4 minute read
CATHERINE HAYWARD // 34-43 DAVID GANDY
WORDS JAI MCINTOSH
In the world of style and fashion, it is becoming increasingly difficult to have real, tangible influence. Few have been able to have an impact as influential as former Fashion Director of
From disastrous tales of planes, trains and automobiles, to Hollywood royalty on Lake Como, Catherine has experienced it all. We caught up with the esteemed Editorturned-stylist over a black coffee in a North-London cafe to dig a little deeper into her Pandora's box of unrivalled anecdotes, pop-culture knowledge, and articulate witticisms.
JAI Where did your love for fashion and, more importantly, style, stem from and who influenced it?
CH I’ve always been an avid film fan. As a young teen, I loved the cinema, subscribed to film magazines and devoured all the old-school films on TV too. I think you start to unconsciously develop an eye for composition, narrative, colour, texture and style if you fall in love with a hobby.
My art teacher always encouraged us to carry a sketchbook around and that reminds you to really look at daily detail. Major influences at that time were the films of Billy Wilder, Some Like It Hot is my all-time favourite and I wrote my college thesis on Double Indemnity. Also Alfred Hitchcock - especially Cary Grant in North by Northwest and To Catch a Thief plus the big technicolour MGM musicals with Gene Kelly - I think I had secret crushes on both of them and I'm still looking for a similar white sweatshirt that Gene wears in An American In Paris and that stripy Breton top worn by Cary on the French Riviera in To Catch A Thief.
As a child of the 70s and 80s, it's fascinating to look back at the continued impact these two decades have on style and fashion - and on my own personal style. I’ll always have a soft spot for Starsky’s faded denim and shawl collar cardigan in Starsky and Hutch - another childhood crush!
JAI You’re well known for your work as Fashion Director of UK Esquire and Fashion Editor at GQ, do you have a stand-out story from your time at either publishing house?
CH After working at Esquire and GQ for over 20 years, I’m lucky enough to say there are a lot of stand out stories. A journey to George Clooney’s house on Lake Como to shoot an Esquire cover became an almost disastrous tale of planes, trains and automobiles in the face of missed flights, taxi strikes, broken luggage, a 100 degree heat wave and Italian ‘Sunday working timetable’ delays. Needless to say, we eventually got the shots and an aperitif with George in his hi-tech editing suite which was the perfect antidote to the stresses of the voyage!
My GQ years were equally hi-octane, whether it was travelling to Mumbai to shoot a portfolio of actors at the Bollywood studios, skiing with an Olympic squad on the slopes of Lake Louise in Canada, shooting in the midnight sun in Lapland as our guides cooked reindeer steaks on the snow or shooting an anniversary story at Valentino’s house on the island of Capri, it certainly has been a chapter of weird and wonderful characters.
It's always exciting to work with a photographer you’ve long admired; when I was still an assistant, we shot a portfolio of Hollywood actors in downtown New York with Paolo Roversi. It was an education to watch him disappear under the photographic cloak and hear the click on his huge 10 x 8 plate camera and watch these huge polaroids develop before our eyes. JAI What is the difference between fashion and style and which is more important?
CH Fashion or style? The eternal question. Fashion has always had a difficult time justifying itself in the realms of menswear because of it’s mercurial, capricious nature - always the fickle one in the face of the steady, timeless qualities of personal style. Boundaries are blurring more these days but if fashion is still the dictatorial, trend-driven side of the industry, then personal style is, by far, the most crucial to master.
JAI Who do you look at now as leaders in the world of contemporary style and fashion?
CH Well, it changes constantly with the zeitgeist. There are characters in design, sport and music - like Virgil Abloh, Hector Bellerin and, unexpectedly, Harry Styles - who have made a hugely positive impact on how we view men's fashion in the early years of this decade - emphasising gender fluidity, inclusion and diversity with their work. My personal current favourite is Tyler The Creator - stylishly kooky, eclectic and unpredictable.
JAI Which trend needs to return?
CH I'm not a big fan of advocating trends - I prefer that personalised magpie attitude to style - although, I am looking forward to the return of the massive power shoulders next season. Very David Byrne.
But I still don’t understand the trend - is it a trend - for walking along with jeans falling halfway down your thigh and exposing your underwear. I don’t get it!
