I've been a trade editor for almost 20 years, so I'm used to being snubbed at press breakfasts and product launches by consumer editors from magazines like Vogue and Elle. Most of them have never heard of American Salon, even though we've been in print since 1877, longer than any other magazine except Harper's Bazaar. Still, we're a business-to-business magazine. I guess you could say we're the low man on the editorial totem pole. Our advertisers don't pay in excess of $150,000 a page and we don't have millions of subscribers, just 118,000 of them. That's why you won't find me sitting in the front row at fashion week wearing Prada. Of course, Vogue Editor in Chief Anna Wintour will be decked out in designer duds when show season gets underway this month. Me, I'll be wearing Chicos. The company's sophisticated, casual-to-dressy clothing appeals to my inner fashionista, and the price is right for an editor who isn't pulling in $2 million a year. I will never forget the look on Wintour's face when I had to practically crawl over her to get to my seat at fashion week one season. If I recall, she was wearing a huge fur coat and her signature oversize sunglasses, even though we were in a heated tent at Manhattan's Bryant Park. I was probably wearing my Chico's Travelers, knit separates that emerge from your suitcase looking just like they did when you put them in.
 Marianne Dougherty |
By the time you read this, I'll be schlepping to the Fall '09 shows in my Ugg boots, but I've only just begun to report on the Spring '09 shows. Next month you'll find a free DVD called Front Row Spring/Summer '09 Runway Hair Trends in your issue of American Salon. Former MTV News Team correspondent SuChin Pak will be taking you behind the scenes at fashion week in New York City, Milan and Paris. Pak interviewed influential personalities such as fashion designer Peter Som, Kelly Osbourne, fashion photographer Nigel Barker and supermodel Stephanie Seymour, who commented on the trends they saw on the runway and how the hair completes the overall look. You can also catch Pak on Planet Green, the Discovery Channel's new television network about the environment. She'll be co-hosting G Word, a daily, hour-long program. — Marianne Dougherty Editor in Chief [email protected]
 A Chico's catalog |
 SuChin Pak interviews designer Tory Burch. |