June 9, 2011 |
FROM THE VOLT (SUMMER 2008)
Cathryn Horyn: Fashion Critic, The New York Times
Dear Cathy,
Hi, I’m not sure if you remember this – a quick mind like yours surely doesn’t forget easily – but last year, at the opening of the Tom Ford store on Madison Avenue, an entire tray of champagne was spilled when a young man accidentally budged into a chisel-faced male model/cater waiter. That was me (the spiller, not the model/cater waiter). And I’m really sorry. I’m really sorry that I didn’t apologise or anything – I was just so embarrassed. I made eye contact with Ben Cho and Chloë Sevigny and they just gave me a look like, “Gurrl, you have done it now.”
So I left. I marched right on out and went home with flushed cheeks. I was just so mortified that, of all the people to spill on (actually, I didn’t even turn around and see if it got on you – did it?), it was you. You’re Cathy Horyn. No one spills champagne on Cathy Horyn! Everyone says you’re so serious and how vicious you can get with that laptop of yours (one doesn’t have to look further than your retracted Armani invites for proof, Cath), so I just panicked and left.
Well, anyway, when I started doing some research on you for this little profile, I noticed that you were a midwesterner like myself. (You’re from Coshocton, Ohio, and I’m from St Louis, Missouri, making us basically neighbours.) So, if I’d had a wee bit more confidence, maybe I would have apologised for that whole champagne thing and we could have talked about moving from mall fashions to Paris couture. Or something.
And then, this past season, I was walking behind you toward the Rodarte show in Chelsea, and you kind of smiled at me. Your hair, which was freshly shorn into a more sporty, cropped ’do, was blowing in the wind and you had a friendly glide to your step. Suddenly, I realised that maybe you weren’t as severe or stern as I had imagined. And then when I read The (New York) Times this week, like I always do, a closer inspection of your pieces revealed that you’re not mean or unkind – just realistic. So, I’m sorry I prejudged you.
At any rate, I’m digressing now. I guess all I’m trying to say is that, like, I really respect your writing. And oh, I love what you’re doing on the blog and the voice-over work. For technically being only the second fashion critic at The New York Times after the late, great Amy Spindler, you’ve carved a niche that is objective, intellectual and artistic.
So I’m sorry for not apologising for that whole spilling thing. I totally promise that the next time I accidentally shove a tray of alcoholic beverages on you, I’ll apologise immediately. And I’m totally down for that midwestern chat when you have a minute.
Yours, Derek
