{interview}
“That women should have each other’s backs, which is a very important aspect of feminism that needs to keep getting emphasized more in media across the board, because women are the one’s who have each other’s backs, are going to need each other’s backs, and I liked being a part of a media outlet, that explicitly explains that."
Upon my annual viewing of 2006’s iconic, The Devil Wears Prada, whose origins stem from the eponymous, illuminating roman à clef, by Lauren Weisberger, detailing her time as an assistant to Vogue’s esteemed, editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, I found myself beset with an emotion I had yet to encounter in my indulging of anemoia thus far: disappointment.
I was wholly aware, of how dominant media has depicted (and, seemingly depicts) the fashion industry for most of its lifetime as vapid, haughty and callous to intentionally, suppress a practice liberating, and field rewarding for, women, but still, was disappointed by the film’s upholding, of such fallacies, albeit, without the agenda attached. Indeed, working in fashion, appositely, fashion media, is exceptionally gruelling and demanding, and perhaps, there is a subsect of publications whose work environment endorses, kinds of gossip (like Emily’s), shaming (Nigel’s) and fear-imposing (Miranda’s), but it is too meritorious an industry, to be denigrated to typification by the film, in the perceptions of so many.
While my issues with The Devil Wears Prada have been existent since I first bared witness to it then, unfamiliar with the intricacies of fashion media, they have become increasingly resolute as my involvement within it, has expanded - the breaking point of my receptivity to its positive reading reached, when I began working at a fashion and lifestyle magazine, myself.
Though Runway chiefly exhibits fashion, and She’s SINGLE, lifestyle (scoping a diversity hidden in its title), the publications are identical in their identity; what former assistant to editor-in-chief Lisa K. Stephenson, Grace Tesoro, describes as, “empowerment, and how that can look and take so many forms - any way you want to imagine it you have the power to create [it]”. As opposed to the former fictional title’s belittling of its masthead, to the betrayal of its proposed objective of empowering women, the latter, She’s SINGLE, alike an overwhelming majority of its real contemporaries, honoured its dedication to their uplifting, as abundantly evident, in the positive, supportive and inspiring, professional community, it sustained.
Grace speaks upon, the core purpose of the publication, from its internal contents, to its work environment, “the value of being a woman - how important that message is, and how different that experience can be regarding, if you have a different ethnicity or whatever your adversity, (but) no matter, women can still be there for each other, and be able to lift each other up.” She discusses She’s SINGLE’s commitment further, “that women should have each other’s backs, which is a very important aspect of feminism that needs to keep getting emphasized more in media across the board, because women are the one’s who have each other’s backs, are going to need each other’s backs, and I liked being a part of a media outlet, that explicitly explains that."
In intimately assisting the editor-in-chief’s editorial coordination of the magazine, from the inception of ideas to their execution’s refinement, Grace was integral, in administering its function and determining its success - chief amongst which, involved collaborating with content creators, to guide in their development of stories with diverse and significant messages.
She remarks upon how critically, she valued the input of each, individual contributor to the title, “I also liked getting the opportunity to kind of collaborate with [them] in that regard, getting to hear pitches from some of [them]… getting to hear their ideas, and seeing if they had their own ideas, and me allowing them to go ahead and write it, and seeing what they’d come up with.” Grace touches upon how the distinct uniqueness, of each creator’s voice was central, to the impact of their stories, “and getting to just read what [they] had wrote, getting to see the people they chose to interview, how they chose to style, because everybody has a different writing style… to see how one [person] does it, compared to the other, there’s no right or wrong.”
As then a writer for She’s SINGLE, when Grace was the editor-in-chief’s editorial assistant, I can indisputably attest to how laudably she coordinated an amiable, encouraging and understanding work environment that prioritized the personal and professional wellbeing, of all apart; a palpable disparity, from the fallacious narratives professed, by The Devil Wears Prada.
Quite aptly, the sole components of fashion media, this article’s titular film truthfully represent, noted by Grace as, “things do move pretty quickly, you do have to be pretty adaptable” and, “its more so an industry that’s cutthroat… you’re not always going to hear back, ‘yes’”, are intrinsic to the nature of media itself, and evident, in universal forms of journalism. However, fashion is currently, the primary embodiment of femininity, as it has been historically, women’s expression, and therefore until the sociocultural atmosphere in which consistently informs the dominant media, suddenly opts to finally recognize women, and what we admire, as ‘worthy’, then fashion’s blasphemous depiction à la The Devil Wears Prada, will prevail.