English Version | “Stop trying to make fetch happen” - Regina George in Mean Girls

New York, May 2019. The group of fashionistas who gathered for the opening of Camp: Notes on Fashion probably didn't even know what camp meant. The outcome? The red carpet was a disaster and few were the guests who managed to pull off an outfit to match the dress code. With the exception of Lady Gaga, with that pizazz typical of true divas.

Artwork by Mariana Matos
Artwork by Mariana Matos

If you didn't understand part of the words that comprise the beginning of this text, don't worry. Neither did we. Or rather, we do — if we read it three or four times, slowly, and have an (ultra-updated) dictionary by our side. In today's world of fashion, where trends multiply at the speed of a scroll, it is impossible to be up to date with all the terms that make up the slang of the industry. It is quite possible that, as we write this, new words are being born somewhere on TikTok. Or on Twitter. Or on some secret platform we haven't heard of yet. Because we are not fetch enough... Ah, the good old days when a "fashion glossary" was synonymous with simple things like anorak (a hooded sports jacket designed specifically for extreme weather conditions), bandana (a piece of cloth worn tied around the head or neck), fedora (a popular form of hat from the 1950s, made from soft felt and noticeable by its central crease in the head), or pussy bow (a loop usually tied around the neck on a silk shirt). The first signs of danger came with swear words like peek-a-boo (any part of a garment that has been cut out to reveal skin or underwear) or spaghetti strap (a very small shoulder strap used on garments such as sweaters, cocktail dresses and evening gowns), which any speaker of Camões’ language cannot pronounce without first taking seventy deep breaths. When we found ourselves trying to spell “zeitgeist” — my personal favorite — we knew there was no going back. However, it is worth the effort. Zeitgeist is the summary of the moral and intellectual trends of a particular era. Taken from the German “zeit”, meaning time, and “geist”, meaning spirit, the literal translation of the term is “the spirit of the age.” Here is something worth knowing.

It also doesn't take up much space to recall the meaning of Vogue (very briefly, “the” current fashion trend). Let’s ignore there is anyone who still doesn't know that by now. In the late 90s, the slogan “Before it's in fashion, it's in Vogue” was stamped on 1800 buses in Manhattan, further emphasizing the power of the magazine, sorry, the word. The thong, on the other hand, is one of those inventions that we wish we had never heard of — it can be either the little piece of cloth that goes between the buttocks and hangs around the hips (ew) or it can describe those sandals which somehow attach to the big toe (yuck). It's the kind of thing that can never turn an ensemble on fleek. This was risqué, but justified: it pretends we are saying that someone's attire is on point. Although, as it turns out, these days it is said “snatched”, i.e. “on fleek” is yesterday’s news. Catapulted to fame by Gen Z, Y2K is the term that refers to the return of the 2000s, something to keep in mind as we are once again invaded by those trends. It's also interesting to learn about gems like bum bag (which is nothing more than a fanny pack), or glove shoe (an upgrade from the granny shoe, something like a pair of ballerinas with a mini square heel), and to realize that the new generation has taken over existing words, like aesthetic, to give them a new meaning. When someone announces “I love that aesthetic” they are not indicating that they like an aesthetic, but a vibe. The same goes for dead. Nobody “dies” for a piece of clothing or because of a look they see on a red carpet (I mean...). People “die” figuratively because they love X or Y. And then there are new-old acquaintances like outfit of the day, which even the spellchecker doesn't find strange, slay (showing high doses of confidence when you wear something) or cool — which can hardly be explained, otherwise ceases to be. All this to say that camp is “being way over the top”, and that “having pizazz” is “possessing a je ne sais quois with a spicy edge” and that no fashionista should feel ashamed of being so because if there is a word whose story deserves to be told, it is this one.

In 2013, The Atlantic published an article entitled I Apologize for Inventing the Word 'Fashionista' 20 Years Ago. Stephen Fried, its author, apologized “for his crime against nomenclature” and for the controversy caused by the spread of the term fashionista — even though, as he himself assumed, he was totally unaware of the repercussions it would eventually cause. “The love/hate people have for fashionista was best captured by well-known linguista author Ben Yagoda, who called me 'Stephen Frankenstein’ for creating it and the ‘storm it of -istas that has followed.’” According to Fried, who remains incredulous that he invented a word, fashionista first appeared on page 100 of his book Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia. “I created it because as I was writing about the fashion industry — and young model Gia Carangi's immersion in it — there was no simple way to refer to all the people at a sitting for a magazine photo or print ad. I got tired of listing photographers, fashion editors, art directors, hairstylists, makeup artists, all their assistants, and models as the small army of people who descended on the scene. This was also the group that, according to one top fashion illustrator I interviewed, had collectively become ‘the famous non-famous people’ at Studio 54.” Inspired by the magazines he was reading at the time, many of them from the 70s and 80s, where jokes ending in -istas proliferated, he decided to take a chance. The reactions were not immediate. In 1993, the year the biography was published, a critic in The New York Times accused Fried of inventing “corny labels.” And that was that. 

It seemed that the thing died there. But suddenly two major newspapers, the London Evening Standard and the Washington Post, started using this magic word in their coverage of European Fashion Weeks. “The use of fashionista dramatically expanded in 1998, as did interest in my book, when HBO made a movie about Gia's life, starring the young (and extremely naked) Angelina Jolie. The word was used more than 200 times in U.S. newspapers that year.” The best, however, would come the following year: “And then, in 1999, came the announcement that fashionista was going to be included in the OED. This led to a full-on attack of and by the fashionistas, and a big piece on the front page of The New York Times Sunday Styles section about the rise of the word, and the many meanings it had taken on over the years.” It was around this time that Stephen Fried and his publisher — who disdained the term at the time of its invention — regretted not having registered it. Had they done so, they would have been rich, just at the expense of royalties. “Donatella Versace was quoted as saying ‘I am a fashionista and proud of it’”, recalls the writer in the piece published in The Atlantic. The revolution was complete. A columnist claimed to use the word “all the time” even though she wasn't sure what it meant: “It's one of those wonderful words like 'tofu' that could mean anything you want depending on the inflection.” Fashionista’s dad accepts its different connotations, but prefers the “positive” version, the one that encompasses the so-called “fashion mafia.” Coincidence or not, his best friends are fashionistas. However, they are not the only ones who have taken up the expression. There is a gigantic world that uses it for anything and everything, much to Fried's dismay — namely advertisements that he prefers not to even mention. We will be forever grateful to Stephen, not least because without his genius idea we would not know how to refer to a lot of people, including ourselves (does this make any sense?). Case in point: normcore is way uglier and no one has ever complained. By the way, if anyone wants to sign a petition to promote the use of flamboyant, just send an email to Lady Gaga's attention.

Translated from the original on The Quote Issue, published in April 2022. For full credits and stories, check the print version.