Yves Saint Laurent's new designer lashes out at fashion's top critic.
This is really not Cathy Horyn's fashion season. The negativity started during New York Fashion Week when Oscar de la Renta compared the New York Times critic to a "stale 3-day old hamburger" in response to her referring to him as the "hot dog" of American fashion in her review of his show. Then, Lady Gaga got involved, reigniting her year-old spat with Cathy (with a rap performance at Paris Fashion Week's Thierry Mugler show, no less). Now, it looks like Hedi Slimane has issues with Ms. Horyn. Oy, here we go...
Hedi showed his very first collection for Saint Laurent yesterday and everyone (even Valerie Trierweiler!) was there -- well, everyone except Cathy. The journalist published a blog for the Times today, claiming that she was excluded from the show because of the brand's new creative director's 5-year-old grudge:
Despite positive reviews of his early YSL and Dior collections, as well as a profile, Mr. Slimane objected bitterly to a review I wrote in 2004 — not about him but Raf Simons. Essentially I wrote that without Mr. Simons’s template of slim tailoring and street casting, there would not have been a Hedi Slimane...Anyway, Mr. Slimane insisted that he was the first to show the skinny suit. It was a silly debate. Who cares? As time went on, he also felt (as best as I can tell) that I gave preference to Mr. Simons in my coverage of the men’s shows. If I gave him attention, it was because his work and my reporting into the key early part of his career merited it. I haven’t spoken to Mr. Slimane in five years.
Thanks to social media, it looks like the two don't need to actually speak to one another to continue their feud. Hedi took to the Twitter to creatively air his frustrations about Cathy's behavior, creating a newspaper-like graphic entitled "My Own Times." In the text, the designer calls her a "bully" and makes a dig about lagging sales of her book about Bill Blass. He takes it even further by saying that she'll never get a seat at Saint Laurent, but she "might get a 2 for 1 at Dior" (where Raf Simons is currently creative director). Hedi even goes so far as to call her a "publicist in disguise" -- ouch!
All of this feuding and name-calling is making us wonder where the lines should be drawn between journalistic criticism and personal insults. Can't fashion people just play nice? Here's hoping next season we can focus more on Harper Beckham's presence at fashion shows and less on all of the catfights. In the meantime, we suggest you stay tuned until Paris Fashion Week is officially over tomorrow. Your move, Cathy.
Check out Hedi Slimane's open letter to Cathy Horyn and tell us what you think.
MY OWN TIMES / MISS CATHY / FREEDOM OF THE PRESS twitter.com/hedislimanetwi…
— Hedi Slimane (@hedislimanetwit) October 2, 2012
UPDATE: Horyn responded to Slimane's open letter, telling WWD on Tuesday night, "It’s just silly nonsense to me." Snap!
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