ever. Penny Martin, editor-in-chief ofThe Gentlewoman, is another example- her authentically pared-down style is not made for camera flash bulbs, but
for her.VogueParis’ Emmanuelle Alt has ironically always stood out because
of the simple uniform she wears (black jeans and a half-tucked white shirt).
These individuals’ style is breathtaking in its honesty.
Sadly lies and mistrust has bookended this decade. Our Brexiteering
politicians have lied to us, social media has lied to us (ofcoursewe’ll keep
your personal data safe), and we’ve been inundated with glamorous
scamming stories, such as those of fake heiress Anna Delvey and Theranos’
entrepreneur Elizabeth Holmes. But with every exposed dupe comes an
ever-more-mistrustful and hypervigilant public, longing for something morereal.
Which means that today, the chicest thing anyone can be is simply honest.
It’s empowering to admit the hard graft it took for you to get there.
Witness the response toBRICKSmagazine editor Tori West’s admission
that she worked as a cleaner to supplement her wages while trying to
make it as a fashion writer. The replies were so heartfelt she urged her
thousands of followers to ‘share your day jobs or something you’re not as
proud of today’, using #instagramtransparency: ‘I know it’s scary, but you’ll
be surprised how much you’re not alone,’ she wrote.
‘Being more honest with myself allowed me to be more transparent,’ West
explains of her decision to tell the truth about her life, rather than pretending
it’s the kind of glamorous affair commonly associated with fashion. ‘After
finally accepting and learning to overcome a lot of personal difficulties,
I thought it would be strange to then be a well-curated version of myself on
social media. I felt dishonest. Transparency is empowering as it is relatable.’
Brands are reacting to our renewed love of authenticity by presenting
less polished ads and visual messages of their own. Trailblazers such as
Patagonia and Dove have been joined by the likes of Gucci, whose beauty
campaign featured imperfect teeth; Glossier, whose Body Hero campaign
embraced a variety of body shapes; and US razor company Billie, whose
‘Project Body Hair’ campaign attracted widespread praise on social
media. As one woman wrote on Twitter: ‘I just now, at 3O, for the first
time in my life, saw an ad for razors in which the women had hair on their
bodies before they started shaving.’
Back on the front row, this embracing of honesty has had the effect of
sticking a pin into an overfilled helium balloon. ‘The pressure is off. I can go
back to wearing jeans again. I can concentrate on what I signed up to do in
the first place: writing,’ says one fashion editor. When even Alexa Chung is
posting pics of herself in jeans and a jumper with the caption: ‘I wear this most
days. I’m sorry I’ve been making it look like I don’t’ (‘lol same’, commented
actor Kate Bosworth), you know the gig is up. Photography: Getty Images.ELLE.COM/UK September 2O19And make no mistake: it was exhausting. When your income is directly
affected by how you look, it stands to reason that your appearance takes
on a vast, somewhat unhealthy importance. If you work in the fashion industry,
your own behaviour is mirrored by everyone around you, which makes
you strive even more. There are insider stories of fashion editors getting into
crippling debt to pay for the very clothes that kept them street style-ready.
For others, their debt was to the brands and publicists who loaned them
entire wardrobes. Soon, style became less about natural individuality and
more about hypercompetitive dressing. It was totally normal to see the same
person wear several outfits in one day, simply to maximise visibility. And, the
more surreal and striking these outfits were, the more likely they were to get
photographed. (One editor I know jokingly turned up to London Fashion
Week a few seasons ago in a bright-yellow builder’s hard hat from B&Q
to test the theory. She was photographed dozens of times, and her image
posted on fashion news feeds the world over.) What’s more, it’s now difficult
to spot the real photographers from those on the payroll of the very women
they take photographs of. Fake photographers, borrowed clothes, style that
neither felt authentic to the individual nor to anyone watching... By the SS19
shows, front-row dressing felt overinflated and disingenuous.It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when things started shifting. But change they have.
(Maybe it was the day a blogger almost got run over in Milan.) It would be
too simplistic to posit a date. Rather, it was a sea change, a slow dawning
that this way of life was dishonest and unsustainable. Thankfully, a transition
is happening in the fashion world. Where once the ultimate goal was to
become a style icon and brand extraordinaire, now something less brash,
more considered and – hallelujah! – more honest is revered. Expertise is
prized over exposure, credibility over celebrity and truth over fiction.
‘I’ve noticed that there’s been a change over the past two seasons,’ says
one highly regarded fashion director. ‘It got to the point that it was just so
ridiculous, and none of it was spontaneous. I remember seeing someone
outside a show in New York wearing a bra top during an actual snowstorm,
and people lying down in the middle of the road just to be photographed.
Now there are a lot less street-style photographers, because if the editors
aren’t playing the game – we’re too busy fitting in meetings between shows
to be messing around with outfit changes – then suddenly there’s a smaller
pool of people to be photographed.’
Long-time newspaper fashion editors such as The Telegraph’s Lisa
Armstrong and The Guardian’s Jess Cartner-Morley have never been more
revered: not just because they didn’t capitulate to the trend for calling in
head-to-toe looks to be papped in (they’re too busy filing news) but because,
in an era of blaggers, their deep subject knowledge is more valuable thanELLEVoice
158
Carine RoitfeldAlexa ChungVeronika HeilbrunnerEmmanuelle AltVirginie Mouzat
Stella TennantLiya Kebede
Caroline de Maigret“ NOW SOME THING
less BR ASH,
more CONSIDERED
and MORE
HONEST is RE VERED ”