Cathy Horn and Nathalie Rykiel in San Francisco
May 11th, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Last week I had the pleasure and good fortune of listening to Cathryn Horn, infamous New York Times fashion scribe and Nathalie Rykiel, daughter of Sonia and president of the Rykiel empire, speak to a large group of students and other impressionable minds. I live Tweeted the event but really haven’t had the opportunity to wrap my mind around all of the tidbits of wisdom that they delivered to their listeners. I found Nathalie gorgeous, clever, charming and very French. I still have no idea what it is about French women and their poise that grants them license to say and do anything and still be chic and smart, but they should keep doing what they are doing. At one point she had the entire theater in stitches when after a bit of a misunderstanding with the proctor, Gladys Perint Palmer, she blurted out, “Everyone always has time for sex!” I was too far away to really get the whole moment, but regardless, she was smart and funny.
Meanwhile, Cathy Horn spoke like a true sage dishing out commentary on the late Alexander McQueen and the state of fashion, journalism and writings place in a digital age. I think my favorite from her came at the heels of the obligatory Twitter/Facebook/Social Media question. She responded that she likes the challenge of trying to think of how she can write about a show or interview in 140 characters. She said that, of course, it’s impossible, but it’s an interesting way to think about framing your work. She also admitted that even though the digital age moves too fast and is sometimes scary, it’s also exciting.
They also both chimed in about their disdain for Fashion’s Night Out and how they feel that there is a disconnection in human values and our society’s obsession with spending and consuming. Horyn mentioned that it might be novel for our culture to start thinking about things like, “reading books, hanging with (their) kids” and that shifting away from such a consumption obsessed culture should be a part of the larger discussion. It certainly is a strange priority in our society and is a nice segway to my next post….
Until then. <3
