New Zealand fashion journalist Hilary Alexander has died at 77. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand fashion journalist Hilary Alexander has died at 77. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand-born fashion journalist Hilary Alexander has died.
The socialite – who is believed to have created the term “supermodel” - died on her 77th birthday in London on February 5 leaving behind an iconic legacy.
In a touching tribute to the fashion icon, British Vogue referred to her as “a prolific reporter and writer who epitomised the fashion-loving, dizzy industry doyenne”.
It went on to say she “never forgot her Kiwi roots or her cool” and included a tribute from Edward Enninful, British Vogue’s editor-in-chief and Vogue’s European editorial director who said she was “one of the original, old-school fashion journalists”.
“She was hilarious, you could always feel her energy. She was so alive.”
Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of US Vogue said, “Hilary was irrepressible in everything she did. She lived life to the fullest and her reporting on fashion was just as committed.”
Noted as a self-confessed workaholic, the Kiwi-born journalist started her career at 16 before slowly working her way up to fashion editor of the Daily Telegraph in 1985.
Anna Wintour and Hilary Alexander. Photo / Getty Images
Her first taste of journalism came when she landed a role as a trainee reporter in Palmerston North working at the Manawatu Standard. Later, she took on a role at The Evening Post, then The Dominion before moving to Australia where she worked at the Ballarat Courier.
As she solidified herself as a hard-working fashion journalist, Alexander took her career to China where she worked at the China Mail and Hong Kong Standard before finally settling in London.
Remaining at the Daily Telegraph for the following 26 years, the socialite quickly became a familiar face on television and Daily Mail reports she regularly appeared on BBC Breakfast and GMTV among other television programmes.
Having landed the role of fashion director at the Telegraph in 2003, the journalist was held in high regard by the fashion industry, often landing invitations to fashion shows and other industry events.
Moving in high profile social circles, Alexander became friends with many popular designers including the late Gianni Versace and Alexander McQueen, and Michael Kors.
The latter even called her “unsinkable” when he awarded her with the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s (CFDA) special Eugenia Sheppard Media Award.
Other acclaims included being named British fashion journalist of the year twice and earning an Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2013 for services to fashion.
