An unusual profile of the dearest – not for everyone – fashion writer
Finding articles about fashion trends and what celebrities are using is easy. Just type some words on the internet and you will see a lot of them. However, write with confidence and accuracy is not for everybody. And Cathy Horyn knows that.
Famous for her polemic, honesty and sharp reviews, the fashion critic of The Cut does not let herself influence by what people say and think of her. And this is exactly what the critics should do, right?!
The funny – and interesting thing about Horyn is that she had never expected to write about fashion at all. But everything happened so fast that suddenly she found herself at New York writing about Fashion Week.
Everything started during 1986, when she applied for a job opportunity at The Detroit News: “Fashion Writer, no experienced needed”.
After that you can imagine what happened: Cathy arrived in Detroit wearing horrible clothes that, according to her, was the most fashionable things she had at the time. Right now, she knows that it wasn’t.
Knowing the basics about fashion writing – Cathy used to read her mother’s W Magazine when young – the writer has never had afraid to say what she thinks, and this resulted in her being banned from many runways shows during her career: Giorgio Armani, Oscar De La Renta and Hedi Slimane are just some examples about it.
The thing is that Cathy does not like the common, the easiest. She is always looking for designers that are Newsmakers and that have something interesting to share, to make you think.
In an interview for System Magazine in 2017, Cathy says that is the biggest reason she almost never goes to runway’s backstage and selects the shows she wants to see:
“I’m looking to write stories that are newsworthy. Amy used to say the same thing: ‘Designers call me up all the time and say, ‘Why didn’t you come to my show, why didn’t you write about it’, and she’d just say, ‘Make more newsworthy clothes and I’ll come.”
One of the biggest characteristics of Cathy is the fact that she is totally free of influences, and this is her writing's differential: She just write what she thinks about it, without being a brand fanfare or influenced by some friendship with designers.
“People have been totally bowled over and influenced by it. But then you get a younger generation that is not confident at expressing an opinion, or in some cases does not even know they have an opinion about these things. That leads to an entire generation thinking it must go with what the brand says, with its indoctrination.”
Before being critic-at-large for The Cut, Cathy had a special section called “On The Runway” on her 16 years of The New York Times. During that time, she was only the second fashion critic to have served at the publication. In 2001, she also won the prestigious Eugenia Sheppard Award for fashion writing.
What an honor!
So yes, Cathy has a strong personality, but this is what makes her so unique. The writer is present on the social media, such as Twitter and Instagram, but her real and true friend are her words.
Bibliography: Cathy Horyn Interview. System Magazine: http://system-magazine.com/issue5/cathy-horyn/ ;
Cathy Horyn. Business Of Fashion: https://www.businessoffashion.com/community/people/cathy-horyn ;
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