When John Fairchild headed Women's Wear Daily's Paris bureau, he was dubbed "Blouson Noir" ("Black Jack et," or "the tough one") by irritated fashion designers, who even crossed to the other side of the street when they saw him coming. As a trade-publication reporter, the supposedly genteel Fairchild had turned out to be an acerbic, outspoken critic of fashions. If Paris designers were relieved when he left in 1960 to become editor of Women's Wear, it was the New York fashion world's turn to be surprised. As New York Times Fashion Writer...
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