June 11, 2011 |
FROM THE VAULT (WINTER 2010)
POLLY MELLEN: CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ALLURE (1991-1999)
“From Vreeland’s rib came Polly Mellen. From that day on, Eden never looked better.” And while Richard Avedon may have said that, don’t be kidded into thinking that he was all that keen on working with Mellen.
Apparently, she was too noisy, so on their first shoot together she worked in absolute silence, but even so, her energy was clearly palpable, bubbling away, ready to explode under the surface, cementing a partnership that would span both their careers. Avedon was moved to call her “the most creative sittings editor I ever worked with”.
What made her stand out – still makes her stand out – is her unbridled enthusiasm for fashion, best witnessed at the shows when her hands shoot up into the air and she gleefully claps. Well, she has been called the industry’s “cheerleader” because of this reaction of hers when something she likes appears on the runway, along with her constant search for new talent and her ability to adapt to whatever is going on around her and bring that vision to the images she creates.
Even though she has been described as the last link to the great editors of the 20th century, her gaze is firmly set in the future. “I like to take things further,” she says. “Too often, stylists do things to please because they are going to be accepted. You lose the magic that way. You can’t give something special to your readers unless you dare. I was a stronger woman behind the camera than I was in real life. I dared.”
by Natalie Dembinska
