ELLEEditor’s Letter
Photography: Ian Harrison.
It was Milan, 2O17, when I first saw it. I was running late for a big show
of the SS18 season and, as such, tripped up, a breathless, perspiring
spectacle. As I gathered myself in a corner (ticket, bag, dignity... all vaguely
in check), I watched the dying tides of the street-style pageant out in front.
O ver t he past few years, I ’ d become accustomed to t his alter nati ve
catwalk show that took place outside the official ready-to-wear shows.
The truth was, I’d always rather admired the young
photographers who bowled up to Paris and Milan
with nothing more than a 35mm and a whole lot of
chutzpah to snap the great and good of the fashion
world. I admired even more the sartorial deities they
captured – women whose sense of style was as
individual as it was unselfconscious: jackets slung
insouciantly over shoulders, belts tiedjust-so...
But that year in Milan, I realised something
had changed. People would linger a little longer
to be photographed, outfits had become more
contrived, natural style replaced by aesthetic pomp and gimmick,
chosen to capture camera lenses rather than to reflect personal
taste. And that’s when I saw it: a young woman in thigh-high boots
and a sheer dress, performing a series of quasi-catwalk moves in the
middle of the street. Traffic snarled behind her while a young mansnapped away. Click. Click. Click. Then, just like that, the two of them
ran to a waiting car, where she removed both boots and fashion mask.
Rumours had long abounded that some photographers were in fact
on the payroll of the women they shot, but I’d never witnessed it first-hand.
To see it then, writ large, felt as transgressive as seeing a toddler swear.
I t ’s not just in fashion, however, t hat our li ves ha ve become a spectator
sport. Whether it’s outrage-recycling opinions on
social media, performative confessions on podcasts,
or simply the curated images we share, what once
would’ve been acts of thoughtful self-expression
have become acts of theatre. The problem with
theatre, of course, is that it’s not real.
True style is the same. It cannot be manufactured
for the applause of others. The art of dressing is, by its
nature, an art over which only you are judge and jury.
I t is aest hetic ex pres sion for an audience of one: you.
It’s something that ELLE’s contributing editor
Laura Craik explores in ‘The New Honesty’ on p156. It is a timely
piece and one that ser ves as a call to arms for a new legitimacy
in an age of myth-making.
So here’s to the September issue of ELLE: for those who understand
that an audience of one is all you ever really need.ELLE.COM/UKSeptember 2O19THE TRUE ART
of FA SHION
FA RR A H’S wish LIST
LEVI’S
Jacket, £110CHOPARD
Bracelet, £930MOTHE R OF PEARL
Dress, £395STÉE
Bag, £609From basics to my wildest dreams, here’s what I love this month@farrahstorr“TRUE STYLE
CANNOT be
MANUFACTURED
for THE APPLAUSE
OF OTHERS”65SOREL
Sandals, £80