SUPER NOVA

Super

WORDS BY RYAN LOWE

STYLING BY

CAROLINE BAKER

Caroline Baker is in her 70s and going strong. As the legendary fashion editor of Nova magazine in the 1970s, she was one of the first people to encourage women to dress for themselves rather than for men. She is also credited with introducing street fashion to the mass market thanks to her uncanny knack for finding style inspiration on the street and off-catwalk before it became the thing to do.

Having worked closely with fashion royalty like Katharine Hamnett, Vivienne Westwood, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and many others, her work has appeared on the pages of Vogue, Tatler, French Elle, The Sunday Times, Good Housekeeping and Cosmopolitan as well as The Face and i-D — and unsurprisingly, a new generation of stylists and trendsetters is now looking to Baker’s work for inspiration.

Tell us about yourself, and how you got into fashion.

I was born in Argentina, but my parents were British, so I grew up between these two countries. In the 60s, when you were thinking about a career, it was either become a secretary, nurse, or stewardess so I became a secretary. From there, I got introduced to Molly Parkin who was an editor at the newly launched NOVA magazine. NOVA was for the woman who didn’t want to read Vogue. A woman who was more interested in journalism. I started at NOVA as Molly’s assistant, but quickly became the fashion editor and did a lot of work that became quite well known.

What are some fashion trends that you are credited with starting?

The ‘Ban The Bomb’ marches were popular in the mid-Sixties, and everyone wore army surplus gear on those marches, so I found an Army Surplus store and I fell in love with the whole aesthetic. No girl my age was seen wearing anything like that. I ended up doing a shoot for NOVA putting the models in khaki-colored military clothing. I didn’t realize that people were paying attention, but a few months after that story was published, I went to Paris to see some fashion shows and suddenly there were all these army surplus looks at a Kenzo show. That’s when I realized, “wow, my crazy ideas are working!”

I always thought men's clothing was so fantastic and that you could look feminine in menswear. Mid-60s, Yves Saint Laurent had introduced the tuxedo, but trouser suits weren't frequently found in women's wardrobes the way they are now. Another obsession of mine was layering, and underwear as outerwear. Can you imagine? In the '50’s and '60’s, your boyfriend would die if he saw your bra strap. You had to be completely brave to go out in public looking different from the expected, because you’d be judged.

Then the leg warmers. I saw dancers wear them as part of their practice uniforms, and decided to incorporate them into my wardrobe because I was always cold. I was shocked when they took off as a global phenomenon. That’s when I realized the power that the media had on the public and how they dress.

What was it like working with Helmut Newton?

I was amazed he was allowed to work with us because of his contract with Conde Nast but he really liked NOVA magazine. He would ring me up and say “Oh Caroline, let's do something,” so I would turn up with clothes that he wasn’t getting from other magazines he was associated with. I used to do work with him in his studio along with his wife Alice Springs.

NOVA fell victim to the massive recession that took place in Great Britain in the '70s, and the magazine folded. What did you do after that happened?

By then, I had worked with a lot of photographers and they helped me get freelance styling jobs. British Vogue got in touch with me because Grace Coddington had been in an accident. But I was too punk for them. I went on a trip to Jamaica to find work, but didn’t have any luck. I returned home to England and ended up living near Vivienne Westwood. We used to hang out in her shop SEX on Kings Road and she offered me a job. So I became her assistant for a year. We worked on the Mud collection together.

You worked for British Cosmopolitan in the '80s, how did that come about?

One day, I ran into Liz Smith, who was the editor of British Cosmopolitan at the time, and she said to me “I'm leaving Cosmo, do you want to come to Cosmo?” and I thought it might be good to have a regular salary, plus I thought I would have editorial control. But then the Japanese designers took over Paris runways in the 1980s and Cosmo couldn’t deal with it. I had a massive row with the editor about it. I wanted to cover Japanese designers and instead she told me to go do a story on Karl Lagerfeld because Chanel had just signed him. I did the interview with Karl but that was the end of me at Cosmopolitan because she just wasn’t into my work.

What was it like working on those amazing Benetton campaigns?

It was so much fun doing Benetton campaigns with Oliviero Toscani for a few years! The shoots were massive, with models from all over the world and I would have to go to Venice and pick from millions of clothes. It was amazing!

You said that given the career options that were available to women, you decided to become a secretary. Does that mean that you had no background in fashion?

That’s right. I had no fashion background at all. I didn't even realize I could’ve gone to school to study that and I never knew that the Royal College of Art was up and running. But I was mad about fashion, and it turns out I was a natural. I absorbed what was happening in fashion. I was instantly able to see things that were different and new and that I thought were going to be influential. It’s like I had some kind of intuition about it.

What other magazines have you worked with?

Cosmopolitan, Elle, Italian Marie Claire; I worked at British Vogue briefly but I’m not really a Conde Nast kind of person. Then from there, I went to a big newspaper group called Mail on Sunday, where I finished up my career at the You magazine.

What are your thoughts on the future of the industry?

I love fashion magazines and the whole fashion world. People say things are going to change a lot, but I don’t think they will. I think people gain so much from fashion that I can’t imagine it ever disappearing. People are saying it's going to get even more difficult for print publishers so maybe my grandchildren's generation will never get to experience print magazines. Who knows? However, I think fashion designers will carry on, and talented people will continue to bubble up to the top of the fashion schools. Talented people with a new vision, even if the new vision is an old one because when you study fashion you realize you're redoing things that have been done before. It’s especially clear to me now because my fashion career spans over six decades.

I’m also very fascinated by the Influencers and how they impact the industry. I think the fashion designers will carry on leading though. It's all a cycle, isn’t it? ✂