The OG Fashion Reporter Looks Back, Spills On Everyone From Anna To Marc
After 27 years and thousands of shows,
Fashion Television
ceased production last month. Airing in over 100 countries around the world, the Canadian-based production's mix of runway coverage and tongue-in-cheek behind-the-scenes interviews was, for its time, so innovative and addictive that it influenced an entire generation of fashion reporters, writers, and bloggers (Refinery29 included).
Having put down the FT mic, long-serving host and producer Jeanne Beker opened up to us about Fashion Television’s legacy, Marc Jacobs' humble beginnings, and that time Anna Wintour got locked out of McQueen's first NYC show.
So, after 27 years, Fashion Television is off the air. But you’ve said before that the brand will continue on.
"Yes. We still have the best access, so we’ll continue creating programs, no matter how they surface — whether they come at you via your computer screen, iPad, or smartphone. The content is still there and there’s still an incredible thirst for it. We’re just finding new ways to deliver it — fast and furious! Also, our archives are phenomenal. We’ve kept all of our raw tape and I’m making it my mission to bring it to the public."
That sounds like a great opportunity to see all the crazy things fashion designers like Karl Lagerfeld and others were wearing a few decades back.
"Oh yeah. We could do a whole channel of that stuff… or at least a good flashback show. This young generation right now has such a thirst for things like that. They love history. They love tracing back trends and seeing where current ideas first came from."
And you can trace a lot of how style is covered today back to Fashion Television, right?
"Well, I’ve been blessed to get in on the ground floor on a lot of things. But, yes, we were the first people to put fashion on television as entertainment. Elsa Klensch had her show on CNN a couple of years before we got started — but that was very no nonsense. That was pure fashion journalism with a capital “J.” She was more apt to talk about hemlines, silhouettes, and fabrication. We didn’t care about that stuff. We cared about the creative process, the personalities behind the labels, and the whole scene. I think that wound up popularizing fashion to a certain degree. Also, we never took it too seriously. We poked fun at things — with a lot of humor and heart — and I’d like to think that we made fashion more accessible in that way. Before then, this was a very elitist, enclosed world."
How do you feel about having had a hand in changing that?
"It’s really incredible how fashion has opened up since we started bringing cameras backstage. There’s been this whole media explosion and people have started to become their own journalists and their own editors — which is great to see. Fashion has always been important to women. But now, it’s even more of a mode of self expression. It’s become so democratized."
Photo: Courtesy Bell Media .
So, after 27 years, Fashion Television is off the air. But you’ve said before that the brand will continue on.
"Yes. We still have the best access, so we’ll continue creating programs, no matter how they surface — whether they come at you via your computer screen, iPad, or smartphone. The content is still there and there’s still an incredible thirst for it. We’re just finding new ways to deliver it — fast and furious! Also, our archives are phenomenal. We’ve kept all of our raw tape and I’m making it my mission to bring it to the public."
That sounds like a great opportunity to see all the crazy things fashion designers like Karl Lagerfeld and others were wearing a few decades back.
"Oh yeah. We could do a whole channel of that stuff… or at least a good flashback show. This young generation right now has such a thirst for things like that. They love history. They love tracing back trends and seeing where current ideas first came from."
And you can trace a lot of how style is covered today back to Fashion Television, right?
"Well, I’ve been blessed to get in on the ground floor on a lot of things. But, yes, we were the first people to put fashion on television as entertainment. Elsa Klensch had her show on CNN a couple of years before we got started — but that was very no nonsense. That was pure fashion journalism with a capital “J.” She was more apt to talk about hemlines, silhouettes, and fabrication. We didn’t care about that stuff. We cared about the creative process, the personalities behind the labels, and the whole scene. I think that wound up popularizing fashion to a certain degree. Also, we never took it too seriously. We poked fun at things — with a lot of humor and heart — and I’d like to think that we made fashion more accessible in that way. Before then, this was a very elitist, enclosed world."
How do you feel about having had a hand in changing that?
"It’s really incredible how fashion has opened up since we started bringing cameras backstage. There’s been this whole media explosion and people have started to become their own journalists and their own editors — which is great to see. Fashion has always been important to women. But now, it’s even more of a mode of self expression. It’s become so democratized."
Photo: Courtesy Bell Media .
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