GRADUATE FASHION WEEK SHAY D PETER JENSEN FESTIVALS ALEX PRITCHARD

120 DISORDER MAGAZINE
HILARY ALEXANDER
RUBY MAHMOOD & DANNY JUDGE
meet Hilary Alexander: OBE, Kiwi,
journalist, fashion doyenne... and
GFW big gun.
“I’m not a minimalist. I find it particularly difficult to get excited
over merely a beige jacket with straight lines,” she said, taking a sip
of her coffee. “Show me something which is embellished.”
A bold statement from fashion journalist Hilary Alexander, OBE,
the veteran with years of experience in interviewing the industry’s
best and beautiful. Renowned for her uncanny ability to spot
the next hottest trends, Hilary Alexander deigned to meet with
Disorder for an hour to discuss her career, the current state of
the British fashion world, and what advice she’d give to fashion
students and graduates.
Starting off at the young age of 16, Hilary worked as a trainee
reporter at the Manawatu Evening Standard in her native country
of New Zealand. “I didn’t start out writing about fashion. I was
a news journalist; covering fires, accidents, cattle shows.” After
working her way West with various roles in the Hong Kong
fashion journalism industry, Alexander joined The Daily Telegraph
as fashion editor in January 1985. She attributes this role to
helping her truly flourish as a fashion journalist. “When I was at
The Telegraph, I used to style all my own shoots; if I had an idea
for a story, I was already visualising the looks, the words and the
images… it was good experience.” Gaining experience is a subject
Hilary (currently the Fashion Director for The Daily Telegraph) is
very emphatic about, elaborating in great depth about the lengths
students who are aspiring to get into fashion journalism should
go to. “Write as much as possible. There’s so many free magazines
given away at literally every subway in London, offer your services
for free. It doesn’t necessarily need to be about fashion, but (like a
designer) you need to develop a kind of voice, a signature style.”
Journalism aside, Hilary also has great advice for anybody
interested in being in the industry, as opposed to merely watching,
writing, and styling shoots. “Get work experience, work for a big
company; it doesn’t matter. Even if you’re on the distribution
side, like sampling or warehouse logistics, you’re still getting an
understanding of the commercial practicalities and what goes
into fashion and retail.” A common mistake Hilary highlighted in
the fashion world is a lack of knowledge, and an assumption that
once you’ve made the clothes, you’re done. ‘“If you speak to any of
the big names like Richard Nicoll or Mary Katrantzou, they’ll all
say the same thing; they didn’t realise the logistics. I mean, you’ve
got staffing, health and safety, employment laws, fabric delivery,
etc. I’m not expecting every designer with their own brand to
have an in-depth knowledge of commercial practicality, but you
do need to have some grounding. Graduate Fashion Week is also
a great way to get noticed.”
Graduate Fashion Week (GFW) is one of the key events to help
young graduate designers break through. Launching in 1991 and
showing annually in June, the event has become a firm fixture
in the fashion calendar. Hilary starred as a judge at GFW15 and
handpicked many of the winners, including the eventual George
Gold Award and Creative Catwalk winner Hannah Wallace, from
the Manchester School of Art. “I got there at half past eight on
the day it opened and I was going around posting pictures of
interesting collections, and Hannah’s was one of the collections
that absolutely stood out for me. I remember it was amazing,
Hannah had stitched a lot of string together to create something
extraordinary.” It’s also a great opportunity for graduates not from
the big fashion universities of London College of Fashion (LCF)
and Central Saint Martins (CSM) to demonstrate their talents
and collections; a big fear among graduates often is that not
being from LCF or CSM will hinder their career. Hilary explains
that “GFW has opened the eyes of press, buyers, and industry
members to see that there are more than two colleges in the UK.
Just remember that your collection will be around for a long time,
so be inventive; this is your chance, you may never get one again.”
“Write as much as possible.
There’s so many free magazines
given away at literally every
subway in London, offer your
services for free. It doesn’t
necessarily need to be about
fashion, but you need to develop
a kind of voice, a signature style.”
Despite [trend forecaster] Li Edelkoort’s claim in March 2015
that “fashion is dead”, Hilary says: “The future is not only alive,
but bright like a rocket. We have an amazing education service
that is built on a sensational track record of producing the finest
talent. I just love watching British fashion shows. When the lights
go down, you never know what to expect.”
The discussion about how important fashion is to the UK exploded
after the British Fashion Council produced a report revealing that
the industry contributes £26 billion a year. Hilary has some very
explicit views on how important the fashion industry, and our
place in the fashion world, is to the British economy and Gross
Domestic Product, such as the increases it brings in tourism for
shows, foreign trade, and jobs.
Says Hilary: “There’s a whole cultural force here which forms
the foundation of the fashion industry worldwide, with worldrenowned
places such as Saville Row. It’s the third-largest
industry in the country, it employs almost 800,000 people, and it
definitely deserves greater respect than it gets. We all have to wear
clothes, so they might as well be from our own British trade.”