basic idea: the pencil skirt, jacket or coat, and midriff top. They came mixed and not-matched in plaid and tuxedo ruffles, embroidered in luminescent flowers or trimmed in fur, inset with suede or all in leather. It was a catchy combination, merchandised with a practiced eye, if overly repetitive (save for some terrific pegleg pants and the shells to go with, all of a print). Yet so are many closets. And judging by the reaction from the newgen celebs in the front row — Shailene Woodley, Liv Tyler and Hailee Steinfeld among them — the connection could go from the runway to their wardrobe in the swish of a skirt, or the turn on a heel. Stuff to buy, stuff to wear. Some-
Alexander McQueen THIS season, Sarah Burton built upon her own personal and treasured collection of antique kimonos picked up during trips to Japan during her early days at McQueen. Those precious pieces informed the palette of blossom pink, red and black and brought about a blown-up floral on structured engineered jacquard lantern-sleeved dresses, which were so stiffened they looked like they might stand up of their own accord were a body not even in them. And so the theme developed, extending too to hair and make-up, which served to enhance the Samurai warrior feel, with faces covered in angular black lacquer masks and hair aggressively pulled back into neatly folded ponytails.
Valentino
FOLLOWING on from their couture collection, which channelled the Pre-Raphaelites, this afternoon Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli presented a collection that took its cue from the 18th century tradition of the Grand Tour, a trip taken by young Europeans to explore the art, culture and traditions of Italy. Rome and all-out classicism, views, ruins, and souvenirs were all tapped, even, right down to a soundtrack that felt like a tourist board melody and a palette that in parts looked to be informed by Neopolitan ice-cream – a fluttery sheer silk dress floated its way around the body in vanilla, strawberry and chocolate stripes.
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he set was staged with Marc Quinn’s gargantuan painted bronze orchid sculptures, one male and one female, which were on loan from London’s White Cube. It lent an air of erotica: Burton made a point of opening up necklines and slicing slits into sleeves to reveal windows to flesh. It was strict but not Geisha-girl covered. There was some movement; her finale dresses swished about the body as buoyant skirts were festooned in hand-cut floral ruffles, while up top hand-painted petals were attached to wet-look black harnesses.
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t was romantic, artisanal and all out beautiful – from the simplicity of those double linen coats and backless pinafores, to the overwhelming intricacies of their eveningwear (as usual, it was one look more breathtaking than the next). Gowns were embroidered in wispy gold starfish, or watery seascapes, elsewhere, they came heavily encrusted with feathers, bugle beads and embroideries and shuffled barely an inch off the floor (a Valentino hemline is a thing of absolute precision and perfection). What is perhaps even more remarkable than all that finery, and that extreme level of craftsmanship – which it’s no exaggeration to say is comparable to couture – is that these clothes are imbued with such a sunny youthfulness, everything is apparently so effortless to wear. Those scarf print silk jumpsuits and devastatingly pretty white eyelet lace dresses and skirts are the sort of summer pieces one could happily slip into in five seconds flat - and go anywhere.
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Givenchy
Chanel BLOGGERS’ obsession with street style has reached fever pitch here in Paris, and that might have been on Karl Lagerfeld's mind when he erected hoardings of a typical Parisian street, “Boulevard Chanel”, inside the Grand Palais this morning. Show-goers had to look twice to realise it was hoardings and not an actual bricks-and-mortar street (no expense spared here), there were even real puddles by the curb, because even a Chanel street isn't immune to the occasional downpour.
WELL, there can’t be many one-yearold babies with their very own front row seat at Paris Fashion Week. The current count tallies to one in fact, at Givenchy this evening, where mademoiselle North West, dressed in a custom-made full-length Givenchy black sheer dress took her seat alongside parents, Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, dressed in a plunging, sheer black lace jumpsuit. It was a family affair with Kendall Jenner on the runway.
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The family certainly looked the part as the show opened with a series of graphic, sexy black dresses with trussed up corseted bodices and lacy sheer skirts. It was hard-edged and yet… romantic.
odels came out en masse, alone or in twos and threes chatting as though they were out for a casual Saturday stroll. The clothes they wore felt like their own, which might have something to do with the familiarity of them. It felt like a heritage collection, exactly the sort of clothes that Chanel's moneyed customers come to this house for. There were countless interpretations of tweedy suits every one as fabulous as the next whether they were rendered into flared trousers or micro minis; splashy painterly florals over silks, kicky box-pleated skirts, sometimes layered over narrow black trousers; and mosaic cocktail dresses made up of rectangular pewter plastic tablets, arranged like bricks, which echoed back to the architecture of the show's surroundings.
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n appearance by Gisele was also thrown in for good measure, dressed in one of Chanel's signature striped cardigan dresses. There were some newer pieces spotted here too, like last summer's hit Art bag - itself a street star sensation, captured by Tommy Ton in every fashion capital. What's a street without a protest? For his finale, Lagerfeld staged a mock demonstration complete with banners that read “Tweed is better than tweet”, “Be your own stylist”, “Make fashion not war”, “Free freedom”, and “Ladies first”, with Cara and Gisele on quilted Chanel megaphones screaming, "What do we want! When do we want it?" Those street style snappers would have been all over it.
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t’s an odd parallel but part of Riccardo Tisci’s appeal is in his ability to meld those two disparate worlds so convincingly. These are dresses that are all-out fierce, a little bit slutty (further enhanced by the thigh-high boots they were partnered with) but all of that is counterbalanced by the divine craftsmanship at play. The lace here this evening was so fine it looked like it could have floated right off, up into there air were it not anchored with leather strips spliced into those pleats, or harnessed down with backless waistcoats crafted from stiffened leather with crocodile panels. Pirate blouses flounced about like ship’s sales, while humbug black and white striped narrow-shouldered jackets festooned with corseted lacing kept the silhouette tight and lean. With legs clad in leather leggings or spray on jeans, the detail was all about up top. The only sighting of colour amongst this entirely monochrome collection came in the shape of a fleshy pink leather dress, plunging, tight to the body with a pleated and ruffled skirt. Severe, and yet… oh so pretty.
Jean Paul Gaultier
PARIS is filled with fashion moments. And tonight came one of the most poignant as Jean Paul Gaultier, enfant terrible, master of theatre and fun, creator of some of fashion’s most provocative and legendary designs, showed his ready-to-wear collection for the last time. The designer announced earlier this month that he was closing that side of the business to focus on his couture, fragrance and accessories output.
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ll of which meant that tonight was going to be even more theatrical, lavish and bonkers than we had seen before – a greatest hits of greatest hits of greatest hits. It was a brilliant send-off, presented as a beauty pageant so that each of the categories of girls came to represent a chapter in his fashion life, the comments he’s made, the themes he’s explored, the people who have inspired him. We were being given a slice of all the girls he’d designed.
There were WAGS and there were superhero-cum-wrestlers; there were the Eighties Madonnas; the cut-inhalf tailoring modern girls; the classics (his weird one-leg trousers, the cones, the stripes, the sailor nods); and most brilliant of all there was a fashion editor section. Suzy Menkes, Franca Sozzani, Babeth Dijian, Grace Coddington, Emmanuelle Alt and Carine Roitfeld all suddenly found themselves depicted strutting down the catwalk and becoming part of the JPG fun. It was a witty and clever note from Gaultier – one that he’s always been so good at doing, and which will be sorely missed there’s no doubt.
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Photo By Sal Traina Oscar de la Renta, 1998
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TRIBUTE
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o r ld - re n ow n e d fashion designer, revered for his couture-like re a d y - to - w e a r collections that have provided many a show-stopping moment on the red carpet. After launching his eponymous line in 1965, the designer developed successful bridal, fragrance and homeware collections that established his reputation as one of the most successful and respected designers in the industry, with his exquisite designs having been worn by everyone from Jacqueline Kennedy, to modern starlets such as Gisele Bundchen, Ann Hathaway and Liv Tyler. De la Renta was born on July 22, 1932 in the Dominican Republic capital city Santo Domingo. He has often cited the tropical vegetation and the vibrant colour palettes of the island as inspiration for his striking designs. At the tender age of 18, he travelled to Spain to study art at The Academy of San Fernando in Madrid. After sketching for leading design houses, the young artist landed a covetable apprenticeship with Cristóbal Balenciaga, Spain’s most revered couturier at the time.
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There is no more important expression of this concept than that of my own personal living space
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n 1960 de la Renta travelled to Paris to become couture assistant at Lanvin. Surrounded by the decadent Parisian fashion scene, he immersed himself in the extravagant world of haute couture, constantly sketching and gaining invaluable experience that would serve him well throughout his career. In 1963 he travelled to America and, under the mentorship of then editor-in-chief of Vogue Diana Vreeland, he secured a role at Elizabeth Arden designing haute-couture gowns for the label’s custom-made clothing line. It was during his tenure at Elizabeth Arden that the young designer gained valuable contacts and, in 1965, Oscar de la Renta the label was launched to widespread acclaim. In 1967 he married Françoise de Langlade, an editor at French Vogue. The union made them one of the fashion industry’s most famous husband-and-wife partnerships. From 1973 to 1976, and 1986 to 1988 he was president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America. During this time he launched the prestigious CFDA Awards which replaced the Coty American Fashion Critics’ Awards. He has himself been the recipient of both Coty and CFDA awards, receiving the Coty award in 1967 and 1968, a CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990, and the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year award in 2000, and again in 2007 when he tied with Proenza Schouler. 1977 saw the launch of Oscar, the label’s first fragrance. The fragrance collection has since expanded to incorporate scents for both men and women and is sold in over 70 countries around the world. In 1989, six years after the death of his first wife, he married Annette Reed, a respected American publisher. From 1993 to 2002, de la Renta designed the haute couture collections for Pierre Balmain, reviving the French fashion house who prior to this has seen disappointing sales. In 2002, the inaugural Oscar de la Renta Home line was launched. Inspired by the designer’s homes in
various parts of the world, the line has three distinctive themes; city, island, and country. 2006 saw the launch of the Oscar de la Renta Bridal collection: “My designs are known for their beautiful ornamentation, details, fabrics, and embroideries - which are never more important than on a wedding dress.” Sarah Jessica Parker’s Carrie Bradshaw famously wore one of his creations for her American Vogue photoshoot in the first Sex and the City film. Well-known for his charitable nature, his commitment to helping the inhabitants of his birthplace can be seen in the foundations of La Casa del Niño, the orphanage and school that he built for the children of La Romana. Caring for 1,200 children on a daily basis, it provides schooling and day-care for newborns and children so their mothers can work. In return for this devotion, The Dominican Republic has honoured him with the Order of Juan Pablo Duarte and the Order of Cristóbal Colón. The designer’s label is very family-orientated. His son-in-law Alex, his step-daughter Eliza, and his adopted son Moises all work for the label.
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n October 14 2014, the designer appointed Peter Copping as his successor at his eponymous label. “My hope is that, in leading this selection, and actively participating in the transition, I can ensure the right design future for our company and brand,” he told WWD. A week later on October 20, de la Renta passed away following a long battle with cancer. He was 82. He is survived by his wife, Annette, as well as his son, Moyses de la Renta; his three step-children, Beatrice Reed, Charlie Reed and Eliza Bolen; three sisters, who all live in the Dominican Republic; and nine grandchildren.
Style File
Oscar de la Renta
September 1986 Christy Turlington by Bill King
October 1992 Eva Herigova By Getty Images
October 1993 Carla Bruni By getty Images
OCTOBER 1996 BY GETTY IMAGES
FEBRUARY 19 NAOMI CAMPBE BY GETTY IMAG
JULY 1995 BY GETTY IMAGES
One of the American fashion industry’s most-loved, and celebrated, designers - remaining a presence in the industry right up to his death in October 2014. His elegant and feminine designs gained him a loyal and dedicated fan base, which through the years included everyone from Jackie Kennedy to Audrey Hepburn, Sarah Jessica Parker and Nicole Kidman. Look back at his life in fashion below.
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WINTOUR FASHION ICON
The Bussiness of being
ANNA S
he's been editor of the American edition of Vogue since 1988, and by now it has become commonplace to call her the most powerful woman in fashion. But her influence is much broader than it appears in her fun-house-mirror caricature: a brittle despot in round Chanel sunglasses who rules the world around her through impeccable taste, terror and sarcasm. It is hidden within an intricate web of powerful friends and allies, many of whom she's worked with for decades. That web spans the U.S., out to Hollywood, down to Washington, and across both oceans. Imperious as she may appear, she's really more impresario than empress.
Her inner circle is tight-knit, their devotion cemented by an almost canine sense of loyalty on Wintour’s part. “I’m a streak player, but Anna’s there, good or bad,” says Harvey Weinstein, co-chair of the Weinstein Company, who goes back some 15 years with Wintour. “When I wasn’t doing so well, Anna would throw a party and put me next to Bernard Arnault.” Out of that came several business deals, says Weinstein (he declines to be more specific). Weinstein returned the favor by stepping in to help Wintour produce a Bruce Springsteen/Billy Joel benefit concert for then-Senator Barack Obama before the 2008 election.
Australian director Baz Luhrmann met Wintour when he sent her a half-finished reel of his movie “Moulin Rouge!” after it was beset by toxic prerelease buzz. Wintour threw her support behind it, putting Nicole Kidman on the cover in a gown from the film and organizing a celebrity auction around it with allies like Weinstein and Donald Trump. “I always talk to Anna about what I’m up to,” he says, referring to plans for his next film, an adaptation of “The Great Gatsby,” “and I always listen to what she has to say.”
Anna’s army gives her a reach that far exceeds her grasp as a magazine editor, not to mention a deceptively potent economic punch. In the past two years, it’s become clearer just how wide-ranging her clout really is. In early 2009, with New York’s $10 billion fashion business reeling, Wintour took a ride to see New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. She proposed a one-shot, late-night shopping party, inspired by Paris’s “nuits blanches,” the city’s round-the-clock cultural festivals. Bloomberg signed on, after insisting that all five boroughs be invited to the party. “Even a guy like me, who can barely match my tie to my shirt, knows that fashion means dollars to New York City. Besides, behind all Anna’s grace and poise is some pretty tough resolve. She’s not a person you want to say no to.”
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You can make a film in Hollywood without Steven Spielberg's blessing, and you can publish software without Bill Gates's blessing, but you can't succeed in fashion without Anna's blessing
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intour launched the redesigned Vogue.com last September, on the eve of New York Fashion Week. After starting slowly with 545,000 unique visitors, the site registered 896,000 in January. That's still fewer than the 2.4 million who visited Style.com, the omnibus Condé Nast site that used to host Vogue, but it's a healthy upswing, even more so when you consider Style.com is 10 years old.
Wintour came late to the Internet, concedes her boss, S.I. Newhouse. “She started the site reluctantly because she believes that the expression of Vogue’s effectiveness is print,” he says. “But, typically, once she did it, she did it right.” Can Wintour rule the digital fashion world as resolutely as she has ruled print? “It’s too early to say,” hedges Newhouse, “but take Fashion’s Night Out as one example: She clearly has an ability to impose her will.” The brand, of course, is what Newhouse cares most about. “There can be no greater role than being editor of Vogue,” says Newhouse, who confirms that Vogue is Condé Nast’s most profitable publication. As far as the occasional rumors about a successor for Wintour, who is 61, Newhouse has one word: “Never. I hope she’s here 10 years from now, 20 years from now.” You might ask, with all her talent-grooming outside Vogue, has Wintour groomed anyone to take over whenever she—or, more to the point, S.I. Newhouse—chooses to pass on her mantle? “Why would she?” answers a former colleague, who points out that at most magazines the editorial mantle doesn’t get passed dynastically. And regime change is rarely gentle. Grace Mirabella didn’t groom Wintour, and Diana Vreeland didn’t groom Mirabella. More often than not, a new editor means a new editorial vision, usually at the behest of the boss. As long as Wintour’s vision defines Vogue, no one is likely to do Wintour better than Wintour herself. But last year, the successor rumors grew feverish. Waiting in the wings, so it went, was Carine Roitfeld, the provocative editor of French Vogue known around Paris as “Iggy Pop.” She happens to look a little like the goggle-eyed rocker and she shares with Pop a sense of erotic bravura that gave French Vogue a reputation for daring. Roitfeld gets the credit, if that’s the word, for launching a trend known as “porno chic,” which gave French Vogue an R-rated eclat in the fashion world. U.S. Vogue, it was said dismissively, was overly preoccupied with things people might buy. Roitfeld resigned in December, reportedly pushed toward the door for having consulting relationships with labels that were seen as coexisting uneasily with her editorial duties. (Roitfeld denies ever having consulted and having been asked to resign.) Inside French Vogue, the idea that Roitfeld threatened Wintour was never taken seriously. “It was all bulls—,” says one French Vogue executive. “The only thing Roitfeld cared about was creativity, and Wintour is about business. In fact, some of fashion’s biggest names are where they are in large part thanks to Wintour. She has helped broker corporate marriages for some of fashion’s biggest brands—Bottega Veneta at Gucci and Michael Kors at Sportswear Holdings. “She does this very discreetly, but she’s really a kind of consigliere to the entire fashion and retail industry,” says a former colleague who worked closely with her. The Michael Kors story goes back to 1981, soon after Wintour joined New York magazine as fashion editor. Kors, a young designer, had just launched his first women’s-wear line and Wintour decided in her brisk way that she liked the clothes, and him. Kors hit the rocks in the mid-’90s, filing for bankruptcy in 1993, but Wintour talked him up tirelessly. In 2002, Silas Chou and Lawrence Stroll were looking for fashion’s next big brand. The two partners had made out handsomely buying Tommy Hilfiger in 1989 and taking it public in 1992. Wintour recommended Kors. “When I met Michael, Anna had seen his talent 20 years before,” Chou says. “We talked constantly and when the time arrived, her opinions about him were very important.” Chou and Stroll bought a controlling stake in Kors in 2003 through their Sportswear Holdings for around $100 million. Retail sales for the Kors brand are now in the neighborhood of $1 billion.
Anna Wintour at the Met Gala 2014 “I came to realize that she’s really the McKinsey of fashion,” says a former colleague who attended several corporate matchmaking sessions with her. Wintour is more modest: “We can suggest, but in the end, everybody makes up their own minds.” One of the people Wintour counsels regularly is Bernard Arnault, whose LVMH luxury conglomerate owns Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, Marc Jacobs and Fendi, among others. In 1993, Wintour and Vogue contributing editor André Leon Talley put a down-and-out designer named John Galliano together with financial backers John Bult and Mark Rice, which relaunched Galliano’s flagging career. She later proposed him to Arnault, who hired him first for Givenchy and then for Christian Dior (which is controlled by Arnault’s holding company). In 1997, Wintour pushed Marc Jacobs to Arnault for Louis Vuitton. “She pointed us towards unexpected choices,” Arnault says. “I speak very openly to her, and this was quite audacious—it was not about picking the big names of the moment. It took her to see that there was a stylistic closeness between John and Dior. She was the discoverer.” It looks like Galliano needs Wintour more than ever now: In late February, the designer was abruptly suspended from Dior after a Parisian couple accused him of yelling unprovoked anti-Semitic barbs at them in a Paris bistro. When a video clip recorded last October surfaced soon after showing a visibly drunk Galliano at a bar making similar racist remarks, he was fired. Of his downfall, Wintour says, “This is all so tragic.” Last July, Wintour met with then–French Minister of Industry Christian Estrosi. She suggested politely that the French government do more to support young French designers financially. Her own CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which raises millions for young American designers, has become something of a model in Europe.
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She got the idea in 2001, when the World Trade Center disaster disrupted New York's fashion week, leaving young designers financially stranded. The fund now has a $10 million endowment, and has launched similiar programs in Milan and London. "She tackles things that are really much bigger than what any other editors take on," says François-Henri Pinault, head of luxury-goods giant PPR. Pinault is currently discussing how to finance support for young designers with Estrosi. Not that Wintour came right out and asked him to. "She's much more subtle than that," he says.. When I met Wintour in her big, artfully tidy office at Vogue, she had been up since 5 a.m.—her normal waking hour. On most days she goes off to play tennis at 6, but lately she’s been nursing a sore elbow and can’t play. Which didn’t mean no tennis. She was watching her friend Roger Federer play a tough five-set match against Gilles Simon at the Australian Open. Simon had beaten Federer twice before, and Wintour was uneasy. “At least he’s through,” she said afterward, visibly relieved. Wintour first sought out Federer at the 2002 U.S. Open, before he won his first Grand Slam. He was a bit taken aback. “I didn’t really know who she was,” Federer says. She’s since become a trusted adviser and a close friend, not only to him but also to his wife, Mirka, and agent, Tony Godsick. “I bounce all kinds of ideas off her—what to wear on and off the court, photo shoots, sponsors, everything,” he says. For her part, Wintour has never asked him for anything, but, he says, “That day will come, and when it does, I’ll be very happy to work with her.” The unusual part, say her intimates, is that there’s never a direct quid pro quo. On the other hand, if Wintour does ask for something, there aren’t two possible answers. “If I get a request for something I don’t want to do,” says Marc Jacobs, “first I get an email, then a phone call from someone at Vogue, and now I don’t even bother to say no—I know the next call is from her.” Jacobs describes a den-motherly attitude that those who see only her hard surface sheen don’t suspect she has. “She gets such a bad rap. She stands by the people she believes in, and if you’re not one of those people, perhaps you take a different view.” Wintour has supported Jacobs since her earliest days at Vogue, when, he says, “everybody was trashing me. It goes way beyond an editor-fashion-designer relationship.” Which is how Jacobs found himself sitting next to Wintour on the Jimmy Fallon show, speaking out about Fashion’s Night Out. If there’s a risk to having a rat pack, even a large and glamorous one, it’s the possibility that it could make Vogue’s pages seem overly clubby. Wintour reflects a minute when I ask her about this, and puts it another way. “I try to remain open to new people, but obviously there’s a stronger element of trust with people you’ve known for a long time,” she says. “I think we have a Vogue vocabulary, and there are certain people we like to have as the backbone of the magazine—Vogue’s signposts. We try very hard to integrate the familiar signatures with people we feel are new and up-and-coming, but I would rather err on the side of being a little more familiar than being too . . . What’s the right word? . . . Edgy.” With all of her globe-trotting, matchmaking and event-planning, it’s easy to forget that Wintour’s bread and butter is running a magazine. Like the rest of the magazine industry, Vogue was badly hurt by the economic crash. Revenue fell 5.55 percent in 2008, then a further 27 percent in 2009 to $289 million, but now it appears to have rebounded. Revenue for 2010 was up 18 percent to $342 million, according to the Publisher’s Information Bureau—although it remains below the 2007 peak of $419 million—and it’s up almost 11 percent for the first quarter of this year, behind Elle’s 14.3 percent and abreast of InStyle’s 10.9 percent. Vogue is solidly beating both in total number of ad pages.
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Wintour launched the redesigned Vogue.com last September, on the eve of New York Fashion Week. After starting slowly with 545,000 unique visitors, the site registered 896,000 in January. That's still fewer than the 2.4 million who visited Style.com, the omnibus Condé Nast site that used to host Vogue, but it's a healthy upswing, even more so when you consider Style.com is 10 years old. Wintour came late to the Internet, concedes her boss, S.I. Newhouse. “She started the site reluctantly because she believes that the expression of Vogue’s effectiveness is print,” he says. “But, typically, once she did it, she did it right.” Can Wintour rule the digital fashion world as resolutely as she has ruled print? “It’s too early to say,” hedges Newhouse, “but take Fashion’s Night Out as one example: She clearly has an ability to impose her will.” The brand, of course, is what Newhouse cares most about. “There can be no greater role than being editor of Vogue,” says Newhouse, who confirms that Vogue is Condé Nast’s most profitable publication. As far as the occasional rumors about a successor for Wintour, who is 61, Newhouse has one word: “Never. I hope she’s here 10 years from now, 20 years from now.” You might ask, with all her talent-grooming outside Vogue, has Wintour groomed anyone to take over whenever she—or, more to the point, S.I. Newhouse—chooses to pass on her mantle? “Why would she?” answers a former colleague, who points out that at most magazines the editorial mantle doesn’t get passed dynastically. And regime change is rarely gentle. Grace Mirabella didn’t groom Wintour, and Diana Vreeland didn’t groom Mirabella. More often than not, a new editor means a new editorial vision, usually at the behest of the boss. As long as Wintour’s vision defines Vogue, no one is likely to do Wintour better than Wintour herself. But last year, the successor rumors grew feverish. Waiting in the wings, so it went, was Carine Roitfeld, the provocative editor of French Vogue known around Paris as “Iggy Pop.” She happens to look a little like the goggle-eyed rocker and she shares with Pop a sense of erotic bravura that gave French Vogue a reputation for daring. Roitfeld gets the credit, if that’s the word, for launching a trend known as “porno chic,” which gave French Vogue an R-rated eclat in the fashion world. U.S. Vogue, it was said dismissively, was overly preoccupied with things people might buy. Roitfeld resigned in December, reportedly pushed toward the door for having consulting relationships with labels that were seen as coexisting uneasily with her editorial duties. (Roitfeld denies ever having consulted and having been asked to resign.) Inside French Vogue, the idea that Roitfeld threatened Wintour was never taken seriously. “It was all bulls—,” says one French Vogue executive. “The only thing Roitfeld cared about was creativity, and Wintour is about business. Wintour gives the ‘la’ to all the other editors”—a French expression rooted in the way orchestras tune their instruments that means she both sets the tone and serves as inspiration. Not everyone applauds Wintour’s business sense and wider ambitions. There are those who mourn the passing of fashion in its narrower, Dovima-centric sense, and who see Wintour’s broader sensibility as a coarsening of fashion’s most exquisite self. In a recent New York Times article on Roitfeld’s departure, the fashion photographer Inez van Lamsweerde said she hoped French Vogue didn’t start to look more like, well, American Vogue. “Do we really need another magazine about the latest architectural feat, the latest book? To me, what’s needed is a real fashion magazine with the best taste and incredible photography,” she said. This kind of thing has been heard before. Back in the ‘90s, designer Geoffrey Beene famously accused Wintour of appealing to the lowest common denominator. “As an editor, she has turned class into mass, taste into waste. Is she not a trend herself?” sniped Beene, who stopped inviting Wintour to his shows.
“Create your own style. Let it be unique for yourself and yet identifiable for others.”
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FENDI
HAYD WILLI
HAYDEN WILLIAMS:
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DEN IAMS
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ne fashion sketch at a time
Hayden
WILLIAMS London born and raised Hayden Williams is an internationally known Fashion Illustrator at the age of just 22! He has captured the attention of some of the worlds most famous women and shot to fame after Beyonce Knowles praised him openly to her fans. Amazingly, he still remains humble and focused on doing what he loves.
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FASHION INTERVIEW IT FEELS AMAZING TO BE RECOGNISED AND SUPPORTED BY SUCH ESTABLISHED AND TALENTED PEOPLE! I AM HUMBLED BY IT ALL BECAUSE I DID NOT EXPECT IT TO HAPPEN. I NEVER BECOME COMPLACENT EITHER. I AM ALWAYS AIMING TO IMPROVE AND BECOME SOMETHING GREATER! Hayden Williams is an upcoming artist who sketches celebrity’s, models and fashion icons. He posts all of his work on Instagram and that’s how he is becoming known. His drawings are not as you would expect and look cartoonish in a way however they’re so easily recognisable and portray whoever he is drawing immaculately. Beyonce herself actually re-posted Hayden’s illustration of her onto her own Instagram which when I saw it I was very excited about.
Congratulations on your first collection, the pieces that you designed are very sophisticated and pleasing to the eye. Hank you very much! The goal was to create something that looked high end and stayed true to my design aesthetic, but was more affordable for the fanbase that I have built up with my illustrations. When did you first realize that you wanted to become a fashion designer? I think it has always been there subconsciously, but it really hit me in my teens! As you get older and mature, you start to find your style and it was around the age of 14-15 that i started to take my work in a new direction and focus on fashion as opposed to just drawing a female character. I think everyone around me knew i would end up working in fashion, from school teachers, family etc. What does fashion mean to you? To me, it means having confidence! Without confidence in your clothes, the clothes end up wearing you! What was the first article of clothing you ever designed? I think it was a skirt from a college project. It wasn’t the best but learning how to construct garments was such an eye opener. All I knew was how to draw in the early stages, but i have learned so much about fabrics, cut, fit and quality since my studying days. Especially after working on my collection with Sketch Street.
FASHION INTERVIEW What matters to you most as a fashion designer ? As a womenswear designer, making women feel special! When a woman purchases from Hayden Williams, I want her to feel confident that she purchased an investment piece that can be worn year after year without having to worry whether she is on trend. For me it’s about creating something classic and timeless but still modern enough for the woman of today. What advice do you have for aspiring fashion designers? I would say firstly to make sure that fashion is 150% what you want to do. It’s a lot of hard work and probably harder than people expect. Young aspiring designers can become phased by seeing countless celebrities releasing clothing lines and think it is as simple as that, but in reality, there is so much more to it. Do it because it is something you feel that you were born to do! I would also say to be persistent and consistent with what you do and that applies to both studying and outside of studying. Lastly, use social media to your advantage by promoting your work online. How would you define your personal style? My personal style is quite simplistic! I think it compliments my design aesthetic well. I like clean lines, well tailored pieces. Overall I would say my style is polished, ‘smart’ and kind of ‘preppy’ at times. What are some of your fashion goals? I have many goals and aspirations as a designer and illustrator. I of course want to have my own high end fashion label and present my work via presentations and runway shows in the future. I would also love to release a book with some of my best illustration work in. One of my most recent goals that i had in mind was to illustrate a VOGUE cover. Where do you get your inspiration? It can vary at times but i often get inspiration from vintage Vogue editorials from the 50s and 60′s. I like to reference those eras in my work as i feel they were some of the most stylish and timeless looking, especially in women’s wear! Where do you hope to be in 10 years time with your illustrations? 10 years time! Who knows where i’ll be for certain, but my goal is to be an established fashion designer with my own label by that time. The aim for me is to work with a team of people who get my vision and can help make my designs a reality. It would be amazing to become the most successful black export from London! Where can readers find out more about you and your work? They can head to my Facebook page and my Tumblr or they can use good old Google to find some articles written about me. I also use Pinterest, Instagram and many other social networking platforms to share what I do.
“I love pretty much everything
Where can readers buy your clothes? Readers can now shop my debut fashion collection in collaboration with Sketch Street on sketchstreet.com and ASOS marketplace.
can also be life enhancing!”
about Fashion! Fashion to me is fun and light hearted, but it
Thank you so much for joining us, Hayden, and once again congratulation on your debut collection.
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