Sunday, September 4, 2011

Dreamiest Editor of All

For my 100th post I wanted to write about Liz Tilberis,the legendary editor who made all the other magazines grow up and become more sophisticated.
I remember where I was when I saw her official relaunch of American Bazaar; it was a hot day in late summer and I was standing in an icy grocery store when I saw Linda Evangelista staring at me, holding that 'A.'It was like a magnet was pulling me to her and I grabbed it and put in the grocery cart, not even asking my mom if she would buy it (I was still young enough that I had to ask permission for those types of purchases).

When she passed away in 1999 I felt crushed because it had been my dream to work for her in some capacity. I remember one story talking about how at the end of the day you'd find her in her office with a glass of champagne in her hand and Kate Moss on her lap. She actually put Kate on her cover 3 years before American Vogue did.

She made supermodels less cheesy.

She reminded me of Diana Vreeland before the publishers took her avant garde covers away. She always used beautiful photos and didn't worry whether America was buying a red cover with lots of numbers and catch-phrases.


I love these two Amber Valletta cover from the same year. Both stunning and unique and not the traditional muck others were using in 1993 (I'd show you an example but I don't want to dirty this post).



The juxtaposition of Nadja Auermann's covers are the best. Her transformation throughout the 90s was best documented here:



She surrounded herself with the best artists of the time and had a reputation for being a nice editor. I wonder how she would address the information overload from this last decade? I'd like to think with grace and finesse. I would also like to think that I'd be working by her side (thanks to the power of The Secret).

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