Suzy Menkes will receive special recognition at the British fashion awards. Too right – the bequiffed fashion editor is one of our industry idols
You may be surprised to hear that here on the fashion desk, our personal idols do not begin and end with Alexa Chung. On Monday, one of our all-time heroines will be honoured at the British fashion awards when Suzy Menkes, fashion editor of the International New York Times, is presented with the special recognition gong. Here's five reasons we love Suzy:
Her quiff
In the fickle and capricious world of fashion there is something marvellously comforting about the continuity of Suzy's Hair. That distinctive front-roll never changes from day to night, season to season. It is second only to Anna's Bob in front-row fame game. She invented it because she hated writing with hair in her face – and claims to be able to fix it "walking downstairs or along the street".
Her kick-ass reviews
She doesn't pick fights, but she doesn't pull punches. As Alber Elbaz of Lanvin puts it: "When we designers do a good collection, Suzy is so happy for us, and when we do a bad one she seems almost to get angry." Her ability to set fashion within a wider context gives her an agenda-setting edge: a piece that was politely critical of the legions of bloggers who, like selfie-obsessed, designer-clad cuckoos have hijacked fashion weeks and transformed them into a streetstyle circus practically sparked an industry civil war. Go Suzy!
Her passion
As a 19-year-old student at Cambridge in the 60s – where she was the first female editor of the Varsity student newspaper – Suzy fell in love with a pair of white Courrèges boots. "I wanted them so much, but we weren't allowed out of the college except in certain hours and we all had to wear black cloaks. I climbed out of college in the dead of night, over the high wall, using my cape, twisted, as a 'rope' to swing down the other side. I took the 4am milk train to London, bought the boots, got the train back, unrolled my crumpled cape and made it for the noon lecture." These days, Suzy will still be turning up to late, obscure shows, playing fast and furious with deadlines as she pounds out copy from her laptop, long after the twentysomethings have sloped off because their shoes hurt/Kanye West is rumoured to be showing up at a boutique opening.
Her niceness
Everyone is slightly scared of Suzy, but she's actually lovely. There is something of Mrs Tiggywinkle in her tinkling, old-fashioned accent and diction as well as the genuine, not-for-the-cameras girlishness of her smile.
Her chutzpah
Suzy crashed her first Chanel show by turning up at the venue at 5am with a broom and a mop and a handkerchief tied around her head, claiming to be a cleaner. She hid for four hours until show time, then ditched the hankie and crept out to watch the show. Awesome.
Anyone who is anyone is going to be at the BFAs. Kate Moss will also receive a special recognition award, and Marc Jacobs and Miuccia Prada are rumoured to be attending. And you can be there too – tickets cost from £45, and are available from britishfashionawards.com/tickets. Get yours now – and then can we PLEASE discuss what on earth to wear?