If you’ve ever wondered about the origins of millennial pink and normcore and the history of the influencer, look no further. On Monday, April 4, starting off this year’s SCADstyle, the first one in person in what seems to have been forever was none other than the current fashion features editor of ELLE, Véronique Hyland. With original reporting and personal anecdotes woven throughout, Hyland’s talk essentially makes the case that we all care about fashion to some degree — even if we swear that we don’t.
Fashion has always been viewed as this shallow industry and people often consider it a very sexist topic to write about. Hyland has written for the New York Times as well as Harper’s Bazaar reflecting the industry’s influence on politics. During a personal interview, she discussed her piece on the Fashion Workers Act in the New York State Senate, introduced by the Model Alliance, a labor advocacy group for the modeling industry. She shared how makeup artists, hairstylists, stylists, and others represented by an agency are often exploited and not paid on time for their work. She further unravels her conversation with State Senator Biagi discussing models aren’t seen as workers are recognized as workers, and fashion isn’t seen as something that the government needs to step into.
She discusses how no matter how much one tries to divorce themselves from their audience and their influence, it will always linger and how it’s about balance when It comes to sending a message and staying true to yourself yet seeming appropriate for your environment.
When asked if she feels the pressure to dress a certain way as a fashion editor, Hyland said
“When I first started working in fashion a lot of what I was wearing was thrifted clothing or fast fashion, and I was using that as a way to approximate runway clothing and kind of keep up with the people I worked with. And then I got to the point where you know, became more aware of all the labour problems and sustainability problems around that and World and felt that, I no longer I’m going to use this as a way to like keep up with the Joneses. And I’m gonna kind of do my own thing. But yeah, there’s definitely pressure to like, look a certain way, dress a certain way be marketable.”
“We’ve all seen these innovations that have brought fashion to more people from live streaming shows (which now seems like every show is live stream). But that was something that, you know, Alexander McQueen did in 2009 and it slowly offered people more entree to the fashion world. People started watching a show on Instagram Live or seeing shows on social media seeing images disseminated.” Connecting with young designers is what makes her optimistic about the direction fashion is headed in.
As a parting gift, all the attendees received a copy of her book “Dress Code: Unlocking Fashion from the New Look to Millennial Pink,” as Hyland left the group with questions about the future of fashion and its role in all other aspects of culture.
Words by Rhea Gupta.
Graphic by Fai McCurdy.