GRITTY—WHAT IT ACTUALLY TAKES


 Fashion isn’t glamorous it’s gritty: highlighting the sweat and drive from 
those behind the pages and campaigns. 
  
Story: Elliana Gallagi


André Leon Talley by Neil Favila




For some time, I’ve been wondering: where has fashion gone? Where has the thrill of risk-taking escaped to? Most view ‘high-end’ fashion as art and only pay attention once the final product is framed, shot, and critiqued. Only worthy in its primal state. But that is not where the art lies. The art breathes within the struggle and effort. It is encapsulated through the blood, sweat, and tears from those who want to construct meaning through garments, who want to immerse themselves in the chase, who simply want
to be seen.


Being seen is one of the most courageous acts one can perform. My first Vogue issue I ever read was the 2017 March edition and the cover read “Women Rule.” Seven women posed side by side. Looking straight ahead. All wearing black on the top and color on the bottom with their legs exposed. The setting was the beach, and the sun hugged them from behind. My dad handed me the magazine and said, “I thought you would like this.” I was 12 years old, on the brink of my teenage years. I didn’t know what it meant to be seen until that moment.







Vogue’s March 2017 issue: “WOMEN RULE!”




As I read the issue, I was greeted by stories and images that were warm, cold, truthful, and eye-opening.That first issue quickly turned into 90 more and counting. Sparking something inside of me that I didn’t know existed. Yet, and still to this day, it wasn’t the diamonds, sequins, or feathers that made me feel alive. It was me asking, who made this happen? Who came up with the creatives, the visuals, the direction? It was the people behind those columns and photoshoots. The people who made it possible for my 12-year-old self to find a sense of purpose. I didn’t care about the Manolo Blahniks on page 14 or how expensive the archival Mugler was on Kendall Jenner (I mean, of course it interested me), but I cared more about the person who asked for them, delivered them to the set, and ran from building to building to find the desired pieces.


That is what it takes. That is where fashion is found. 


Fashion is complex yet fulfilling.



Giorgio Armani studying his designs



The art is gritty. People are only attracted to the results, not the process. But the two cannot exist without each other. Without the designers, directors, critics, delivery drivers, tailors, and seamstresses, fashion is meaningless. In the environment and state we all live in now, fashion is seen by the public as a publicity stunt or as a ploy to use money as a display. And although this notion is true, there is so much more than that.


Across the world, there are people who wake up every morning because of their craft. There are young girls willing to take risks to create the things they wish existed. That is the thrill of it all. 


The voices and endeavors behind the scenes deserve far more than what is given. They deserve to be photographed. To be celebrated, to be seen, just as I was. The endless nights, the uncertainty, the moments of doubt. They’re worth it. It is all worth it.



As the great André Leon Talley once advised in an interview with CNN in 2009:

“Whether it takes you 3 years, 30 minutes, 3 months, it doesn’t matter as long as you have within your universe something that sustains you every day until your goal is met and you have achieved your dream.”







André Leon Talley, CNN 2009



Fashion isn’t just what you see on Instagram or a price tag. It is hard and tests you in many ways.  So when I ask, Where has fashion gone? I simply mean; where is the passion? Where is the drive? Where is the grit?  To the girl or boy running errands, weaving in and out of pools of people in the street, stitching and hemming gowns, dressing mannequins for retail stores, managing call sheets, or creating visuals through texture, fabric, and color–you are the art.