Image courtesy of fashiontimes.com
Fashion Reverie looks back at John Fairchild. John Fairchild transitioned yesterday after a long illness. Credited for transforming Women’s Wear Daily (WWD) from a dusty trade publication to lively go-fashion publication that helped launch and support the careers of Oscar de la Renta, Yves Saint Laurent, and Bill Blass.
Known for his acerbic wit and lashing tongue, Fairchild was not shy when it came to expressing his opinions about fashion designers and the fashion industry. In the 1960s Fairchild was banned from Balenciaga shows after calling Hubert de Givenchy and Cristobal Balenciaga “the Dullsville Boys,” commenting that their collections were “Flop art.”
Image courtesy of deadline.com
When John Fairchild took over WWD in the early 60’s, the publication was a family trade publication that covered the garment industry. Under John Fairchild’s helm, WWD became a publication that covered celebrities, socialites, the glamorous side of the fashion industry.
“He made WWD into a paper that the media as well as socials and celebrities and everyone else read to find out what was going on,” expressed Calvin Klein. And Patrick McCarthy, his successor at W and WWD stated in a New York Times article that, “ [Fairchild] realized that printing cotton prices every day and which buyer was coming from Detroit to New York was not the publication he wanted to run. He was interested in the glamour and the fun and the bitchiness.”
And Fairchild’s version of bitchiness isolated several designers including Valentino and Geoffrey Beene, leaving them off his list for several years. Still, Fairchild’s support could launch careers. The Fairchild list includes Andre Leon Talley, Bill Cunningham, Steve Meisel, Bonnie Fuller, and New York Times fashion critic Amy Spindler.
Image courtesy of vanityfair.com
Realizing that fashion publishing was started to embrace celebrities as fashion icons, moving away from socialites and models, in 1997 John Fairchild retired from his posts at WWD and W magazine. “And [Fairchild] realized that at a certain point they didn’t sell the clothes, and that a TV actress of no import did. He didn’t like it,” states McCarthy in a New York Times article.
John Fairchild is survived by his wife, Jill; his sons John, James and Stephen; his daughter, who is also named Jill; and eight grandchildren,
—William S. Gooch
*Slideshow image courtesy of abc.go.com
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