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Claws are out for teen fashion blogger
February 18, 2010
Derick Chetty
New York–On Monday night at the Marc Jacobs show, the reporter holding the Fashion Television microphone was about 4 feet tall, wrapped in a multicoloured coat, wearing a giant pink flower tucked into her drab grey bob.
When she approached the designer's boyfriend, Lorenzo Martone, for an interview, he had to fold himself in half to answer her questions.
Obviously, this was not Jeanne Beker, the gregarious and seasoned host of the Toronto-based television show that's beamed around the world.
The 13-year-old rookie reporter is Tavi Gevinson, the newest and youngest sensation in the fashion world.
The pint-sized blogger, who lives in the suburbs of Chicago, has been skipping school to sit in the front row at the world's most important fashion shows. Since she began writing her blog (tavi-thenewgirlintown.blogspot.com) in 2008, she has quickly ascended through the ranks of fashion journalism, though her designer shoes still don't reach the floor.
She sat front and centre at the recent Dior haute couture show, a pride of place reserved for fashion's inner sanctum. She's met John Galliano and Karl Lagerfeld. She's been featured on the cover of hip magazines such as Pop and made it onto the pages of Vogue Paris and Harper's Bazaar.
There's a resentment brewing here, however, as Tavi appears to have moved too quickly from obscurity to celebrity status, but when the elephant in the room is a shy teenager, it's hard to be mean.
Well, not that hard.
While the fashion world has always embraced eccentrics, there is the inevitable backlash already – from the very community that rushed to embrace her.
It all went down during the recent round of haute couture shows.
An editor from Grazia, one the largest circulated magazines in the United Kingdom, was relegated to the second row and seated behind Tavi, who was wearing a giant bow on her head. The editor took a pic and posted it on Twitter complaining about her obstructed view. That single tweet ignited a firestorm.
Many, like the esteemed fashion critic Sarah Mower, expressed concern that Tavi was waltzing around Paris during school time. Others rushed to Tavi's defence, wondering how fashion folk could be so cruel to a child.
Again showing remarkable poise for her age, Tavi addressed the issue on her blog. "My parents and I are the ones who know my school's absences policy, how my teachers feel about my missing school and what my grades look like – not anyone else."
Designer Christopher Kane told British Vogue he's fed up. "No one who wants to read a serious review of a show is going to look at what a 14-year-old thinks."
This week at the Marc Jacobs show, as Tavi made the rounds on her reporter gig, you could see the amusement/resentment in the eyes of the audience.
One veteran photographer at the show sniffed, "She is no Anna Piaggi," referring to the fashion world's most famous eccentric, the 80-something style icon who works for Italian Vogue.
This week, filling in for Beker, who's in Vancouver for the Olympics, Tavi assumed her role as novelty.
"This is a one-shot deal," Beker says by phone from the West Coast. "She is the 'it' girl of cyber fashion."
Beker says fashion is all about the unexpected. Every season there are pros who provide insightful commentary, but Tavi brings a fresh eye.
"Fashion does not always have to be heavy. This is just something fun."
Does the popular fashionista, who has been host of the show for more than 20 years, worry about her job?
"Oh God, no! If I was worried about a 13-year-old, I would have gotten out of this business a long time ago," she says, laughing.
At one show, gangs of people pleaded for an opportunity to pose for a photo beside the little girl with the grey hair.
As usual Tavi handled the attention with grace beyond her years.
― i know who the sockpuppet master of ilx is (velko), Thursday, 18 February 2010 17:18 (fourteen years ago) link
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