How to be a Fashion Journalist, with Vanessa Friedman
In an interview with Fashionista, the New York Times’ Chief Fashion Critic shares how to be a fashion journalist, the role of social media in fashion today, and on the difference between fashion critics and bloggers.
At fifty-one years old, Vanessa Victoria Friedman is one of the leading voices in the fashion industry today. Having written for a plethora of publications like The New Yorker, Financial Times and Elle UK for two decades, Friedman’s critiques command a potent influence on the collections of the largest fashion houses in the world. In an interview with Fashionista, she details her background, discusses the contemporary state of fashion and dishes out some nuggets of information that would be helpful for aspiring fashion journalists. Here are some key insights from the interview.
Educate Yourself and Work Your Way Up
“I went to Princeton; I studied history and I minored or got a certificate in European Cultural Studies and Creative Writing. Then I went to Paris and did an internship at a law firm there, and while I was doing that, I started moonlighting at a magazine called Paris Passion — which was not a porn magazine, it was a precursor of Time Out — and just kept going from there.”
After her stint at Paris Passion, Friedman began interning for Grand Street, a literary magazine run by Jean Stein, for three months, before working for Vanity Fair as a culture writer. Then she moved on to The New Yorker with Tina Brown, and then to Vogue as contributing editor. With the media industry still operating on the archaic notion that interns must work their way up to become editors decades later, it seems as though longevity at specific legacy publications is the only way to success. This might change soon, with social media allowing one to share their work and portfolio with the world, but the general principles of getting the appropriate education and gaining experience through working for established publications to build credibility still holds.
Know Your Industry
“I think, like any form of criticism or any area, you have to learn your subject. You’ve got to do research and interviews and I think taking yourself out of it a little bit is a lot of it. Then developing a voice that people respond to and trust and want to talk to, like the voice in your ear.”
In order to write, analyse and evaluate fashion, you need to know the fashion industry inside out. Read up as much as you can about the leading brands in the world today: Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Balenciaga and so on. Identify key issues and challenges affecting the industry today like sustainability and cultural appropriation. Learn about the business aspect to these labels and who owns them. Educate yourself on critical designers like Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld, and do not shy away from fashion history or world history, because these aspects are the fundamentals for an informed fashion journalist.
Recognise Your Role
“I could think about the question of: What does it mean to write about this subject that is essentially peripheral to the core business of this newspaper, but yet impacts our readers’ lives and what they care about? I think that’s true for most readers of general newspapers — fashion is something that matters to them, but it’s situated at the nexus of all these other forces that are shaping their lives, so your job is to explain how it relates to those forces.”
Unlike devoted fashionistas, ordinary laypeople do not always think about fashion nor take the time to learn about their fashion history. Yet, fashion affects every single one of us. Our role as fashion journalists is to inform, educate, provoke, inspire and explain how certain abstract concepts in this industry tie into other cultural issues affecting the zeitgeist, which in turns impacts each and every one of our lives. Fashion never exists in a vacuum, and our role is to make sense of it in relation to the broader world.
Embrace and Utilise Social Media
“[Social media] is a great way to have a conversation with readers; that, I think, is the most exciting thing. For a long time, you’d write something, it would come out in the paper, or even online, and that would be it. Sometimes, people would talk to you about it, mostly the people who were in it, but not that much. Now, you hear about things endlessly and immediately, both people who love it and people who really think you’re a total idiot and should never write anything ever again, or people who have really thoughtful responses and additions to what you’ve written.”
Social media has democratised fashion. Fashion is no longer constricted to an exclusive elite; today the general layperson can experience and witness it for themselves. Runway shows which access had once been restricted to a privileged few editors and buyers are now live-streamed on Instagram to the world. The latest news and collaborations are announced via Twitter. The contemporary critic should utilise social media as a platform and tool for discussion and debate between their tribe of like-minded individuals.
Develop a Point of View
“It’s something like: “I like it, I don’t like it, yuck, here’s why.” Whereas I feel like it’s my job to not make it personal, but to try and understand what the designer is saying about women, in my case — men in Guy [Trebay]’s case — and their particular place in the world at this time, or where they’re going and whether it’s going to help them or not help them, be effective or not effective, and if it makes sense in the context of what that designer or that brand has done before and just to describe that. Those are my criteria… If you write something, you have to stand behind it and be able to explain it.”
Too many fashion media outlets are declaring trends and items to buy, but fashion journalists with a nuanced, honest opinion are few and far in between. Perhaps the most valuable skill you can hone as a fashion journalist is to develop your own thoughts about fashion, and craft your own point of view. Elevate your thoughts from a layperson’s opinion into a credible critique by substantiating your arguments with evidence from the material you are analysing, be it a show, a collaboration or a designer, and their history if possible.
Be Observant
“I think certainly, you have to keep your eye on a lot more than just what’s happening on the runway. In some ways, that may be the least of it.”
Fashion, like many other global industries, does not exist in a vacuum. Be aware of the latest news and happenings in the industry, and learn to be attuned to developments in the fashion industry. Use all these materials and information as knowledge to hone and develop your point-of-view.
Embrace Mistakes and Failure
“Mistakes can be the best thing that ever happen to you, and that you need to be open to almost everything these days, because opportunities come from the weirdest places. You just can’t get locked into your idea of what you need to do next or where you need to go next.”
As with every other occupation in the world, learn to embrace mistakes and failures. Recognise mistakes as opportunities for growth, learning and development, before picking yourself up to try again.
Be Creative with Story Ideas
“Good ideas, ideas that I don’t have. I think we get a lot of pitches that are, “I would like to do an interview with Alber Elbaz now that he’s doing a collaboration with Tod’s.” I’m like, “I can figure that one out myself.” But I’m fully aware of my own ignorance and shortcomings given how big the world of fashion is now and how big the influences are that are coming from all different directions, and so I like nothing more than when a writer can tell me something I don’t know about what I might see next or tell me something I’m missing. I look for that. Then, voice and also just the ability to really report, which is something that I feel like sometimes we undervalue a little bit.”
When asked about the qualities she wanted to see in good writers, Friedman gave this response. As explained earlier, a distinct yet substantiated point of view is crucial to differentiate yourself amidst a sea of laypeople with an opinion.
Be Curious
“I would say learn about lots of things that aren’t fashion, because the more you can put the world together and the more you see how it fits together, the richer anything you write or report will be. Go to the place where you can do the most, not the place that has the most famous name — which is not a particularly original piece of advice, but is definitely true.”
Develop an insatiable sense of curiosity about everything — history, science, Art, books, shows, and so on. Fashion can draw influence and inspiration from these domains, and knowledge about these issues can enhance your understanding at a deeper level.
Don’t Undermine the Importance of Fashion
“Fashion is actually this incredibly useful and rich prism for looking at all these questions that I was fascinated by, like identity and politics and social change and diversity. As soon as I understood that, which took awhile — it probably took me longer than most people! — I realized how rich it was, and how lucky I was.”
You can read Vanessa Friedman’s full interview and profile with Fashionista here.
