Marie Claire editor Joanna Coles is known as “the Simon Cowell of fashion”; obviously, she’ll make for awesome reality TV.
That’s not hypothetical; as you may be aware, as of March 1st, the Brit will be following in Elle editor Anne Slowey’s footsteps (one hopes a bit more steadily) with Marie Claire‘s reality entree, Running With Heels, on the Style network. The show follows approved reality formula, trailing three hapless interns getting into Prada-lovin’ scrapes under Coles’ critical gaze.
While Coles has been, inevitably, compared to fellow Brititrix Anna Wintour, watching her lecture or reading her recent interview, it’s clear that she’s another animal entirely: she may be steely, but icy she’s not. Unlike Anna, Coles made her bones as a beat reporter; one can hardly see Wintour dispatching Greta van Susteren with Coles’ brisk aplomb. As a result, she’s a reality-perfect mix of hard-boiled journalist and fashionista. Coles may claim that fashion is actually about “keeping hundreds of thousands of people employed,” but she also tells the Guardian that “if I’m having a bad day, there’s nothing more fun than going into the closet and just inhaling the colour of next season’s Oscar de la Renta or feeling the tailoring of a Calvin Klein suit.” We are poised to love or hate at video editors’ whims, but either way, it looks like this is a woman we need on our radar.
Reality Show To Anoint New British Fashion Queen of NY [Guardian]
Women’s Mag Goes Reality TV [Breitbart]
CJR Audio: Joanna Coles On The Reporter’s Life [CJR]
Related: ‘Marie Claire’ Editor Joanna Coles Has Huge Handwriting, Frontal Lobe