Amy Fine Collins on The International Best Dressed List
WORDS BY,
DOUGLAS HENRY LEWIS
Photos: Kevin Winter/Getty Images (Rock); Taylor Hill/WireImage/Getty Images (Doonan and Adler); Owen Kolasinski/BFA (Batiste)
The International Best Dressed List has Always stood for the crème de la crème of sartorial splendor.
Fashion powerhouse, Eleanor Lambert is largely credited for “doing more for the American clothing industry than any other single person” with her creation of the Costume Institute, Fashion Week, the CFDA, and the Coty Awards.
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The International Best Dressed List was initially created with the intention to stimulate the American industry when fashion news from Paris was cut off due to World War II. Since its inception, the list has become a stamp for the spiffiest fashion enthusiasts around the globe, combining the worlds of philanthropy, politics, music, society, style, and sports underneath one umbrella of a “permanent record of excellence.”
With such a longstanding reputation for celebrating aesthetic achievement in daily dress, it is refreshing to see that the list is embracing changes in today’s society that is intrinsically representative of the very nature of the word “fashion.” Amy states that “It doesn’t always go in the direction that you wish it would but that’s the very nature of fashion. It’s intrinsically about change. The idea of enduring style is a paradox.”
For the first time in its history, the list has officially become non-binary. Categories once separated by gender now see equal merging with names from Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico and South Korea.
Photos: EFE/Zuma Press (Miguel); Stephane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images (de Vilmorin); Benjamin Lozovsky/BFA (Leiba)
Amy Fine Collins is the Editor-At-Large of Air Mail magazine, the publication that serves as IBDL’s current host, publishing the list on its platforms. Collins’ commentary revealed a plethora of pointers pertaining to how men of the younger generation can elevate their sense of dress, what factored into her overall decision to merge the gender categories into one, and the influence that diversity has on one’s personal aesthetics.
Men weren’t on the list until 1966 arriving first as fashion professionals, then in 1968 were put in their own category, which was radical and a true sign of the times. There was a certain fluidity that was disappearing with unisex clothing which is why men were placed on the list.
Regarding what she looks for when deciding who makes the list, she states that first, “they must have shown notable style in the year under review, and they need to have been in some way influential, individual, original, and visible.”
When describing what personifies great style, she explains that what’s most important is that they don’t look like anyone else and that they are recognizable as having a distinctive form of self-expression that can be inspirational but not be imitated. Collins regards great style as having both authenticity and an outward projection of an innate sense of aesthetics and self-knowledge.
Collins also states that the list is supposed to reflect what’s happening in the world generally, which is how her team ultimately came to the decision to merge the categories.
Today, most fashion runways and collections are gender-neutral, which the list reflects. Change happens in a more accelerated manner, and then goes further.
Citing examples like Thom Browne being one of the earliest designers of our time to put men and women together on the runway in the same clothes, she supports the notion of a necessary change saying, “We’re all doing our best to address kinds of prejudices in our culture, whether it's racism, sexism, transphobia, or fatphobia.” Collins explains, “It suddenly seemed antiquated, passe, and unnecessary to have separate scrolls for men and women. It was irrelevant.”