{"id":24932,"date":"2014-09-06T05:41:08","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T21:41:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=24932"},"modified":"2014-09-05T22:44:23","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T14:44:23","slug":"in-the-high-stakes-hardworking-world-of-fashion-joan-rivers-offered-a-needed-laugh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2014\/09\/06\/in-the-high-stakes-hardworking-world-of-fashion-joan-rivers-offered-a-needed-laugh\/","title":{"rendered":"In the high stakes, hardworking world of fashion, Joan Rivers offered a needed laugh"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Joan<\/a>
Joan Rivers. Photo by ExpressingYourself<\/a> \/ Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NEW YORK\u2014In the intense, high-stakes world of fashion, Joan Rivers helped change the game.<\/p>\n

The industry she bit into on \u201cFashion Police\u201d but embraced in her friendships and the fancy clothes on her back considered her love-hate legacy Thursday after her death at 81.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, she was the most instrumental person because she changed the dialogue in fashion forever,\u201d said Fern Mallis, herself a shaker as creator of New York Fashion Week.<\/p>\n

Rivers was the first on a red carpet to stick a microphone in a star\u2019s face and ask about clothes. Before that, Mallis said, \u201cIt was what\u2019s the movie you\u2019re in? What\u2019s the director like? What\u2019s the next project?\u201d And it was there she created one of her trademarks: Her inimitable, \u201cWho are you wearing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Joe Zee, former creative director at Elle magazine and the new editor-in-chief of Yahoo! Style, said there was more: \u201cWhat she leaves behind is that you can have fun with clothes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivers knew how to have fun and poke fun in a serious business making serious money with a serious work ethic.<\/p>\n

Stylist Leslie Fremar, who has worked with Charlize Theron, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Connelly and Julianne Moore, believes fashion was able to appreciate Rivers as a talented comedian, with grains of salt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was all in great fun,\u201d she said. \u201cI don\u2019t necessarily think that what she did was fashion critique, but she was extremely funny, and I appreciate that. She brought comedy to something that is not about saving lives. Some people look at fashion and think that there\u2019s something superficial about it, and there\u2019s humour in that.\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing\u2019s for sure, Fremar said, and Rivers had a lot to do with it: \u201cWhen they go on the red carpet now, they\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow stylist June Ambrose said Rivers \u201ckept us all on our toes\u201d and knew the business like an insider.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe had a keen eye for fashion and was as bold as a diva should be,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Louise Roe, who has worked on E! Network\u2019s \u201cFashion Police\u201d and hosted other fashion TV shows, described Rivers as \u201cfashion\u2019s grandma.\u201d<\/p>\n

You know the one. You\u2019re wearing THAT?!<\/p>\n

\u201cShe always said what everyone else might have been thinking, and it is definitely poignant that she passed away during fashion week, and we will certainly raise a toast to her,\u201d Roe said. \u201cIt\u2019s very, very sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Designer Dennis Basso once teamed with Rivers, a dear friend, for the QVC show \u201cJoan Rivers & Dennis Basso: Designing Duo.\u201d His luscious couture furs were favourites.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday is an extremely sad day for me and the world,\u201d Basso said in an email. \u201cWe have lost a spectacular woman who gave the gift of laughter. We had a special relationship for over 30 years, and I will miss her dearly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivers appeared often on QVC, selling costume jewelry and other items. Designer Stan Herman, former president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, where Mallis was once executive director, mourned the loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy feelings with her were very personal because we were on QVC together for 20 years,\u201d Herman said. \u201cWhen I brought my father down there for his 100th birthday, she wheeled him around in his wheelchair and gave him 100 roses for his birthday. She was a wonderful, wonderful woman. … Deep-hearted. Very thoughtful.\u201d<\/p>\n

In-demand model Coco Rocha didn\u2019t know Rivers personally, but she and so many others in fashion landed squarely in her sights a time or two.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she talks about your dress, if she liked it or didn\u2019t like it, it was still a great thing,\u201d Rocha said from the Lincoln Center tents when word of Rivers\u2019 death spread during the first full day of spring shows. \u201cYou would love the fact that she just made fun of you. That\u2019s the whole point.\u201d<\/p>\n

AP reporters Alicia Rancilio, Mesfin Fekadu and Leanne Italie in New York contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NEW YORK\u2014In the intense, high-stakes world of fashion, Joan Rivers helped change the game. The industry she bit into on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":24933,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","category-hollywood","mauthors-nicole-evatt","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24932","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}