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Fashionista meaning

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I Apologize for Inventing the Word 'Fashionista' 20 Years Ago

Culture

In 1993, an unsuspecting Gia Carangi biographer made up a word to collectively refer to the many tiny factions within the 1970s fashion industry. Today, it's everywhere.

By Stephen Fried

Pocket Books; Flickr user Royalty.Girl

Twenty years ago, I apparently changed language forever. I published a book that unleashed upon an unsuspecting public a single word of terrifying power and controversy. That word is "fashionista."

I suppose I should apologize to all users of language for my crime against nomenclature. I could also apologize to my wife, a writer and my editor, who lobbied loudly against the word when I invented it—and later came to believe that if we had only copyrighted it, we'd be fabulously wealthy by now. (An English major, she also did a spit-take when we learned my little word was being added to the Oxford English Dictionary.)

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 an

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Carolina Herrera

(1939-)

Who Is Carolina Herrera?

Fashion designer Carolina Herrera was raised in Venezuela. She launched her fashion company in New York City and became a U.S. citizen in 2009. Though she had no formal training before her first runway show in 1981, Herrera achieved success in women's and men's fashion, fragrances and more. Today her company has stores worldwide and billions in sales. Her signature look includes well-tailored white blouses, which she notably paired with ballgown skirts.

Early Life

Carolina Herrera was born as María Carolina Josefina Pacanins y Niño in Caracas, Venezuela, on January 8, 1939. Herrera experienced a privileged childhood in Venezuela. She was one of four daughters born to Guillermo Pacanins and María Cristina Niño. Her father served as an air force officer, governor of Caracas and Venezuela's Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Herrera had a governess who taught her English and French. Her youthful pastimes included tennis, riding and ballet, but not sewing clothes for her dolls. "When I was growing up, I was more into my horses

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Journalist Stephen Fried coined the word "fashionista" in 1993—and publicly apologized for it 20 years later. The fashion world has a love-hate relationship with its very own F word.

1897: Members of an Italian crime syndicate called the camorra take the name "camorristas"—and a fabulous suffix is born.

1982: "Barista" enters the lexicon, bringing cultural cachet to the surly tattooed guys who formerly responded to "Hey, you, that'll be black, to go."

1993:"Fashionista" appears for the first time, on page 100 of *Thing of Beauty: The Tragedy of Supermodel Gia *(Pocket Books) by Stephen Fried. "There was no simple way to refer to all the people at a sitting for a magazine photo or print ad," the author later explained.

1999: A *New York Times *article debates the merits of the controversial word. Pro: "I am a fashionista and proud of it," says Donatella Versace. Con: Former Allure creative director Polly Mellen says it means nothing, or worse, "fashion victim."

1999: "Fashioni