A Fashion Hit Job: The Nina Garcia Story

From New York Magazine,

“But the past year has been a test of Garcia’s well-honed survival instincts. Forgetting for a moment that in Colombia petty feuds result in death, whereas in fashion the worst-case outcome is generally a series of anonymously sourced Women’s Wear Daily items, the expiration of the contracts binding Project Runway to the Bravo channel and Elle has hit the business like the bust of the Medellín cartel. Fashion-industry feuds, adhering to that great axiom about the viciousness of low-stakes conflicts, are not so unlike mafia feuds. Players shake down other players for a bigger cut of the business, poorly paid minions lose their jobs as alliances shift and entrenched powers are offed (aufed?). Which is, in a nutshell, how Nina Garcia, one of the game’s savviest, most politically astute players, found herself abruptly stripped of a day job.“

“The day that Garcia’s assistants finally cleaned out her office, a young male accessories editor, a Project Runway fan no one had previously known to be a Garcia loyalist, burst into tears and spent the afternoon bawling. It was the end of an era.“

The lengthy article continues to explore the burgeoning feud between Nina and Anne Slowey and the dramatic yet key role that reality television played.

The life-ruining power of reality television has expanded to off-camera now? Quelle horreur! Is reality TV now too powerful to be stopped? More likely this was all just a part of Anna Wintour’s latest grand scheme. We all thought Vogue had misstepped when passing on involvement with Project Runway but in reality it was merely Phase Two of her plan. The invisible hands of Anna Wintour once again remind uppity Elle magazine of their place.

Touché, Anna.

You can find the article here.

~ by Kyle on August 18, 2008.