#41. Pauline Trigère Has Great Legs by James Brady

Author James Brady

"Super Chic, Reporting Fashion" by James Brady

An article titled "Most Elegant Pauline," written by columnist James Brady and published in Town and Village on December 1, 1994, opened with the catchy line: "Pauline Trigère, I can testify, still has great legs."

Although Pauline was 86 years old at the time, this remark was fitting, as she was not only a brilliant fashion designer but also a vibrant presence at New York social events, where she would often steal the spotlight as a good dancer with striking legs.

Author James Brady had known Pauline Trigère since he had been a fixture at Women's Wear Daily (WWD) for many years, having joined in 1956 and rapidly ascending through the ranks to become publisher from 1964 to 1971. He worked closely with John Fairchild, who had a reputation for stirring up the fashion industry’s delicate egos. As Brady later recalled, "Both John and I needled the sensitive souls of the fashion business unmercifully.” His memoir, Super Chic (published in 1974, which I was luckily able to purchase a copy,) chronicled his many fascinating encounters in the high fashion world.

Brady’s career took him abroad when Fairchild sent him to Europe as WWD’s bureau chief, first in London, then in Paris, where he became a close friend of the legendary Coco Chanel. Chanel once asked Brady to write her memoir, proposing they use a tape recorder to capture a couple of hundred hours of her thoughts. However, Brady diplomatically declined, noting that a hundred hours wouldn’t even get Chanel past her opinions on General de Gaulle or the cinema, let alone her remarkable life and work in fashion.

The New York Times once described Brady as “a marathon chronicler of the upper reaches of Manhattan social life,” noting that Brady was more of a curious enthusiast than an ambitious climber.  Known for his prolific writing career, Brady had a resume that spanned far beyond fashion. His early military service during the Korean War became the basis for several of his books, including The Coldest War (1990), which earned a Pulitzer Prize nomination.

As Brady’s extensive career continued to evolve—he later became the host of New York Live, a popular television talk show, and played a pivotal role in launching Page Six, the gossip column at The New York Post.

When James Brady invited Pauline to lunch at the Four Seasons Hotel in Manhattan in 1994, she ordered her signature dry gin martini—straight up, with ice on the side and an olive. Throughout their meal, a steady stream of industry luminaries came by to pay their respects, including Marvin Traub, chairman of Bloomingdale’s, PR maven Harriet Weintraub, and Mort Schrader, son of Abe Schrader. Meanwhile, across the room, was Pauline’s former critic and Brady's old boss. As Brady noted, "studiously ignoring her, was Pauline’s old critic and Women’s Wear Daily chief John Fairchild.”

In August of 1988, after years of being irritated by the treatments that WWD inflicted on her and other designers, Pauline Trigère decided to take matters into her own hands. She mounted the first and only counterattack against the notorious fashion publisher. In the days following the publication of her infamous "Dear John" letter, which was an open response to WWD’s owner, John Fairchild, Brady covered the fallout in an Advertising Age segment aired on August 23. He began with:

"An elegant sort of war. I’m Jim Brady… stay tuned."

He continued by highlighting WWD’s reputation for feuding with fashion designers. “I know this well,” he said, “I was the publisher of Women’s Wear for six years.” Brady recounted how WWD had engaged in bitter feuds with Yves Saint Laurent in Paris, Giorgio Armani in Italy, plus John Weitz and Geoffrey Beene in New York. But when Pauline Trigère became the latest designer to be punished by WWD, she took an unprecedented step: she placed an ad in The New York Times to make her case.

In her ad, Pauline boldly asked Fairchild, “Dear John, is it over between us?” It was a direct and public confrontation, one that would have been unthinkable for most designers who typically endured WWD’s blacklisting or critiques in stoic silence. Pauline, however, wasn’t going to let it go unnoticed.

A week later, Brady addressed the matter in his Brady’s Bunch column, calling Trigère’s action "very gutsy." He admired her for publicly calling out Fairchild and "taking WWD Publisher John Fairchild to task for ignoring her work." It was a rare moment of defiance in an industry where most designers chose to be non-confrontational with the all powerful Fairchild.

Despite his close working relationship with John Fairchild, I believe Brady had built genuine rapport with some of his interview subjects. Because unlike Fairchild, who was known for his critiques and often adversarial stance, Brady was able to cultivate friendships and remain on good relationship with those he covered, including Pauline Trigère.