An afternoon with an editor

If you know me, you know I love magazines. So I was thrilled to be able to hear the “grande dame from Derbyshire”, Harper’s Bazaar editor-in-chief Glenda Bailey, speak at the V&A today, to an audience of 100-or-so about her 10 years at the magazine. Held as part of London Fashion Week and in conjunction with a new exhibition and book, Harper's Bazaar: Greatest Hits, it was less a structured lecture and more chatty slide show, with Bailey giving behind-the-scenes commentary on some of the publication’s most striking images from the past decade, all in her lilting Derbyshire-meets-Manhattan accent (with a touch of California in her upward inflection at the end of many sentences).

Looking suitably fashion-editor-esque, in a black shift dress with bold single flower print and (possibly – it was hard to tell from my distance) long leather sleeves, with bright red lipstick (natch), she told amusing stories of how some of the photos came about (Kate Winslet looking like she was hanging off high rise scaffolding... but only three feet off the ground), interspersed with industry tidbits (such as British editors priding themselves on ‘selling on the newstand’ – making them experts at the coverline).


In addition to highlighting a several collaborations with filmmakers and designers (Tim Burton, Pedro Almodovar for example), she spoke of her sometimes outrageous visions – one year Alexander McQueen’s animal prints led her to see Demi Moore in ‘something out of Dali... a spiral staircase on a beach, a giraffe...’ with of course the legendary armadillo shoes.


She also answered questions from the audience – not surprisingly a few touched on the emergence of digital and especially social media, and how monthly fashion magazines can compete in the rapid online world where runway shows hit the blogs in near real time. As to be expected from someone who’s turned around not one but two fashion mags (she was at US Marie Claire before Harper’s), she still has great faith in print (well, what else could she say), speaking of its greater ‘intimacy’ through its tactile nature, and how she would always love to curl up with a great magazine. At the same time, though, she was ‘thrilled’ about the rise of online media, with its immediacy and ability to provide her with feedback and dialogue with readers, as well as the fact it ‘pushes you to create things in the magazine you can’t produce online’ – putting even more positive creative pressure on the magazine to be original, and to make readers feel that it’s a ‘vital’ part of their life – that they don’t want to miss an issue and ‘miss something fun.’


More than the individual stories, however, what struck – and inspired – me most was her clear passion and excitement and flat out enjoyment for what she’s doing. She didn’t seem to be ‘ooh- scary fashion editor’-type (but hey, I don’t have to work for her, who knows?!), but rather someone having a great time, as she said, ‘create[ing] a party everyone is invited to’, able to maintain not only creative flair and drive for excellence (I think 'tenacity' was a word used to describe her) but also a sense of humour throughout.