No, we're not talking about moist. If you work in, or follow, the fashion industry, you know the term "fashionista" sparks a lot of different opinions, many of them heavily full of rage. Perhaps that's because, while it was originally used in Stephen Fried's book Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia to describe fashion's most insider rung of photographers and showgoers, it's since become a widely-adopted term for fashion's most casual consumers and readers of Confessions of a Shopaholic.
So, yeah, the issue is primarily one of snootiness, of fashion people who don't want to be associated with what's become a "mass" term. And we have to credit Fashionista for having the guts to write about it. Says Fried: "Twenty years ago, I apparently changed language forever. I published a book that unleashed upon an unsuspecting public a single word of terrifying power and controversy. That word is ‘fashionista.'" Does this word make you mad? Do you think this apology is too little, too late for such a gruesome offense that has caused millions to suffer from Severely Annoyed Syndrome?
Photo: Courtesy of Pocket Publishers.