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A Feel For Fashion: Guy Trebay

Interviews, Inspirations

Guy Trebay is a suave, tall gentleman who has chronicled culture through the cross-currents of style, art and fashion since the 1970s, contributing to titles such as The New Yorker, The Village Voice, Interview, Esquire and Artforum. He is among the foremost voices on menswear as a reporter and critic for The New York Times, a role he has held for the better part of two decades. His newly published book, "Do Something,” takes readers back to New York City in the ‘70s where he captures the demimonde that shaped his vision. It is also a personal story that recounts how leaving his fraying family led to discovering Andy Warhol’s Factory and the diverse sub-cultures who contributed to a period of unparalleled artistic output.

What excites you in fashion right now?

 

Because fashion is the first language of a culture, it is one of the more reliable ways to gauge where we are and where we are going. That is what has always interested me in fashion. 

 

What is one reason to be optimistic about the state of fashion going forward?

 

A resurgence of interest in traditional crafts and their practitioners, and a renewed understanding of luxury as signifying not disposable new seasonal junk, but quality objects that are “sustainable’’ for the simple reason that they are designed well and made to last. 

 

In what ways do you think AI might benefit fashion?

 

I think we tend to forget there are unknown human intelligences behind the artificial kind and that they have motives, opaque and not only driven by profit, and that there is no way of knowing what their true values are or whether they align with ours until after they have infiltrated our habits (including sexual, social and political) and by then it's too late. They have colonized our lives.

 

Who or what will drive the greatest change in fashion this year?

 

If I had the answer to that, I’d be out of a job.

 

What impact might you hope to have on fashion through your work?

 

That would be pretentious to say. I prefer to let others decide. 

 

Can you suggest a fashion mantra for '24?

 

You could do worse than to remember to reduce, reuse and recycle.

 

This interview has been lightly edited.

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