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Can the Current Media Environment Produce an Honest Critic?

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  • Faust
    kitsch killer
    • Sep 2006
    • 37852

    Can the Current Media Environment Produce an Honest Critic?

    A fantastic piece on The Business of Fashion and I completely agree. The first thing I said when Horyn was replaced that this could very well be an end of an era of honest criticism, and I would not be surprised if the Times tacitly discouraged her replacement (the talented Matthew Schneier) from following in Horyn's footsteps.

    Op-Ed | Can the Current Media Environment Produce an Honest Critic?

    LONDON, United Kingdom — Cathy Horyn’s retirement has reignited the debate about the state of fashion criticism. It’s been asked whether her departure from her post at The New York Times spells the end of honest critique. But this has always been a rather simplistic argument. The issue isn’t what Cathy Horyn’s departure means for fashion, but whether the current media environment can produce another critic of Horyn’s ilk.

    Several of fashion’s most independent, well-versed, fearless and knowledgeable critics got their start working at local and regional newspapers. Horyn worked at Detroit News for four years. Robin Givhan started at the Detroit Free Press, where she worked for seven years. Lynn Yaeger worked at The Village Voice for three decades.

    But The Village Voice — which was bought by New Times Media in 2005 and has seen circulation fall from 247,000 in 2006 to 124,998 as of December 2013, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations — no longer has a fashion section and never replaced Yaeger after her departure in 2008. Both the Detroit News and the Free Press now use syndicated Associated Press coverage in lieu of hiring their own fashion reporters.

    Why is this important?

    Because young writers working at these kinds of papers were able to learn their trade from experienced journalists and, critically, write in the context of a business that wasn’t totally reliant on fashion advertising for income. But with these kinds of outlets either shrinking, disappearing or slashing budgets, there is a chasm where this important stepping stone once was. (continue reading here).
    Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

    StyleZeitgeist Magazine
  • Shucks
    Senior Member
    • Aug 2010
    • 3104

    #2
    just a first reaction to this piece: isn't the traditional media model of sender-receiver pretty much dead anyway, meaning that the critic's exalted position as arbiter of taste is gone? i never paid much attention to reviews of fashion OR music, but even less so now that i can access stuff pretty much as quickly as any critic, and i can discuss it with my peers on my own, through places such as this one.

    Comment

    • Faust
      kitsch killer
      • Sep 2006
      • 37852

      #3
      Mmmm, no, it's very much alive, only the bloggers have made the field wider, though, crucially, not deeper.

      And, no you don't really have the same information as a critic, because you are not there at the show, don't see the true colors, the back, the movement (even the video is not that representative, forget the shitty photos). Nor can you go to the showroom and see, touch, try on the entire collection, make the judgement of the fabrics and quality of construction and fit. That's why there are so many returns and activity in the secondary market. You also probably do not have the historical knowledge that a critic has, and thus you don't have the same points of reference. Lastly, chances are, you are not a good writer and you cannot even articulate what it is you are feeling. (This is all hypothetical "you"). As Diane Pernet said in another article I posted, "What’s the point of an opinion that is not based on knowledge?”

      That's why there are so many people out there, even in this very place, who talk out of their ass.

      Brands would very much love for the critic as an arbiter of taste to be gone, because it's much easier to satisfy the uninformed consumer (look no further the "Hedi makes the best jeans = he's a great designer in the latest St. Laurent thread).* I think live streaming and all that bullshit on the part of brands like Burberry is mere pandering to the audience to make them feel included so they can buy their wares.

      *This is again parallel to what had happened when the art world became the art industry in the 80s. No criticism > everything is valid > lots more art, but LOTS more shitty art, to the point where you drown in it.
      Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

      StyleZeitgeist Magazine

      Comment

      • david s
        Senior Member
        • Jul 2010
        • 492

        #4
        One point that can be made about Horyn's critic were that they were always placed in a wider societal/cultural context. Or just to be more blunt her writing had more color and depth + a fucking awesome writer.

        Reading Suzy Menkes' review in the current Times is like going from a Ferrari to a decent Ford. Solid enough, good workmanship but no flair.

        Or maybe more to Faust's point catering to the masses means a lot of shit & having an intellectual take is dirty.
        It's absolutely Hedious!
        shy poser

        Comment

        • Shucks
          Senior Member
          • Aug 2010
          • 3104

          #5
          ok let me put my general problem with authority aside and try to think out loud for a minute...

          yes of course there are differences in access to information, analytical thinking, experience, craft and so on. the question is how apparent and relevant these things are to the end customers / reader, as well as to the potential employers of critics.

          1) as far as i know, most newspapers are hemorrhaging money and struggling to both find advertizers and to cut costs. from their point of view, it may make sense to just buy syndicated reports, rather than pay salaries to critics.

          the average reader of big newspapers does not really give a rat's ass about fashion. those who do, are usually content if they can find information on whether stripes or florals are in for spring, and where they can get the look for less.

          2) in order to make a really well-informed judgement about fashion, it is indeed necessary to have a certain level of knowledge and an awareness of just what it is one is experiencing. however, the same holds true for making informed judgements about fashion criticism. again, the average reader of a newspaper, even those with some interest in fashion, most likely does not spend the time or does not have the prerequisite knowledge to tell the difference between good writing on fashion, and less good writing. i would posit that the same holds true also for the actual employers of critics. they don't even see the value of good critical writing, and may in fact, like the article says, just see critics as an unneccessary cost and a threat to the advertizing accounts.

          we sometimes forget that we are a quite extreme psychographic here, with a very different way of making cost-benefit evaluations of both fashion design and information about fashion design. many of us here are into brands which might be called 'designer's designers', and some of us possibly into 'critic's critics' - just like there are also 'writers' writers', 'musician's musicians' etc. - obviously fashion critics, with a sometimes similarly extreme mindset, also forget this, and the average reader may feel quite alienated since their needs are very different (the same way the average person might feel quite alienated on sz). to this can be added that it is quite rare that a 'musician's musician' has broad appeal and makes good money...

          3) there is a time factor involved here too. yes, the critic has access to shows, to backstage, to showrooms, to designers and so on. however, once products hit the shelves, the customer can handle and even try the product for him/herself. a regular customer (if there is such a thing) may not see the need to have very detailed information about a product far in advance of its delivery... and with ever shorter lead-times from runway to retail (fast fashion etc.), there is little time for customers to do anything other than pick up on the trend and then buy into it. and this is what most people want to do anyway - not reflect. there is less time and effort (reading, thinking, ugh...) required to find what an average consumer is actually looking for (a simple trend to latch on to) in simple, non-reflective information, than in a serious piece of fashion journalism. to this customer, spending time reading serious writing may actually be perceived as a cost rather than a benefit...

          all in all, the 'free editorial content' available through the brands themselves, through blogs, through syndicated AP reports, may just be 'good enough' for what the average reader/customer needs.

          ps. bit stream-of-consciousness this - apologies.
          Last edited by Shucks; 02-26-2014, 05:54 AM. Reason: slight clean-up

          Comment

          • michael_kard
            Senior Member
            • Oct 2010
            • 2152

            #6
            Shucks, I couldn't agree more. I attempted to make a similar point in last week's discussion about construction quality. At the end of the day, it is easy to forget that the approach championed by SZ is a rather exclusive niche.

            I think Tim Blanks is one of the few critics who can do decent criticism and still appear to be very friendly to the subjects and average reader. All you have to do is read between the lines rather than take his statements for what they are.
            ENDYMA / Archival fashion & Consignment
            Helmut Lang 1986-2005 | Ann Demeulemeester | Raf Simons | Burberry Prorsum | and more...

            Comment

            • Fuuma
              Senior Member
              • Sep 2006
              • 4050

              #7
              If the field of fashion criticism is to be viewed as magazine and newspaper reviews of shows rather than academic or popular books about the topic then I do not see what is being lost. Nowadays people interested don’t look at newspapers to read show reviews and learn the season’s themes; they merely look at online visual information with minimal commentary and then proceed to buy when things come into stores. Having a more or less talented commentator regale us with off the cuff anecdotes on fashion history, society pages type details and whatever might be pleasant to some but it is irrelevant. Fashion is based on acquisition and fashion criticism in dailies was never this deep thing that this article makes it out to be. You want a sociological analysis of fashion, don’t read criticism, read the few academics that write about this stuff taking a longer view.

              Oh and critics have not been arbiters of taste in fashion for quite a while and fashion is now extremely fragmented leading to less "must wear of the season" being actually implemented by consumers (or rather they each buy from a different list of "must wear").
              Selling CCP, Harnden, Raf, Rick etc.
              http://www.stylezeitgeist.com/forums...me-other-stuff

              Comment

              • Faust
                kitsch killer
                • Sep 2006
                • 37852

                #8
                I agree with you that critics have not been the arbiters of taste for a while - I was thinking about that yesterday.

                However, there are some flaws in your first paragraph. First, fashion criticism does not boil down to show reviews, but it also includes intelligent commentary on the state of fashion and its relation to culture and society. And plenty of it has been committed to print in newspapers, Ms. Horyn included.

                But even with show reviews - I don't look for someone arbitrating taste, but more for someone to compare notes with. Did this writer have same/different reaction to a show and why? It's like talking to an intelligent peer. (And the same goes for book, film, music, art exhibition reviews.) But if that peer's arm is twisted into being disingenuous, then this goes out the window. And, trust me, people care. Not only the public, but the fashion industry, too. Otherwise you wouldn't see public spats over critical reviews. Designers would simply shrug them off.

                Second, by your logic we should write off all art, music, literature criticism that has even been printed in newspapers and magazines. This is simply untrue, as you well know.

                Third, and we have had this debate before, academia is the one to blame for lack of intelligent fashion criticism in the first place by dismissing fashion as a subject not worthy of critical inquiry. This has been slowly changing but because this is a relatively new field and academics don't seem to know what tone and language they should use they cling to the tired and tiresome methods of academic writing, making themselves irrelevant.

                The popular book comment is an interesting one and I do wonder why we have not had a good popular intelligent book on fashion. There are a few - Fashion at the Edge by Caroline Evans spring to mind - but if someone would ask me for a good book on fashion, I'd be hard-pressed to recommend one. I had high hopes for Adorned in Dreams which supposedly fills that role, but I found it lackluster. And don't get me started on the likes of Christopher Breward - I would rather watch paint dry.
                Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months - Oscar Wilde

                StyleZeitgeist Magazine

                Comment

                • crtk001
                  Member
                  • Nov 2010
                  • 92

                  #9
                  Problem isn't there's nowhere to publish, its how real criticism is received.

                  So in such I don't accept a basic understanding of e-commerce and "reblog value" to excuse the critic from being non-present. As well I find it laughably ironic a critic pissed about the state of criticism writes something that is so indirect, aimless, that offer ups nothing but negative platitudes, and is anything but scathing.

                  In short, critics sold out and now try to say they were forced to.

                  Comment

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