Hyzagi strikes at publishers, editors

By MIA POLLACK

This week’s fashion story has gone viral.

You’d never think a fashion industry insider would rip his peers to shreds, let alone publicly, but this week, one did.

The now deemed “blacklisted freelancer,” Jacques Hyzagi did the unthinkable; he went on a tirade, going after the publishers and editors that put his eloquent stories in their magazines, in a now viral story published by the Observer on Thursday.

He went after any major fashion publication you can think of, Vogue, The Atlantic, GQ, New York, but the most important one of all is Elle. Hyzagi described in his 4,000-word piece what it was like to work at a fashion magazine through a story in which he snagged an interview with the notoriously shy Comme Des Garcons designer, Rei Kawakubo. (Hyzagi calls her the “Bob Dylan of the fashion industry…”).

In the article, Hyzagi explains that the sought after meeting with the Japanese designer was called on and off within such a short time span, that he describes his thought so perfectly, you can imagine it yourself: “You would think that the extremely rare interview of the most sought after and talented living designer in the world would be of importance to ELLE.” But clearly, do to the unknown fate of the interview, the importance factor became less apparent.

When hunting around the Internet for reactions, fashion mega-blog Man Repeller was right on it. Deputy editor Amelia Diamond had incredible insight into the article: “I am not in the position to make fun of another’s writing or editing, nor am I remotely qualified to question another human’s mental state. Snark, no matter how tempting, is unhelpful. But I will say this — a vague, politically correct understatement for the sake of my take on professionalism: There are many things odd and off about Hyzagi’s piece that have me questioning its validity on multiple levels.”

Later she answers the question as to why the story exploded for fashion insiders and lovers. Did it explode due to the fact that the author of the article spews forth so much anger and hurt that we can’t do anything but assume it is honest? Or because we want an insane amount of honesty or this hostile kind of honesty?

From DIamon’s point of view in answering these posed questions, she states that you obviously cannot believe everything that you read, but that she is pretty sure that it’s not an accurate picture of reality.