frfashion1-8, Exercise 2: "The fashion press makes and breaks designers"

Model answer (check the details), using the six questions:

1. Who says it? Journalists and editors (who like the idea of their power), designers who have been helped or hurt, and critics of the industry.
2. What exactly is claimed? That the press decides careers. "Makes and breaks" implies a decisive role, not just an influence.
3. What would count as evidence? Case studies of designers whose careers rose or fell after coverage, sales and stockist records before and after reviews, and the money and backing that followed.
4. Compared with what? Other factors: financial backing, buyers' decisions, group ownership, celebrity clients and social media.
5. Which period? The press had most power when magazines and a few editors controlled access to the audience, before the internet.
6. What would change my mind? Evidence that designers succeeded or failed independently of the press, or that coverage followed success rather than causing it.

Verdict: the press has real power to bring attention and credibility, as Elle and Vogue did for new names in the 1950s and 1960s (check), but money, buyers and ownership are at least as important, and the press often follows success. A careful sentence: "The press can help to launch or damage a designer, but it is one of several forces."

Care: stories of a single review that made a career are usually simplified. Check them.