Top 5 style icon editors
Chances are you’ve already heard of these five ladies, but just in case you were elsewhere when the flashbulbs exploded, here’s a snippet on each that may start you on the strange kind of obsession that’s got lovers of the sartorial hooked on to their every wardrobe change.
1. Caroline Issa, editor-in-chief, Because Magazine & publisher of Tank Magazine
Fashion inheritance – Went from business school to the fashion world and hasn’t looked back since. The girl works hard!
Career – Got her start after graduating from Wharton. She moved to London and joined TANK in various capacities while overseeing the fledgling creative agency, Tank Form.
Sartorial trademark – She has a chic style brilliantly mixing up-and-coming designers with well-known industry stalwarts. Her looks are generally a balance of tailored professional and youthfully relaxed. Always known for her sky-high heels.
Lifestyle – She wears minimal makeup and always has simple, no-fuss hair.
What she has in common with Emmanuelle Alt– a sustained interest in young designers.
2. Emmanuelle Alt, editor-in-chief, Vogue Paris
Fashion inheritance – Alt quite possibly got her attitude and camera-ready looks from her mother, a Lanvin and Nina Ricci model in the ‘60s and ‘70s.
Career – She started out at French Elle, 20 ans, Mixte, and worked closely with Carine Roitfield as fashion director at Vogue Paris before taking the helm.
Sartorial trademark – she personifies rock ‘n’ roll style re-born and is far-removed from the coiffed image that typically comes to mind at the mention of a French lady in fashion. She’s often seen in Balmain, Prada, Guiseppe Zanotti, Topshop and Acne.
Lifestyle – She dismisses massages and facials, and isn’t too bothered about hair and make-up. She doesn’t smoke, nor does she drink alcohol or even sip a “café”; her vice? Diet Coke. She enjoys cooking, eating, family holidays in Corsica or Formentera, and is passionate about driving, photography and styling.
What she has in common with Anna Dello Russo – nearly two decades of fashion writing and editing under her belt.
3. Anna Dello Russo – Editor at large and creative consultant for Vogue Japan
Nickname – she’s been called “fashion maniac” by Helmut Newton and is also the self-proclaimed Lady Gaga of fashion week.
Career – she spent 18 years as Fashion Editor at Vogue Italia and another six as an Editor of L’Uomo Vogue. Independent projects include a fragrance named Beyond, bottled in a pocket-size gold shoe, and a collection of T-shirts which sold out within hours of launching.
Sartorial trademark – Her fearless, maximalist approach to dressing is best summed up by her own admission on her self-titled blog: “I don’t want to be cool, I want to be fashion.” She’s web-famous for her theatrical, straight-from-the-runway looks: big shoulders, baroque accessories and cascades of drapery.
Lifestyle – Anna awakes at 6 am, has a Japanese breakfast, practices yoga and swims daily. She is an avid collector of fashion and jewelry and resides in Milan with her dog, Cucciolina (though we’re not sure how she justifies using fur given her love of dogs).
What she has in common with Giovanna Battaglia – an Italian ethnicity!
4. Giovanna Battaglia – former fashion editor, L’Uomo Vogue & freelancer for W
Fashionable connection – She is a former Dolce and Gabbana model and the girlfriend of Carine Roitfield’s art dealer son, Vladimir Restoin-Roitfield.
Sartorial trademark – Known for inventing her own brand of offbeat classicism characterized by side-parted hair, creased trousers, silk scarves and breezy dresses, in her own words, her style is “kind of polished but still glamorous.”
Lifestyle – Giovanna recently moved herself but only half her closet to New York from Milan and lives on the Upper East Side. Dressing for her typical day is “illogical” (her words again) because she “jump(s) from different styles and types of meetings and situations every day.”
What she has in common with Kate Lanphear– Although they have very different sensibilities, a cult-like obsession from internet fans have made them both street style blog stars.
5. Kate Lanphear – Senior Style Director at US Elle
Fashionable inheritance – Kate grew up in Irish-Catholic Virginia, surrounded by impeccably turned-out WASPy women; herself an old-school heavy metal fan, her style icons instead veered toward the likes of Guns n’ Roses front man, Axl Rose.
Career – The American-born Lanphear started her fashion career in Sydney, Australia and has held posts at both Vogue Australia and Harper’s Bazaar. She recently shot for an online ad campaign with friend and jewelry designer, Eddie Borgo.
Sartorial trademark – She’s the modern-day archetype of androgynous punk, rocking inky hues, acid-wash and mannish-cuts, that work well with her signature Billy Idol peroxide blond hair. She collects old Helmut Lang and Margiela, and admits that she could blow her life’s savings on Givenchy and Azzedine Alaïa.
Golden words – On her internal struggle with coming into her own, she says candidly, “That’s the thing about fashion: You can use it to hide, but it’s only magic when you use it to express who you really are.”
Honorable Mention: Anna Wintour – Editor-in-chief, US Vogue
* You may be wondering why we’re giving the UberAnna an “Honorable Mention.” Though we appreciate her godliness when it comes to dictating what’s in the fashion pipeline – we tend to enjoy the fearlessness in wardrobe that the other editors don. So Anna, maybe you can try on something a little less yawwwwwnnnn next time around. *
Editorial inheritance – She is the eldest daughter of Charles Wintour, editor of the London Evening Standard.
Career – Although British-born, she has held the chief editorial position at American Vogue since 1988. We like how her editorial team has started to infuse a little sustainable fashion throughout the magazine too.
Philanthropy – Wintour serves as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, raising funds for the museum’s Costume Institute, and began the CFDA/ Vogue Fund in order to support and mentor emerging fashion designers. She has also raised over $10 million for AIDS charities.
Sartorial trademark – Earlier in her career, she mixed T-shirts and vests with designer jeans and when she started at Vogue as creative director she switched to Chanel suits with miniskirts. Lately she’s been sporting feminine dresses, sunglasses, a smile, and her refreshingly constant pageboy bob.
Lifestyle – Her day begins at 6 am: She plays tennis and has her hair and makeup done before she gets to Vogue‘s offices two hours later. She always arrives at fashion shows well-coiffed and normally ahead of schedule.
What we like about Anna? Well besides her nicknames (*Nuclear Wintour anyone?) – we appreciate her sense of humor: She turned up to the premiere of the film The Devil Wears Prada wearing Prada, of course. ♥
