#17. Feud in Fashion: The Drama Behind A Dear John Letter by Pauline Trigère

Dear John letter from Pauline Trigère to John Fairchild

“I have learned in fashion to be a little savage."

- John Burr Fairchild

The publisher of Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), with his contrarian personality, viewed having a feud and a few scandals as stimulus for his publication.  Before all the social media that is abundant today, WWD was the major fashion trade publication and “the only game in town.” WWD was regarded as the “Bible” of the industry by all the fashion insiders. Designers wanted their collections reviewed and their names visible in the pages of WWD. Widely read by all fashion buyers and people in the know, it was the way designers reached the industry members with news, with a splash of celebrity gossip thrown in to spicy things up.

This full page ad appeared in Fashion of the Times (a New York Times magazine section), a “Dear John letter” from Pauline Trigere to John Fairchild was her response to being banned from WWD. Feuds between Fairchild and designers were legendary. An article from The New York Times by Michael Gross covers this exact topic. Titled: “Women’s Wear Daily and Feuds in Fashion” published on May 8, 1987 [here] described the publisher and his many vendetta with designers such as Yves Saint Laurent (YSL), Geoffrey Beene, Azzedine Alaia and James Galanos, to name a few. To be banished from the publication meant the absence of relevance. Well-established designers were banned for the smallest slight to Fairchild. An example was after a particular well-received YSL fashion show which ended in standing ovation from the audience, the next day, WWD placed the collection review, not on the front page, but instead on page 12, the poor placement was a message from Mr. Fairchild. The chairman of YSL: Pierre Berge, no stranger to controversy himself, banned all WWD journalists in attending future collections after the review. Few designers fought back as most were afraid of the wrath of Fairchild. Gutsy ones, such as Beene, Alaia, and Saint Laurent barred WWD journalists from covering their shows, but none launched a counter attack like Trigère.

After being warned by Mr. Beene and others in the industry, that this ad would be her ruination, Pauline said to the renowned Art Director George Lois who developed the ad: “Screw it, Georges, run it!” According to Mr. Lois, the ad was the set-off by Jean-Pierre (Pauline's son and president of Trigère) commenting on Fairchild's treatment of Geoffrey Beene and you can read his account [here]. That was the latest incident, but sources indicated that the feud had been running hot and cold since 1970 when Pauline had criticized a new fashion term that Fairchild was trying to make popular. More details of the fashion term is covered in my Trigère biography.

A few days before the ad was to be released, The New York Times published an article. “From Pauline Trigère, a dressing down” by Randall Rothenberg which was quickly released on August 17th, 1988, after a staffer caught sight of the ad just before printing. Mr. Lois was interviewed for my book and added that his son took the photo of the famous stationary ad.

Pauline considered the ad to be an expression of whimsy, not war. “This is not a feud,” said the designer. “I wanted to prove to the world that I’m still alive and kicking.” Mr.Fairchild declined to comment on the advertisement at the time.

Once the ad was released, according to Lois’ article: “zee shit hit zee fan!”