Fashion | The Fairy of Porn Chic called Carine Roitfeld

Who’d have thunk it. Me?! I didn’t. All I knew is that I gravitated to that je ne sais quoi on the pages of Vogue Paris. When I bought the December 2010 / January 2011 issue, changes were already afoot that I was clueless about. It was an issue that pushed buttons for some with its Cadeaux spread: kiddies made up for a late decadent night, swathed in major bling, all very grown up. The Cadeaux was, let’s say, provoking, creepy in fact, but to be fair the same issue contained Forever Love with very sexy, and also provocative, shots of two adults at the other age extreme. Equality for all age borders! Little did I know that December 2010 / January 2011 issue marked the end of a 10-year reign of its editrice – Carine Roitfeld. Supposedly, Cadeaux was the reason. Or maybe her final salve. Either way, controversy spread beyond the fashion industry. The dust might have settled by now, and you can draw your own conclusions. I found Forever Love quite welcoming and needed. Tit for tat, I suppose… Still, it took me a while to register the name in the middle of it all. When it happened, I was conflicted about the role of fashion editors as cultural mavens, celebrities, artistes in their own right, visual directors or dictators, poachers or patrons of talents, eagle-eyed aesthetes, or just a bunch of bulls**t.
Who’d have thunk it. All that thought about THAT?! But, I did gravitate for a reason, non? So couple of years later, courtesy of well thought out birthday present, I became an owner of irreverent and despite a well-meaning attempt at aloofness, curious of Carine. Oh, but it’s so easy to dismiss, to be disgusted, to laugh at the posturing of that world and the gluttonous triteness of it all; it’s harder to dismiss the quality of the vision and the titillating fantasy. I am sticking with “eagle-eyed aesthete” with a good dash of kohl-rimmed Rock & Roll cool and all the goodness that comes with that. She might’ve been The Client for W Magazine and fit the preconceived mold, but now we have Mademoiselle C and CR Fashion Book and I like to watch people at work, especially in artistic milieus. We all need trifles in our lives. Even me.

Read also: Harper's Bazaar “Fashion's Fairy Grandmother” by Anamaria Wilson