Meeting Sarah Nicole Prickett

vie thecdaily

"If there is one lesson that applies to every one, it is to try a little harder."

Yesterday, I had an opportunity to go see Sarah Nicole Prickett talk about her life and work. She's a twenty something fashion writer who contributes for publications such as Fashion magazine and Toronto Standard. It was a two hour trek in the snow but it was worth it. Like Prickett said, "The weirdest come from small towns." But enough about me. Prickett is a talented local fashion writer who I admire. In an industry where writing tends to be generic and uninspired Prickett's writing is an exception. If you're interested in fashion or journalism, you should read her work. You'll thank me when you do.

Prickett describes her writing as "sarcastic and caring". It has a distinct voice, a skill that takes time to develop and something Prickett remarkably does well. "School programs have a one size fits all mentality and every one who come out of undergraduate programs writes and sounds the same." Her tone is honest and unapologetic but that's because she knows what she's talking about. She breaks the rules to suit her. She even references one of my favourite quotes from Alexander McQueen to explain herself, "You have to learn how to construct clothes before you can deconstruct them." Often in fashion journalism people censor or fluff up articles but Prickett? She's precise. She writes what every one is thinking but too scared to say out loud. and that, I admire.

I googled 'backless sneaker' and this is what popped up. via sodahead

Surprisingly, she was not into fashion until later in life. She says she "had no style" as a child and gave us a mental image of her with backless sneakers. She didn't bring photos and sarcastically requested, "Please don't tweet photos of me. I'm vain and I won't like it...and I won't help you later in life. Seriously." She knew she was good at writing and intuitively dropped out of the Journalism program at Ryerson when she was no longer happy there. With hard work, she got a highly competitive internship at Fashion magazine. She reveals, "I told them, I'm not in school and if you don't take me, I'm going to be homeless. This is all I have."

"You have to turn your weaknesses into strengths."

Her honesty got her the internship but also credits her naivety to fashion as what separates her from other fashion journalists. "You have to turn your weaknesses into strengths." When she went to London Fashion Week as an intern she didn't realize the significance of it. "I'm glad I didn't know much about fashion because it would have definitely affected how I wrote." Even today, as a popular freelance writer she consciously avoids going to all events. "If I'm in the middle of it all, I won't have perspective."  

There's a popular saying 'Don't ever meet your idols because you will be disappointed.' Not with Sarah Nicole Prickett. She's just as sure of herself as she is in her writing which is astounding when the twenties are supposedly about finding yourself. That sounds campy but it's true. We might not all want to be writers or work in fashion like Prickett but I hope we're all looking for ourselves. At the end, some one asked for advice about conflicting advices to which Prickett answered, "If there is one lesson that applies to every one, it is to try a little harder."

P.S. Sarah, if you're reading this don't burn me for my bad grammar and bad copy editing!

Special thanks to Gail McInnes for allowing me to attend the YES and TFI workshop.