Robin Givhan: Bridging Fashion Criticism and Cultural Commentary

What's Contemporary Now?

Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Robin Givhan renowned for her insightful fashion commentary, seamlessly integrates fashion into broader cultural discussions. She started as a writer on the Detroit techno scene beat before making her way into fashion journalism. Emphasizing the importance of being a generalist, Givhan talks To Christopher Michael about her early experiences in fashion and how they continue to shape her trajectory and approach today. She speaks of political representation and fashion’s crucial ties to identity, underscoring the need in today’s landscape for a higher standard of reporting in fashion journalism. By exploring the intersection of politics and fashion and the balance between storytelling and crafting, Givhan reveals profound insight and a unique perspective as an influential voice in journalism.

Episode Highlights:

• Talking about her childhood in Michigan, Givhan loved reading and writing and stumbled unintentionally into the fashion sector after writing about Detroit's techno scene.
• Covering menswear was "a very gentle entry point" into fashion and allowed her to focus on the details, quality, endurance, and longevity of garments.
• Describing her entry into womenswear as marked by gatekeepers—who were frankly mean—Givhan was stubbornly determined and interested in the fashion scene's character-driven nature rather than its more consumerist elements.
• Givhan is careful to distinguish between general interest reporting and the reviewing that is natural to "a fashion ecosystem."
• Givhan notes that she doesn't necessarily have a stake in what's happening, which makes her a good critic.
• There is a difference between social media influencers, who are engaging, and actual historians, who can give information to journalists, and critics, who can "connect the dots" for the public at large while being held to higher standards.
• The way people consume media is changing, though Givhan is optimistic that voracious readers will always exist.
• She sees significant progress in some political realms; the pendulum always swings, oscillates, and zigzags.
• Givhan outlines sociopolitical fashion as a tool for education, a kind of shorthand for identity, and a means of representation.
• Is fashion dependent on anchors or hooks from the culture at large? To Givhan, it's engaging enough to stand on its own, while fashion as an industry tends to rely on mainstream media for support.
• Givhan contrasts companies like Dries Van Noten and Versace, which remain inside the fashion realm, to labels that use celebrities to inspire growth.
• What's contemporary now is being comfortable in the gray spaces.

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