Normally, when waif-like girls who have barely entered their teens make waves in the global fashion industry, it is as the Next Great Supermodel. They hardly ever garner attention as widely respected commentators on high fashion.
But if you are still under the impression that Vogue’s devil editor Anna Wintour has the final and most influential say about what is à la mode these days, then you are hopelessly behind the times. (And not necessarily in a cool, vintage or retro way either!) Because for the last few years, those shoes – and in this instance the shoes in question are often outrageously towering Miu Miu platforms – have increasingly been filled by one Tavi Gevinson.
If her name doesn’t ring a bell, here’s a quick bio: in 2008, when she was all of 11 years old, Tavi decided to start her blog, “The Style Rookie” from the home she shares with her folks in Chicago. She took pictures of herself in the quirky outfits she’d put together for school every day and wrote, with surprising maturity and wit, her opinion of the collections of various couture designers and labels. Tavi and her blog soon attracted loads of media attention and even unleashed speculation that the blog was a marketing stunt created by a fashion house or magazine.
But although Tavi appears to be too good to be true, she is very real and way more than just a passing fad. Now at the ripe old age of 14, she is still the skattie of the fashion industry. With her diminutive stature dressed in whimsical outfits (often loaners from her favourite labels and designers), her large eyes peering through prescription glasses and a sleek Wintouresque bob haircut – currently dyed a grey-blue – she has become a fixture at fashion week and is also the muse to fashion designers from LA to Tokyo.
There is something refreshingly authentic about Tavi and her honesty. Even during her more gushing blog posts, when she displays a shameless, fan-girl adoration for some or other designer/label, it is sometimes difficult to remember that she is just 14 years old. Although she was known to say at aged 11, 12 and 13 that those were “a number I wish I would outgrow”, we hope she doesn’t feel the need to grow up too fast. Because we are rather certain that she will still be a fashionable force to be reckoned with long into the future, no matter what “her number” is.
Fall in love with Tavi and her writing at www.thestylerookie.com
