Fashion editors Suzy Menkes, Hilary Alexander (center) and Aliona Doletskaya photographed at a fashion show | Photo Credit: Getty Images
For a young fashion journalist actually growing up in “new India” like I did, international fashion weeks were par for the course. Thanks to the genius of economist Manmohan Singh, the economy opened up for a decade, and foreign brands and luxury labels had their greedy eyes on India’s one billion and growing population. I always had my Schengen visa ready, so that when representatives from Louis Vuitton or Christian Dior in India called me the next day for a meeting in a fashion capital, all I had to do was pack a small bag and leave. Let’s go
We were invited to at least two fashion weeks a year, and running into any of the holy trinity of fashion editors—Anna Wintour, Suzy Menkes or Hilary Alexander—was a major stan moment. I first met Hilary at Paris Fashion Week. It’s 2006 and Rajesh Pratap Singh is showcasing a motorcycle-racing inspired collection at an art gallery. As soon as the show was done, I jumped up and introduced myself. We all wanted to write like him and Menkes was so possessive with his pen. But we also followed everything he wrote because he taught us novices and shaped our opinions so much.
Hilary Alexander at the 2019 Gala Awards Show in London | Photo Credit: Getty Images
a kiwi in london
Hilary Alexander, who passed away on her birthday, February 5, 2023, was an icon of Fleet Street fashion. Always smiling, cigarette in one hand, spectacles sitting loosely on her nose, she was the picture of the buzzing fashion industry. Like a good old tabloid hack, she hails from New Zealand and became a reporter in Hong Kong before moving to the UK to become a fashion director. the daily telegraph, He loved ‘breaking’ a story, and also coined the term ‘supermodel’. He was friends with Gianni Versace, Zandra Rhodes and Alexander McQueen.
In Paris in 2006, Hillary (she insisted I not call her Ms. Alexander) was all smiles and a walking stick because of a leg injury. She wore a printed maxi dress with boots and a silver necklace. “Is it from India?” I enquired “No, it’s Maya,” he startled me. I was too young to know that the world is beyond geographical boundaries when it comes to handcrafted traditions. The chunky silver ornaments were spread across Kutch, Egypt, Morocco and South America. And those thick geometric weaves of waist looms are associated with Thailand, Mexico and Guatemala in Northeast India. Hilary was the queen of ‘foreign’ artisanal craft, thanks to her Kiwi roots, I assumed. We met a few times after that, he always said hello or played his champagne flute with me.
We actually spent some time together at the Lahore Fashion Week in 2013. She was 66 then, but so alert, shrewd and inquisitive, I was struck by her professionalism. This was new to us in India, where fashion writers were spoiled by labels and their PR teams who wooed them. I think my tribe was one of the first to become part of ‘fashion criticism’ as we know it now.
Hilary Alexander with Namrata Zakaria | photo credit: special arrangement
I remember going back and writing about The Indian Express where I worked then. “At 66, she has the energy of a teenager on a chemical,” I said. She was obsessed with Twitter then, and had 2,50,000 followers on it. At that time, she had retired from her position. the daily telegraph, She still wrote regularly for them, was a trustee of Graduate Fashion Week, and hosted at least two television shows. She was also working on a book, she said (Hillary will release Leopard: Fashion’s Most Powerful Print in 2018). And most recently he was appointed as a consultant at Marks & Spencer.
Makeshifter and wine from plastic bottles
When Hillary died earlier this week, Wintour said, “Hillary was indomitable in everything she did. She lived life to the fullest and her reporting on fashion was just as committed. When she retired I threw a party for her in Paris… except she never retired! Hillary could never leave the industry she loved so much.
Hilary Alexander photographed before the Mulberry show at Claridge’s Hotel Photo Credit: Getty Images
Hilary a joy to spend time with, a riot as a companion in the front row (she guffawed at boutique owner Pradeep Hirani’s one-liners), she absorbed it all. He never spoke about himself or his majesty (he would be awarded the Order of the British Empire later that year); He only heard what you had to say. Like me, she wanted John Galliano to continue at Dior, and she was struck by how open and politically opinionated Pakistani society was. Her room was next to mine, and she’d slip a note under the door reminding me to be ready on time. She always came five minutes early.
We had loads of gifts, but she was determined to pay for her purchases. I had missed designer Sania Maskatia’s fashion show, so the next day Hilary dragged me into the designer’s boutique to see how fabulous the clothes were. she helped me to get the digi-printed shirt,
We drank from plastic Pepsi bottles between shows. Like the Lahoris, she too loved to party late into the night. She was happy that she was allowed to smoke indoors in Pakistan.
I taught him Indian words’ Makeshifter‘, and it meant ‘to work anyhow’. When our ride got so bad we had to flag down a passing BMW for the airport, he texted me from his airplane seat: “It’s Makeshifter, XOXO”. And we laughed.