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TEN YEARS OF FASHION: A Conversation Between CATHY HORYN and LINDSAY PEOPLES

FOR OVER 30 YEARS, Cathy Horyn has been a prominent voice in fashion, offering backstage insights, runway critiques, and thoughtful analysis of style's ever-changing meaning. To mark a decade of Horyn's invaluable contributions at the Cut, she recently sat down with editor-in-chief Lindsay Peoples for a conversation reflecting on what's been learned and what's been worth celebrating along the way.

LINDSAY PEOPLES: Let's start with your 2016 review of Kanye West's Yeezy show at Madison Square Garden, which you were assigned to cover for your first Fashion Week at the Cut. You said that the show's problems reflected "the general state of the fashion world-in particular, the sense that an experience often begins with delight and almost always ends with a feeling of nothingness." Looking back on that show, which was a cultural moment, and Kanye, who has undeniably been a force in fashion-albeit a hugely controversial one: What did you think of him then, and how do you feel about him now? Has your perspective shifted after witnessing so many Yeezy shows? [Editor's note: In February, after this conversation took place, West posted his latest series of misogynistic and antisemitic statements.]

CATHY HORYN: It's hard to believe we're still talking about West, given his recent comments and his final show in Paris in 2022, which was the last straw for most people. It's as if we're talking about a different person and a different time. Back in 2016, the show was certainly a spectacle, which West initially was good at. We were in the Garden, and there were thousands of people, because he had invited the public. And the presentation was ambitious, with his music and this massive assembly of models, around 1,500. As for the clothes, one color stood out-brown. He always had a thing for very washed-out, monochromatic tones. At the time, in an arena, it was mesmerizing to see that.