Oscar de la Renta Writes 'Open Letter' to Cathy Horyn

[tboy34]

I'm not a big Cathy Horyn fan. Yet I'm a huge Yves Saint Laurent fan. I have collected his collections from magazines for years. I'm 44 and have always wanted to be a designer. He was my idol and inspiration for as long as I can remember. I watched when my favorite singing idol Miss Diana Ross wore his clothes to events and in private life to no avail. This new collection was ok, yet it wasn't wow or showing something new. Yet I do believe and feel that he is trying to start something that will slowly unfold as the collections keep coming, this was only the beginning in my opinion. I get where Cathy is coming from, but I don't respect her as a fashion journalist. I'm waiting to see more from Mr. Slimane before I come to any conclusions. I feel it's way to early. Lastly I have to say I miss Tom Ford At Saint Laurent.

 

[Scott]

well was cathy really wrong about raf simons? come on! raf simons had already developed his style before anybody even knew who the hell hedi was and long before his initial tenure at YSL Homme. needless to say,hedi please spare us all your fragile ego. what a jerky move,imo. to write that kind of ranting is extremely pathetic.

you know the funny thing is,to be so petulant in this supposed rivalry it's hedi that's the one being reactive and sensitive about it. i've never heard a peep from raf simons. before raf was at jil sander and still doing his line and hedi was getting all the glory and taking so much [igorant] credit for developing this sort of street style while designing dior homme....you never once heard raf simons react to any of it with an obnoxious attitude....he took it in stride and carried on with his work. it's a shame that now the shoe is on the other foot and raf simons is getting the credit he's been long-due,hedi is the one acting like a jealous child.

 

[woemwoem]

Hornyn is a journalist who happens to cover fashion. She is not a PR person, a fashion hanger-on, or a fashion fan. Her job is to write it as she sees it, not to sugarcoat things. If she did otherwise, the New York Times should fire her.
ODLR and Slimane get paid obscene amounts of money to design clothing. They live I'm sure in huge, beautiful homes, get to eat in expensive restaurants, drink champagne are are surrounded by minions who kow tow to their every whim. Their clothes cost hundreds and thousands of dollars. The contract they agree to when they become famous fashion designers is they have to put up with the bad along with the good. If they are too thin-skinned to deal with bad reviews or even snarky comments, then be a salesman at a clothing store. That way they can still be in fashion and not have to put up with criticism from journalists. Grow up, grow a spine, and design. When you take a full page ad or create a mom article on Twitter to criticize a critic, you're just telling the whole world you're a spoiled narcissistic brat.

 

[fashionista-ta]

I don't know if this is relevant but this has just been posted to the YSL collection thread and is from Hedis official twitter (I had to double check, but apparently it is really his official one)
twitter.com

I want to express my support for actual journalists, thus Cathy, who stands strong in a sea of opinion-less fashion writers and overly sensitive designers who got used to the praising and can't take a bad review anymore. I don't always agree with her reviews and I don't get her fondness of Raf but Oscar and Hedi and all the other designers that pull ads and ban critics need to come down from their f!cking ego-trip.

(Also I might add, Hedi accuses Cathy of being a bully but posts this on his twitter page. A.sshole.)

This is so poorly written that I can't believe it's real ...

 

[iluvjeisa]

Uhm. Is this 7th grade?

It would be a lot more impressive if she had said: "I was not invited but I saw the collection online and I liked it." Now it's just sour grapes.

That said, his argument, which consists of 1) She is a pen for hire and 2) She is not stylish, would have been stronger based on reason 1 alone. Saying someone should shut up because they're not stylish is very high school.

 

[LUXXX]

Uhm. Is this 7th grade?

That was my exact thought...the only other people who publicly act like this are on Real Housewives shows. Maybe Bravo should have cameras follow them all around.

 

[Scott]

apparently cathy isn't the only one hedi and his ego-maniacal attitude has not gone after.

http://www.businessoffashion.com/2012/10/a-wake-up-call-for-ysls-pr-team.html

and in it also,it seems a lot of other journos from other sources are worried they too will face the same tactics as cathy,as clearly written in last bits in this piece by lisa armstrong of the telegraph.

see that's what i am absolutely disgusted with. this idea that designers can dictate what gets said in reviews and that because you work for a corporation suddenly you have the power to control all aspects of the industry.

 

[MulletProof]

^ Yeah. What's saddening about scandals in fashion and the established designers/photographers/etc ganging up on people that want to enforce some ethics or just foment the ability to question and feel the liberty to reject what's been thrown at you, is that you realise how much of a climber everyone is and how there's zero sense of solidarity, not even as a community of journalists, which you see less fragmented in other fields like politics without necessarily being accused of trying to "bully" politicians, more putting facts under the microscope. It's bothersome seeing people wondering why even Cathy wrote that in the first place, deeming it as unnecessary, seeing the letter by the journalist at the Independent as completely uncalled for when it's actually [rare] support among colleagues and really stating the facts.. either that or just going on Cathy's "issues" with Hedi, which are actually professional, except fashion has for a long time encouraged this idea that it's supposed to be fun and lighthearted and materialistic that you're a bit of a downer (or a bully as the bully himself called her) if you start pondering on things and getting 'too serious'.. which also explains why it's completely unregulated and has such an archaic structure.

I liked what Imram Amed wrote but I dislike how the article's also injected by this 'please let us in!!' tone that everyone has, reason why others backed down from writing anything on the matter, god forbid they don't get an invitation for [Yves] Saint Laurent next season, cause it's all about them..

 

[Phuel]

see that's what i am absolutely disgusted with. this idea that designers can dictate what gets said in reviews and that because you work for a corporation suddenly you have the power to control all aspects of the industry.

The stakes are so high with Hedi and "SL" that of course his corporation/empire would intimate/bully anyone that is critical of the new "vision". It's the ultimate Mean Girls territory. I just didn't expect Hedi to be heading this bit of nastiness.

The Oscar rebuttal to Cathy's review is a joke, isn't it? She didn't even insult him, and yet no one in his entourage pointed this out to him: Can no one in his camp read properly? But this Hedi thing is so nasty and low. I'm taken aback by his very open nastiness and arrogance. If that really is Hedi's writing, then his attitude completely puts me off his designs now. And thankfully, the majority of posters here feel the same. Although, I can't help but yearn for some mock-doc/feature film about exactly just this type of behavior in the high fashion world...

 

[LUXXX]

"Gaga Takes Slimane’s Side Against Horyn, via Twitter"

http://nymag.com/thecut/2012/10/gaga-takes-slimanes-side-against-horyn.html

Of course she would comment...I hate she is making all these little designer/critic wars about her. Thin skin people to the left, please.

 

[fashionista-ta]

I was expecting to find here an official statement explaining that tweet was a hoax, but no ...

The illiteracy of the tweet is consistent with this quote from the Imram article ...

Specifically, they did not agree with our columnist Colin McDowell’s conclusion that while Slimane’s work at Dior Homme was massively influential and built a huge cult following, “it didn’t always translate into convincing sales.” When we explained our thinking, namely that no designer can claim that every single collection is a commercial success, and politely declined to change the article, we were informed via email: “Don’t correct, fare [sic] enough, we won’t collaborate on any kind of project in the future.”

Surely this nut job PR will be replaced ... hopefully sooner rather than later.

And honestly, when I find stuff written like that in my inbox, I report it as spam

 

[LUXXX]

Oh my God, what kind of communications representative would act that way...the higher-ups at YSL need to correct this ASAP.

 

[Littleathquakes]

go away Gaga

this is really turning into a sad state of affairs - for the designers. this is turning the industry into a bigger caricature of itself than it already is.

 

[JustABoy]

The Telegraph also wrote about the Slimane PR:

Paris Fashion Week: Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent debut

It's interesting to see all the backlash against critics lately.

 

[Littleathquakes]

The Telegraph also wrote about the Slimane PR:

Paris Fashion Week: Hedi Slimane's Saint Laurent debut

It's interesting to see all the backlash against critics lately.

This was not necessary. At all.

By the end, most seemed bemused. Backstage, as promised, Slimane (who by the way is very good looking and doesn't need to preside over a police state of airbrushing) accepted no questions - so there are many that remain unanswered.

 

[Marc10]

Just spotted Cathy sitting front row at the Pre-Fall show from Oscar. Peace?

 

[tboy34]

Just spotted Cathy sitting front row at the Pre-Fall show from Oscar. Peace?

Now that is very interesting. Especially after that open letter he wrote in WWD to her. WOW!

 

[MulletProof]

Well, maybe Oscar, being a wiser man, picked up on the favor Hedi did to Cathy by magnifying the ridiculousness of reacting like a baby towards criticism.. or maybe he just read again what she had actually said about his collection.

 

[Maximilian S]

Yes, that was very interesting, Cathy sitting in the front row and she was also the last one to arrive like they wanted everyone to see her there. Now, does this mean peace or was this whole dodgy affair just for media attention from both parties who could be friends in real life? The little grey cells are active.

 

[Littleathquakes]

I can only assume either ODLR himself or someone from his team had the wisdom to decide it was time to bury the hatchet and move on. A wise choice.