Well, you certainly can’t say that Cathy Horyn is not controversial. In the time that she has been the fashion critic at the New York Times, she has made a name for herself with her acerbic wit and observations (for which she is receiving, though again- controversially, the CFDA award for fashion journalism at the June 3rd ceremony). But it seems, she delights in surprising us with her subjects and opinions. Her latest article, “One Day on Welfare, the Next He’s Showing in Paris”) about the designer Ralph Rucci, seemed to be a further stab at Nicolas Ghesquiere, if you think about it. In fact, the two designers couldn’t be more dissimilar. Nicolas seems to be all about hype, celebrity, publicity, and fanfare, while Ralph seems almost like a best kept secret. Nicolas is clearly an ‘editor’s favorite ‘- worn (or should I say, borrowed) by the front row contingent, and featured on countless pages of the fashion glossies, whereas I can’t say I remember the last time an editor made a grand entrance in one of Ralph’s designs, nor can I pinpoint the last editorial he had in either Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar (or if he ever even had that ‘honor’). It seems Cathy basks in disagreeing with celebrity fashion editors (remember when she ruffled Anna’s feathers with her negative take on a past New York fashion week?). Though Ralph is apparently not designing the dress Cathy will wear when she picks up her CFDA award dress (she is wearing vintage Blass), can we expect Ralph to be seated at Cathy’s table?
