RIP Hilary Alexander - 1946-2023

[Marc10]

 

[Salvatore]

So the fashion industry is really just turning over. I mean it’s bound and expected to happen, but still shocking to see a generation fade before our eyes. RIP !

 

[Lola701]

It’s so weird to witness a change of generation, see key figures of the industry who were really important in shaping your appreciation of fashion leave this earth.
This year Janie Samet died and here we have Hilary…
I just remember the time when in the studio, everybody rushed to read her reviews. She was a great fashion journalist.

It’s a pity she retired without the younger generation getting a taste of her work and her story.

May she RIP.

 

[Cocteau Stone]

I'm definitely someone of an age that has never exactly fully been part of what she really did for and with fashion.

But during my teens growing up on a farm with a small amount of internet, every Style.com video, BTS with Fashion TV and whatever SHOWStudio panel I could watch without churning through the gigs, whenever she was in them she just had an energy that always wanted to get chin deep in fashion.

Her and Jeanne Beker, just absolutely going for it in a way that made the elites feel like they were "overstaying their welcome" with their questions and point of views, but always end up getting such great perspectives because the subjects just give in.

She will be missed, and generations to come will need go out of their way to read and watch what figures like these have done for fashion.

Rest in peace, Hilary.

 

[tigerrouge]

Even though fashion is associated with constant change, what we've been blessed with is the continuity offered by so many people, working through the decades to shape what we know as the world of fashion.

It's Karl Lagerfeld, Vivienne Westwood, Issey Miyake, Thierry Mugler, and it's not just all the people who made the clothes, it's those who styled the looks, walked the shows, photographed the editorials... and also those who documented and reported on the industry.

Once they have gone, who replaces them? In fashion, entertainment and the media world, anyone can be the new person on the block, the flavour of the month. But will those people be allowed to accumulate experience and perspective? Will they gain the power to wield the long view?

 

[penny609]

Rest in power. Never had a chance to share a tea with her but she was a character I enjoyed seeing at the shows because she seemed to enjoy the shows. A bit like Andre Leon Talley. Truly passionate people always made me feel good and she looked like one of them, it's a bit saddening that they seem rare nowadays...

 

[thiago:)]

Her voice (and its power) was so iconic. Whenever I heard Hilary, I could tell the topic was high fashion. So dreamy. Hope she rests in peace.

 

[Urban Stylin]

May she RIP, she was part of a generation that truly epitomized highfashion.

 

[DK92]

Rest in peace Hilary...

 

[Drusilla_]

So the fashion industry is really just turning over. I mean it’s bound and expected to happen, but still shocking to see a generation fade before our eyes. RIP !

we experienced this in a more obvious way with the deaths of designers who've been holding steady for decades, but it's no less true for the loss of the journalists and editors who covered the industry back in the day, and especially those who worked for newspapers, as Hilary did.

She was one of those whose columns and reviews I used to religiously read back in the day, the Telegraph had a great fashion section under her. Loved hearing the anecdotes about her on the front row/outside the shows, too, Lisa Armstrong had a lovely tribute to her, only fitting for one of the grand dames of the fashion press Hilary Alexander was the life and soul of the fashion front row.