Getting and Spending: Cathy Horyn finds her style
During the holiday break, I finally got to an article published on New York Magazine's The Cut, in which the respected former New York Times fashion editor Cathy Horyn discusses finding her personal style at age 67.
Spoiler alert: At the end of thinking and listening to herself, she ordered a bespoke black trouser suit. (Ah, I thought approvingly, she didn't go to a designer, she went to a tailor.)
It's a good read; she takes us through her career: front-row seats to all the shows, friendships with legends like Bill Blass and André Leon Talley. But at the end, she's no different from any of us, wondering who the heck we are at the end of many decades of flirtations, fetishes, false starts. She decided to cleanse her palate fashion-wise in concert with a major move.
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| Photo: The Gentlewoman on Instagram |
She bought a farm in Indiana, threw herself into renovations, grew flowers. She had changed, and her clothes needed to reflect her, not the other way around.
The moment of truth arrived when she happened to watch the '70s British costume drama "The Duchess of Duke Street", in which she saw, amid its Edwardian tailoring, the perfect suit. She writes: "Anything involving aesthetics— a work of art, the look of a room — needs an image to sharpen your eye and move you forward."
The result: a bespoke suit from former Savile Row tailor, Ralph Fitzgerald, now in New York. It is, she says, lighter and softer than luxury ready-to-wear. (The price was $US 6, 000. For comparison, a ready-to-wear Tom Ford blazer on Netaporter is $US 4, 650.)
She has favourites of twenty years that stayed in her closet, but this is the reference point. In her photo the suit looks luxurious, slouchy and supple— and, I'm betting, feels even better.
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| Photo: Mark Seliger for New York Magazine |
Eleven years ago, she was photographed for Interview magazine in another black trouser suit, so I think she had an inkling earlier:
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| Photo: Patrick Demarchelier for Interview Magazine |
Horyn did not make her age a consideration. She believes if you're aware of what enlivens you, the age thing takes care of itself. She is not in favour of buying trends look to younger. She quotes an Italian designer friend who says, "There's something rebellious about tradition."
"...and the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time."
Cathy Horyn's version: "A t 67, there is nowhere else for me to go but in reverse, to memory and tradition."
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