Frank interview with ousted Vogue fashion director Lucinda Chambers

CocoLion

I saw an article about this in the NY Times. Since NYT isn't a free site, here's a link to the original article.
http://vestoj.com/will-i-get-a-ticket/

I really like the way Lucinda Chambers is so honest. And having been ousted a few times myself, I completely relate. Who knew fashion and entertainment were so very similar.

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6 years ago

General

25 replies

Latest reply was from Vix

Anonymous

I loved reading this - so much so that I've read it a few times - lol. Although she said things I'm sure we already knew, it was still a bit disconcerting to hear them from someone at the absolute peak of the fashion pyramid. I've followed her career for years and really like her personal style too. It'll be interesting to see what she does next.

6 years ago

Sal

Veteran

Fascinating article. The brutality of life in a corporate world. The intersection between art and money is never easy.

6 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

I read this and put the link for Inge / Link Love. I felt it was enlightening to hear someone from inside the industry as someone as far outside it as you can get.

6 years ago

Jenava

(website)

Veteran

Ha, I was just stalking her style on pintrest. I love this article. I'm in the midst of being "ousted" myself. It's so painful but I found this inspiring.

6 years ago

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

Rachy I searched "Vogue" before I posted and the newest thread was from from February. I was looking to see if anyone else had posted this, and you had! Sorry!!!

6 years ago

CocoLion

(website)

Veteran

Can I delete this thread?

6 years ago

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

Denise, no need to delete the thread - and sooooo great to see you. I really miss you.

Great articles. I'm with Lisa p - it will be interesting to see what she does next.

6 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Oh no, don't delete. I'm just saying, I thought also to preserve on Link Love. I'd love a full blown discussion!

The business of fashion is so... so whimsical and yet so brass tacks. Half gossipy, half hard core.

Also, you were in the entertainment biz?!

6 years ago

Jaime

(website)

Veteran

Yes this was quite interesting to read. I like her even more now.

6 years ago

approprio

(website)

Veteran

Please don't delete this thread.

Lucinda Chambers is an icon. She was the only reason to buy British Vogue in my opinion and I'm now slightly relieved that I don't have any reason to look at it any more, although I probably will out of morbid curiosity.

Anyway. She's enormously experienced, highly respected, and totally on the money in her assessment of the industry. I'll be astonished if she's out of work for very long.

6 years ago

lozz_oz

Veteran

Interesting article + interesting to see her next move.

6 years ago

Anonymous

Thank you for posting this link. I found the article fascinating in so many different ways.

6 years ago

skylurker

Veteran

Interesting, thanks for sharing.
I've not read a fashion mag in years, I find them empty of content, full of ads, and not helpful at all to get dressed.

6 years ago

LaPed

Veteran

Thanks for posting this; I read it earlier in the week but have been too busy to write posts. It's a great interview -- and she really gets at why the fashion industry has come to seem irrelevant to anyone who's not in it. I'd argue the entertainment industry is grappling with a similar problem, now that everyone has the means to produce and distribute content with their own fingertips...

6 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Salient point, LP. In that I find today's fashion personalities so much less... persuasive (and entertainment ones too)(and honestly, I find there's too much crossover).

6 years ago

Ledonna N.

Veteran

I appreciated the honesty of her situation and her truth. You don't find people speaking publicly like that anymore. How refreshing.

This part got to me.

"
If you want good results, you have to
support people. You don’t get the best out of anyone by making them feel
insecure or nervous. Ultimately, that way of treating people is only
about control. If you make someone feel nervous, you’ve got them. But in
my view, you’ve got them in the wrong way. You’ve got them in a state
of anxiety"

Very much true for the working world corporate academic etc.

When I left the Army after 10 years. I felt like there was a sense of fear instilled in this working jungle. Where no one wanted to share information for fear and supervisors created that fear or anxiety. Sad really.

6 years ago

Suz

(website)

Veteran

What Ledonna said!

And great to see you, Denise!

6 years ago

ClaraT

Veteran

I hadn't seen this, and I love it. Interesting and I appreciate her candor.

6 years ago

kkards

Veteran

hmmmm. I must in a mood....I'm not impressed, nor would I want this women working for me.....

If my shoots were really crappy… Oh I know they weren’t all good – some were crappy. The June cover with Alexa Chung in a stupid Michael Kors T-shirt is crap. He’s a big advertiser so I knew why I had to do it. I knew it was cheesy when I was doing it, and I did it anyway. Ok, whatever. But there were others… There were others that were great.

we all get work assignments that aren't what we want, but its your job to do them and do them well....if you knew you weren't doing it well, then you need to do something to change it. just because you don't like the tshirt, or the model (not sure which she objected to), doesn't mean that you can do a sh**y job.

Really would you want to work with someone who had this attitude?

and then there was this.....Truth be told, I haven’t read Vogue in years. Maybe I was too close to it after working there for so long, but I never felt I led a Vogue-y kind of life. The clothes are just irrelevant for most people – so ridiculously expensive.

sorry, if you can't be bothered to read the publication that you work for, you probably should have left awhile ago.....

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6 years ago

Gaylene

Veteran

Thanks to both of you--Cocolion and Rachylou--for drawing this to our attention. It's fascinating reading, but what was even more enlightening was the immediate pressure lawyers for Condé Nast and Edward Enninful put on Vestoj to first pull the article--and then, under the threat of legal action, subsequently amend the section where Lucinda Chambers speculates what was behind her being fired. The contrast between the British Vogue's sugar-coated announcement of her departure and Ms Chamber's description of being so unceremoniously dumped is ludicrous.

And, in response to kkard's question, I WOULD like to have someone like Lucinda Chambers work for me. Ms. Chambers isn't a disgruntled intern being fired because she wouldn't take direction. After 25 years as British Vogue's Fashion Director, she's a powerful player who has delivered the goods long enough to have earned the right to express her opinion about an industry, AND the organization, in which she was a key player.

6 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

Kkards, I think those are good points you make. I think, tho, they point out the senior management mistakes more than failure on Lucinda Chamber's part as an employee.

Reminds me of the bakery: we have a number of new managers. And for instance, they ended up last weekend doing all the dishes on their days off, extended shifts - and they don't get overtime. Why? Because hourly payroll was looking heavy and they just went around saying, 'when are you leaving?' Because they didn't get that the labour cost was not just people futzing around nor was it their realm of control - the time cost was really a matter of the way they spread out the load over the week (boom and bust). That spread is a management task. So folks called out and no one would cover. When long-time, dedicated employees cease to be interested... and I'll bet the new managers didn't even notice properly...

6 years ago

rachylou

Veteran

And on another note: I think Lucinda makes a good point about what was the key to fashion success... and it wasn't about just selling stuff, any stuff. Usefulness and knowledge is the grand goal in any endeavour, I feel.

6 years ago

Style Fan

Veteran

Very interesting article. Thanks for posting. I am not that familiar with the fashion world but the dynamics are very familiar. I have seen this happen in lots of places. She is right about how to bring out the best in people. I have experienced that myself.

6 years ago

kkards

Veteran

Gaylene-- yes, totally agree that I would want a person working for me to be insightful and challenaging.
but.......
honestly she doesn't, at least to me, come accross that way in the interview. To me she sounded bored and she knew it. She wasn't even engaged enough with what she was doing to read the magazine. Would you want a teacher who wasn't interested in their students because they 40 years than the students?

6 years ago

Vix

Veteran

Thanks for the article, Ms Coco (though I wish I'd read it before the lawyers swooped in)!

So many interesting points in her interview and then here on the thread. I find myself agreeing with competing viewpoints!

I absolutely agree with her about how to get the best out of people. I think many of us know how even the lower end of the not-great management spectrum demoralizes. [Hazmat toxicity rounding out the upper end....]

In a creative environment a certain amount of push-pull and challenging of process and output is productive.

After that, though, it just sucks the life out of those who are on the "losing" side and yes, boredom (the proverbial kiss of death for creativity) kicks in. I honestly think it's better to move on (or be pushed out) because then reinvention and rejuvenation can happen.

Then that leaves the gung-ho folks...and everything goes well for a while...and then the lack of creative tension produces something stale. And the cycle of changeover begins again!

It'll be interesting to see what Lucinda does from here. I've been VERY curious about Alexandra Shulman's next move...maybe the band is getting back together.

Women changing/evolving/expanding their careers in mid-life is my new thing. Stories welcome...I'm not on the other side of my shift yet!

6 years ago

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