perhaps someone would like to disagree? perhaps fashion journalists are exemplars of literary virtue?
Fashion
The designers, the models, the shows and of course, the clothes
from cathy horyn's write-up of the zac posen show in the ny times:
"his is a generation that doesn't like slick clothes. it wants romance, a kind of sexy gorgeousness..."
how is "sexy gorgeousness" (only the broadest two-word combination one can think of) exclusive of the word "slick"? these two sentences fail entirely to define in the mind of the reader an idea of what zac posen stands for. not slick. but sexy and gorgeous. VERY precise. not.
or from an old issue one:
"after seasons of fluttery, escapist Bohemia, a powerful, all-woman Mother Goddess silhouette emerges from the darkness, exuding polished urban blamour and intoxicating enchantment. Portraying sensuality before feminity, she emphasizes contour-huggiing hourglass forms, fluidity coming in drape and sheers laden with glitz and glamour. Teaming delicate silk jersey tops with ultra-skinny jewel encrusted denims, she is a picture of ladylike refinement in sharp tailoring and drape techniques, perched atop vertiginous heels. Hers is a poetic juxtaposition of leather, chiffon, jersey, satin, denim, and silks, creating looks that owe as much to biker chic and Edie Sedgwick as to Hitchcock heroines, Roxy Music and Halston-clad divas. She's left her insular frumpiness for show-stopping sexiness, fishtailed red-carpet gowns and plunging necklines. Whether femme fatale, spy lady, goth urbanite, glamour succubus or black magic woman, all bow to the Modern Goddess."
it's a bit muddled, isn't it? simply proves that 1 picture=1000 words.
i'm from an non-english speaking country and it took me some times to understood that article :p
and honestly, i kinda skipped it because i'm too tired trying to understand that.
1 picture=1000 words.
Indeed.
Although i couldn't do the 1000words, writing is difficult.
Perhaps journalists should take inspiration from Georges Bataille's DOCUMENTS.
Well don't forget that fashion is fashion and in order to fill the pages I would dare to assume that some fashion journalists just get carried away ....in the end it's all about "talent"...and if you want to read clear, concise, fair and interesting fashion journalism, I dare to say that no one does it better than Suzy Menkes from the IHT..but again what do I know about fashion ?
http://www.iht.com/pages/style/index.php
to the canon of bad writing let us add tim blank's piece in the most recent Arena Homme+ about Neo-Medievalism or whatever he called it... tim blanks writes regularly for the magazine and style.com, and in describing fashion he is adept and clear. but tackling larger themes of world history he is clearly out of his depth. he tries to predict the next 394 years of human history in the final two paragraphs! silly, tim, very silly. stick to fashion, clearly you don't have a head for politics.
i have to say, this is all very encouraging- if people with zero writing ability can find work in fashion journalism, what about someone who can punctuate his sentences correctly and differentiate between the words 'careened' and 'careered'?
I feel sorry for jouranlists, not all journalists are good writers, because sometimes they rely too much on publicists. I am not in the journalistic field but I know that deadlines are hardcore in that field.
Someone like Diana Vreeland was a very good fashion writer-she understood imagination, and fashion is about selling dreams. A skirt is a skirt is a skirt-and cotton is cotton, how to make fashion writing provocative when one has to describe something which the utimate function is to fit the arms and legs and keep from being naked? Perhaps some of the writing people here have commented in the forums on fashion designers already are way better than some fashion journalists have written. Besides, a lot of the descriptions used in fashion journalism are just bull-shitting....
....although this thread is already ' out of fashion' in the forum I would like to add that to be a fashion writer......indeed the ability to write is very important....but what can you add if the journalist has no real vision and understanding of how fashion, being so organic, develops and works ?.... fashion writing is not merely about trends, new silhouettes, bows, sequins...or the new and hype designer.....it is deeper than that however ridiculous it sounds....It is about recognizing direction, true creative, visonary and innovative talent as well as the commercial ones, and he/she must be able to convey the message and predict...and predict right as far as possible ....the right vibes.....to be in touch with what is happening out there right now in all the creative fields as well as being well documented in the social and political issues of the moment....all that have definitely great influence in fashion’s direction and trends....and last but not least to be capable of promoting fashion through him/herself....”image”.... be credible....a fashion writer is also a very powerful visiting card for the industry whether they want it or not...and some fashion journalist think or believe to be immune to scrutiny...........arguably to be a fashion writer you must be the magician....not the magician’s apprentice..........