Sophie Grégoire Trudeau on the cover of our March 2017 issue. Photography by Max Abadian.

Style

’10s in FASHION: the Rise of the Social Media Superstar

"The first thing I did was hire a celebrity wrangler. Celebrity culture was taking over and it was all about who you could get on the cover."

By Lindsay Cooper

Date October 2, 2017

It’s hard to define something that completely surrounds you. Like trying to describe the taste of water or the smell of a perfume you’ve been wearing for years, the definition of this past decade in fashion has proven elusive. We’re sure in time for FASHION’s 50th we will be able to grab onto a few trends that define the decade with a TV show and a yet-to-happen major political event the kids will reference at their ’10s-themed parties. But as of right now, it’s difficult to know what will stand the test of time.

Shifting through the archives one trend was obvious: Celebrity culture. Not any specific brand of celebrity culture, just a voracious social appetite for all things fame. Replacing the models were singers, actors and the occasional reality TV star or blogger.

But, then editor-in-chief Leanne Delap saw it happening at the millennia’s beginning. “The first thing I did was hire a celebrity wrangler. Celebrity culture was taking over and it was all about who you could get on the cover,” she notes. “It just became more and more apparent that’s where the battleground had shifted. You’re not going to get anyone picking up your book if it’s not competing at that international level of wattage.”

So, celebrity culture isn’t new. What seems to be new is this conversation on what we should and shouldn’t consider a celebrity in the ’10s. Looking back at our covers from the ’90s and the ’00s, they featured mostly models with a mix of the biggest mainstream superstars creeping in during the mid-aughts. In the ’10s, those models and celebs haven’t disappeared, but we do have a new breed: Those who find notoriety by living their lives on a public platform. We have bloggers, Instagram models and reality TV stars becoming household names.

And that’s not to diminish their accomplishments. It’s a phenomenon we’ve never seen before, but with the aughts being defined by accessibility, we shouldn’t be astonished that we now want that same access to our idols. Even our beloved “mainstream celebrities” are guilty of sharing everything from their breakfast to their skincare regime with us via Instagram.

It’s hard to comment on the ramifications of this oversharing phenomenon while it’s still happening, but it’s certainly uniting us and you can’t argue that’s negative. Yes, we too are tired of the FitTea promotions and the full-faced “woke up like this” selfies, but we can’t be critical of the platforms that are democratizing the fashion and beauty industries and fuelling pop culture.

For 40 years now FAHION has been trying to instil a passion for fashion, beauty and culture in our readers while reminding you of the industry’s transformative power. For now, we’re celebrating the platforms and people who are helping us to bring you the best of the best. Check back with us for our 50th when the stats are in and we can better define and critique the (by then cringe-worthy) trends of the ’10s.

For your celebrity culture addiction: our favourite covers from the ’10s (with some behind the scenes gossip)

Photography by Michael Williams. Model, Jennifer Hudson.

Photography by Gabor Jurina. Model, Taylor Swift.

Photography by Pamela Hanson. Model, Linda Evangelista.

Photography by Chris Nicholls. Model, Miley Cyrus.

Photography by Gabor Jurina. Model, Coco Rocha.

Photography by Chris Nicholls. Model, Lana Del Rey.

Photography by Chris Nicholls. Model, Courtney Love.

Photography by Gabor Jurina. Model, Taylor Swift.

Photography by Gabor Jurina. Model, Chiara Ferragni.

Photography by Max Abadian. Model Anna Kendrick.

Photography by Gabor Jurina.

Photography by Juan Algarin.

Photography by Max Abadian. Model, Gigi Gorgeous.

Tulle Portrait by Benjamin Shine. Model muse: Amber Witcomb

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FASHION October 2010

Jennifer Hudson on the cover of our October 2010 issue.
“One of the most memorable ones was shooting Jennifer Hudson; it was such a transformative moment” recalls former fashion director Susie Sheffman. “She had begun to lose a lot of weight and I brought a dress that I did not think was going to work for her but I decided to bring it. It was beautiful navy blue fitted Greta Constantine jersey gown. She put it on and she was basically weeping. It was such a transformative moment for her. I talk about this moment a lot because it really speaks to the transformative moment clothing can bring. Yes, a dress can bring out that emotion.”

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FASHION Winter 2011

Taylor Swift on the cover of our Winter 2011 issue.
“I’ve photographed Taylor Swift for the magazine a couple times. When you work with someone like a great model or someone like Taylor or Rihanna, you’re working together to create a great picture. You know they’re going to be stars because they put 110% into everything. They don’t just dial it in” photographer Gabor Jurina raves. “This one we did in the very beginning when she just started with her curly hair and we photographed her in Nashville. It’s amazing working with Taylor.”
Hair and makeup artist Greg Wencel also has only glowing remarks: “I was obviously kind of nervous but she ended up being so sweet and so nice. We really hit it off. So obviously, I asked her for a picture. Somehow the picture of me and Taylor ended up surfacing online and getting on a couple of blogs–people thought that I was dating Taylor Swift.”

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FASHION November 2012

Linda Evangelista on the cover of our November 2012 issue.
“I saw Linda after [this photoshoot] and thanked her for being on the cover, and she said ‘No, thank you.’ Lovely. She’s a real pro. She understands lighting and angles so well that in her mind’s eye she can see what the picture is going to be like. That takes a lot of experience and a lot of understanding. That’s why her pictures are so incredible,” comments former editor-in-chief Bernadette Morra. “A lot of models have their shtick, but Linda is an incredible improviser and she’s got a bottomless well of expressions and movements and shapes and characters and emotions. She’s like the Meryl Streep of modelling.”

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FASHION November 2013

Miley Cyrus on the cover of our November 2013 issue.
“We shot Miley [Cyrus] 10 days after that crazy twerking performance at the MTV Video Music Awards,” says Morra. “It was her anti-Hannah Montana moment.” Chris Nicholls took the cover shot—and Miley’s passport photos. “She hadn’t noticed that her passport expired,” he recalls. “She asked me to shoot her, and then an assistant rushed the photos to the passport office.”

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FASHION Winter 2013

Coco Rocha on the cover of our Winter 2013 issue.
“I remember being on set with Coco for this cover shoot and all of a sudden ‘Vogue’ by Madonna came on and she threw down and did a whole choreographed routine,” recalls Wencel. “She danced so hard her wig flew off! Everyone was in shock.”

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FASHION September 2014

Lana Del Rey on the cover of our September 2014 issue.
“Lana Del Rey insisted that I lie in bed with her; she kicked everyone out of the room. We were shooting in the master bedroom at Casa Loma, and she got really flustered because there were so many people there,” remembers Nicholls. “She’s sort of an introverted, shy person actually. She’s like ‘Everyone leave, everyone get out’ she was all flushed and red. Then I started to leave and she’s like ‘Well not you, you stay!’ I was like okay, this is weird. She said ‘There are too many people in here. All we need is you and the camera and me.’ She became more relaxed and it was like taking pictures of a friend. Posing and being a bit more silly. It did seem to have a better result. She was nice. She signed albums for us and posed for pictures.”

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FASHION Winter 2014

Courtney Love on the cover of our Winter 2014 issue.
“Courtney was four hours late then told us she’d only had four hours sleep. She was great,” Nicholls reminisces. “We ended up in the women’s bathroom with her at Canoe Studios while she shaved her legs and talked about music.”

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FASHION November 2014

Taylor Swift on the cover of our November 2014 issue.
“On set, it was very interesting to see how much more confident she was than before. She wasn’t a little girl anymore. She was a fully engaged woman and had a real strong idea of how she wanted to be presented. The first time we photographed her she was with her mom and this second time was without her mom. There was quite a difference in the dynamic,” remembers Jurina. “Surprisingly, she is rather reserved. But she’s very sweet. She’s still the same sweet girl as when I first photographed her. She was very cute, taking screengrabs on her phone of the photoshoot we had done. You know you’re on the right track if you’re all excited about the photos. It’s really great because she has worked with all these amazing photographers and all these huge talents and she was still excited. She walked in like, ‘Hey Gabor its so nice to see you again.’ It’s kind of nice.”

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