John Fairchild died today after a long illness. He was 87. Mr. Fairchild—as everyone who worked at Women’s Wear Daily, where he was the publisher and editor in chief for a 36-year streak, called him—was larger-than-life, but you didn’t have to be a staffer, as I became in May of 1996, to know it. His memoir Chic Savages, published in 1989, offered an unadulterated view of the fashion industry; it’s one of just a handful of books on the subject I can think of that found an audience outside of our insular crowd. That’s because he instinctively understood what made a good story. Feuds for one. His were legendary. Also: plenty of inside scoops. He could gossip with the best of them. Long after he retired in 1997, Mr. Fairchild wrote W’s sometimes scathing, always amusing back-page column under the nom de plume Louise J. Esterhazy. Read the full John Fairchild tribute here.
—Nicole Phelps, Style.com
