Nothing ‘Bazaar’ about the Fashion Institute of Technology honoring Glenda Bailey

Glenda Bailey, editor in chief of Harper’s Bazaar, is more down-to-earth than one might expect.

While fashion’s spotlight is almost always on models, designers, and celebrities, on Thursday night at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the attention turned towards a quieter driving force of the industry—magazine editor in chief.

The EIC in question was Glenda Bailey of Harper’s Bazaar, and the questioner was Valerie Steele, director and chief curator for the Museum at FIT, in the first of FIT’s pioneer series “Fashion Conversations.” Founder of Marie Claire UK, Bailey has held the reigns at Harper’s Bazaar in the U.S. since 2001, and the magazine’s revenue has increased ever since. Steele is quite the driving force as well, as she is the author of more than a dozen fashion tomes and has been called the “High-Heeled Historian” by the New York Times.

The night was high fashion without the usual pomp and circumstance. Bailey entered through the same doors as everyone else—teetering in four-inch black stilettos—and the speakers sat at a simple white table at the front of FIT’s cozy Katie Murphy Amphitheater.

Accompanied by a projected slide show of Bailey’s favorite spreads and covers, the first half of the night felt a little rehearsed, but was livened up by Bailey’s anecdotes about her past.
“I am a living fairytale,” she said. “I had lost my parents, had no job, and was on a coach back home with two friends with desk jobs, and I said ‘I’m going to start a magazine and you two can work for it.’” And that’s exactly what she did. With considerable gumption she garnered 10,000 British pounds to produce a dummy fashion magazine. Soon after her three-issue success, she started Marie Claire.

This gumption has continued to serve her well. Bailey has not been afraid to stir things up, from staging a photo shoot featuring Marc Jacobs naked save a Louis Vuitton bag—of his design—over his nether regions, to using her magazine to wage war against fake designer duds. “Risk and intuition are my greatest qualities. You have to be, fashion is ever-changing,” she said.

The microphone was then sent out into the mostly female audience, and conversation shifted towards the recessionary times. Bailey’s words to an industry hopeful were, “One, were looking for interns. Two, know your market. Three, be essential.” Though not the most innovative advice, its applicability—not just in the fashion industry—can’t be denied.

Near the close, and without a hint of shameless self-promotion, Bailey sang her magazine’s praises, “We have a sense of humor and an outrageous reputation that allows us to be inventive. We’re not pretentious.”

That may be hard to believe for a magazine featuring few products under $1,000, but participating in down-to-earth events like this certainly helps Bailey’s case.