My Ultimate Style Icon is Lynn Yaeger
She's a living legend and a true eccentric.
When I think about the person I want to emulate most in the world, it’s Lynn Yaeger.
For the uninitiated, Lynn Yaeger is a stalwart fashion journalist who’s been in the biz since the 1970s. She got her start in the classifieds department at The Village Voice (RIP), worked her way up to become the paper’s star fashion writer and is now a regular contributor at Vogue who has written for the New Yorker, New York magazine and many more. While she may not be a household name, she’s pretty much singlehandedly carrying on the tradition of great eccentrics working in fashion, like Anna Piaggi and Isabella Blow—though unlike many other eccentrics preoccupied with their own interests, she actually seems to be able to do her job. She’s deeply talented, extremely prolific and has an instantly recognizable sense of style. In short, she’s everything I hope someday to be.
Her signature look is that of a Dickensian orphan meets haunted doll. In every photo I have ever seen, she is wearing some combination of tulle/sequins/fur and sensible flat shoes, topped with a razor-sharp hennaed bob, cupid’s bow lips and two circles of rouge painted high on her cheeks. In a New York Times story describing the origins of her singular look she writes, “I've never really understood why women are so timid. For me, only someone with a powerful look -- Diana Vreeland, say, or Minnie Mouse -- is a person worth emulating. Because -- and here is a big secret -- if you construct an eccentric look and make it your own, you will be forever insulated from the world of fashion, a place where, let's face it, you can never be lissome enough, your hair never curly (or straight) enough, your chest never full (or flat) enough. And here's an added bonus: Truly wacky style doesn't date, so all those worries about wrinkles leave you blissfully unaffected.”
Her entire look is a collage of references from eras no one today remembers—silent film stars and seamy 1920s Parisian nightlife—that all add up to create something totally unique. In a world defined by shifting seasons and silhouettes, Lynn Yaeger always looks the same, sporting her flouncy Simone Rocha and Comme des Garçons frippery as if it were protective armor. (In this closet tour, she announces a special fondness for shopping in the Gucci children’s section.) In this way, Lynn epitomizes the distinction between high fashion and personal style. As trends mutate, Lynn has managed to cultivate a look that’s independent of what anyone else is doing—a total individual.
She’s also, probably, the funniest writer in fashion. Take this 2010 story on her somewhat ill-fated trip to a Marni outlet in Florida, in which she describes a coat as looking “as if its sleeves were chopped off in a horrible accident.” It’s funny, evocative and kind of dark. While she’s an excellent critic, Lynn is at her peak when she embraces the personal in her writing, because her own perspective is fascinating. It’s a complete mystery to me why she’s not always mentioned in the same breath as Cathy Horan and Vanessa Friedman, the other writers who’ve managed ascended to the top echelons of fashion criticism.
It could be because she refuses to take herself too seriously. “My clothes have always been kind of goony,” she says. She knows she looks like she raided the contents of an antique shop and doesn’t care to deny it. You’d never catch Anna Wintour even uttering the words goony, let alone wearing something that would fit that description. Lynn is the reason why I feel confident stepping out of the house everyday in outfits that make me look like a deranged kindergarten teacher or an S&M Ms. Frizzle.
Yet for all her candor, Lynn remains something of a mystery. Nobody knows exactly how old she is or what she looks like underneath the makeup. She’s one of those true New York weirdos who bought their Greenwich Village apartment for peanuts in the 1980s or 1990s, which has allowed her to cultivate a universe completely her own. The closest we’ve ever gotten to a peek inside her world is this 2010 interview she gave to a now-defunct eBay blog where she showed off her impressive collections of antique Mickey Mouse toys and Raggedy Ann dolls.
Anyways, I’ve been thinking about Lynn a lot because I’m currently reading The Freaks Came Out to Write, an oral history of The Village Voice, which I picked up specifically because of my interest in her. Lynn was hired by the paper in 1978 and she admits she was eccentric from the start. “Oh honey, in the classifieds I used to sit there in a beaded 1920s gown and a velvet coat. I really had some looks in the classified department. I had white Victorian nightgowns. I got the same reaction I’ve gotten my whole life—incredulity followed by acceptance.”
What I didn’t know is that apparently, Lynn was instrumental in forming the labour union at The Village Voice. When the paper fought to unionize after it was bought by Rupert Murdoch, Lynn was one of the lead bargainers that made it happen—and she was one tough cookie. “Lynn was bad cop. I was good cop,” says her colleague Jeff Weinstein. “I liked it because I couldn’t get fired and I’m very rebellious, and I liked it because it gave us a way of fighting back…I had a ‘fuck you’ attitude at the time.”
Turns out I’m not the only one who’s had Lynn Yaeger on the brain. Today, she’s having a closet sale at the Standard Hotel in NYC with the inimitable Liana Satenstein of Neverworns aka the person who organized the Chloe Sevigny closet sale. If you’re anywhere near New York, I urge you to attend—and let me know!—so I can vicariously paw through her closet castoffs through you. And say hi to Lynn for me! My dream is to someday become friends. I just know we’d get along.
THE icon!! I remember being mildly uncomfortable and so intrigued when I was in middle school and first saw a photo of Lynn, like are we allowed to just look like this in the world?? Because I did not at all feel like I was then. she is the rare real deal 🫡 went to the sale and it was absolutely the highlight of my year despite Lynn’s incredible gorgeous vintage being way out of my tax bracket hahah - best part was just hanging out around her and listening to her hype everyone up as they tried things on and trying to guess whose stuff they had on. Also her being bummed about only having made $100 at one point early on and selling a girl on a GORGEOUS giant Fforme puffer (also out of her tax bracket lol)! & Chloe Sevigny helping someone try on an apron dress and directing girls to mirrors, truly sweet. Never gonna feel that cool again probably 😂😂
I've chased Lynn's writing all across the internet and really enjoyed her on The Adventurine (she's also responsible for my discovering that site haha)
also long live Lynn's style, may she deliver us from the substack Axis of Oatmeal (I never ever want to be mistaken for the kind of woman who would wear a Frankie Shop blazer)