The sight of the formidable Anna Wintour sitting in the front row of a fashion show has become a hallowed image in the fashion-following world. Immoveable bob, enormous sunglasses, pursed lips. It is amazing how these relatively innocuous components make up one of the most revered members of the fashion elite. And sitting opposite? The equally imposing Carine Roitfield, who exchanges sunglasses for heavy, black eyebrows, and bob for a highlighted shoulder-length curtain of impossibly shiny hair. What is it about the position of editor-in-chief of Vogue that inspires the creation of such undeniably iconic images? It is almost as if the one woman chosen to lead every other in her country through the changes in their wardrobes, loses the time or inclination to change her own. Or perhaps they have learned that maintaining the mystical power imbued in their sunglasses/eyebrows/highlights is easier than forever staying ahead of their scrutinising public. Strictly speaking honeyed highlights have not been in vogue since Rachel Green returned to being plain old Jennifer Aniston, and yet Carine Roitfield’s colourist would apparently disagree.
While, in some ways, this is admirable, as they steadfastly stick to their respective styles, and have created whole personae around said aesthetics, does it not send out rather a conflicting message? Consistency is one thing, but girls all over the country wear the same thing to school every day, and I don’t remember the girls who wore theirs perfectly and had the neatest hair being the ‘fashionable’ ones. Their staff write pages and pages about the next best this and the next hottest that, while by these standards, Wintour and Roitfiled are not so much fashionable as, well, the boring prefects of two amazingly image-conscious girls’ schools. And so, a challenge should be levelled against these two omniscient and immaculate women – roll down your socks, slap on a fake tattoo, and scrape your hair back in a non-regulation scrunchie. I dare you.
Angharad Jones
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