If you aren’t in the know, words like “Scurban” and “smize” probably sound absurdly contrived, but the world of fashion is ever changing and with it comes a host of new words with which to razzle and dazzle. Keeping up can be difficult, but a quick primer can go a long way towards enlightenment.
Show us a naysayer who scoffs at ‘fleeting’ fashion buzzwords, and we’ll show you Stephen Fried. Twenty years ago, the American non-fiction author coined the term ‘fashionista’ in his biography of supermodel Gia Carangi, to describe the small army of “photographers, fashion editors, art directors, hairstylists, make-up artists, all their assistants, and models”, and in the process unleashed a storm of ‘-istas’ that followed. Fried recently said he regretted coining the term. However, ‘fashionista’ reached such heights of acceptability in journalism by 1999 that it was included in the Oxford English Dictionary. Will this year’s catchphrases be as enduring?
