Yahoo Movies Honey Dijon Is Guest Editing CR Fashion Book
“I’ve been a mag hag since I was a kid,” Honey Dijon said, confessing that she used to relish visits to her tailor uncle, who always had fashion magazines like GQ lying around. “I would study them like a science book.”
When her parents insisted at age 16 that she get a job, Dijon found one stocking shelves at a pharmacy, giving her a chance to pore over issues of WWD, Italian Vogue and French Glamour before placing them on the rack.
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So when Carine Roitfeld rang late last year and invited her to become CR Fashion Book’s first guest editor, Dijon jumped at the chance to work with a fashion idol, intimately familiar with Roitfeld’s collaborations with Mario Testino at Italian Glamour in the 1990s that broke new ground with their upfront sexuality. “I had never seen anything like it.”
Their spring issue was a meeting of minds, and of world travelers, both nostalgic for the times of unencumbered jetliner travel. Hence the “Air CR” theme, which had Dijon posing as a pilot, long wavy hair bouncing over her white shirt unbuttoned down to there, and as a spy in a leather trench coat, gloved fingers raised like a pistol.
Dijon is one of five cover subjects: the others are actress Barbie Ferreira, musician Lous and the Yakuza, models Hailey Bieber and Rebecca Leigh Longendyke, plus J Balvin fronting CR Men, which comes with the 238-page issue that hits newsstands on March 4.
Calling from the streets of Berlin after a chiropractor appointment — “Maintenance, darling,” she cooed — Dijon said donning an editor’s hat was a thrill and a rare opportunity to bring some different voices to the fashion party.
“I was very adamant that if I was going to be involved, it had to be people of color, it had to be trans women, nonbinary people. It had to really speak to what I represent as an artist and what I represent as a person,” she said, pausing for some traffic noise to ebb. “And being the first trans woman of color in a creative position for an international fashion magazine, I felt that it was very important for it to be as close to who I am or what I represent for my community for music and fashion, for it to be believable and real. So they really involved me in the whole creative process of the magazine.
“I learned a lot — page count, how heavy the magazine is going to be, location shooting,” she said matter-of-factly. “So it was a great experience for me. I’m proud of the entire issue.”
Roitfeld, who founded the biannual CR Fashion Book in 2012, established a tradition of occasional guest editors when she was editor in chief of Vogue Paris — and Dijon was her first choice, given her globetrotting lifestyle and personal charisma.
“I like this idea of having a guest editor, it’s very refreshing,” Roitfeld enthused. “[Honey] was our captain, and she brought such great and positive energy to the project. …She’s smart and she loves fashion, maybe even more than me.”
Dijon admitted her younger self could never envision a role for herself in fashion, although hers have multiplied alongside her music career, including her Honey F—ing Dijon collection with Dover Street Market Paris, showing her latest output in its Place Vendôme showroom during Paris Fashion Week next month.
She said the guest-editor gig “definitely lit the fire for me. I definitely want to be more involved in art direction, and creative direction… I would love to give a platform for trans and queer photographers and hairstylist and makeup artists. I think there’s still room for that,” she said. “There’s so many talented people. And one of the great things about working with Carine is that she’s so open to your input and other people’s voices, and she trusts you.
“Fashion can also change culture and not just be a part of it,” Dijon added.
The famous DJ certainly related to the airline theme, accustomed to being in five different countries in one week before the pandemic halted travel.
“Creatives have been impacted so heavily. Travel was our main source of connection,” she said.
The airline theme plays out in playful ways in the magazine, with Cartier jewels plunked on food trays and models posed in front of metal scanners, or dressed in hazmat suits à la Naomi Campbell. Roitfeld herself donned some revamps of flight-attendant uniforms, while she and Dijon remotely directed shoots in Spain, New York, Seoul, Marrakech and Los Angeles.
There are serious topics, too, with Ferreira talking about body positivity, Balvin about his battle with depression and Lous and the Yakuza’s embrace of her Black identity and being an imperfect role model.
As for her long-haul travel essentials, Dijon rattled off a cashmere jogging suit, Birkenstocks, Byredo perfume and another DIY beauty essential: shea butter tucked into an empty roll-on to keep skin smooth and hydrated through the journey. Her next dream destination: The Maldives.
See also:
How Carine Roitfeld Went From Editor to Fashion Industry Icon
Organic and Passionate: Honey Dijon on Working With Comme des Garçons
EXCLUSIVE: Carine Roitfeld Becomes ‘Style Adviser’ to Karl Lagerfeld Brand
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