Marion Hume

With Vivienne Westwood and EFI in rural Kenya (Far Left Side, Wearing Pink)

Marion Hume (born 3 July 1962) is a British/Australian fashion journalist and screenwriter based in London, England. Her career spans the UK, the US and Australia. She has interviewed Yves Saint Laurent, Diana Vreeland, Karl Lagerfeld, Tom Ford, Marc Jacobs and Giorgio Armani andValentino’s well as chief executives of global fashion businesses including Bernard Arnault of LVMH, Francois-Henri Pinault of Kering and of Chanel. Cover stories include a 2018 profile of Prince Charles which had in excess of 44 million views^{[citation needed]}. She is the International Fashion Editor of The Australian Financial Review (AFR) which, by 2019, had won the best magazine award in its class an unprecedented seven times in a row.^[1]

As a public speaker and host, she has moderated panels at Copenhagen Fashion Summit; Fashion Futures, Riyadh and the Fair Living Wage negotiations in Phnom Penh. She has appeared regularly on the stage at the V&A (Victoria & Albert Museum) including interviewing the hat designer, Philip Treacy.^[2] She is also the co-author of Philip Treacy’s eponymous book for Rizzoli. She curated Bespoke, a celebration of creative collaboration at .

Hume is currently involved in two screenwriting projects, one of these set in the fashion industry where she has had a front row view for over 30 years. Previously, she worked over a three-year period, on rewrites and polishes on a major Hollywood production with eOne which is anticipated to be filmed in 2020.^[3] She is a member of the WGA and the WGGB. In 2019, she reached the final shortlist of a national competition to write a play celebrating the 150th anniversary of the transatlantic communication cable between Cornwall, England, and Newfoundland, Canada.

Life and career[]

1990s[]

Concurrently, Hume was the launch fashion editor of the UK edition of Esquire (1990). From 1993 to 1996, Hume was fashion editor of The Independent, during which time the fashion coverage expanded in both the daily and the Independent on Sunday. Her profiles included Patsy from Ab Fab, aka Joanna Lumley,^[4] Lauren Hutton, Verushka, Fabien Baron and the photographers Steven Meisel and Peter Lindbergh. She reviewed Alexander McQueen’s first show.^[5] A review of a Chanel show entitled "No Way to treat a Lady" started a feud with Karl Lagerfeld, with Hume praised for "not being part of the 'conspiracy of silence'; for her professionalism, her integrity and her independence."^[6] In 1996 Hume joined The Financial Times, filing weekly fashion updates. The same year, she was the writer and associate producer of The South Bank Show special on John Galliano (season 20, episode 12, 1997)^[7] directed by Nigel Wattis, hosted by Melvyn Bragg.^[8]

The Look[]

In 1989 Hume was tagged by independent filmmakers, Freelance Film Partners as the insider they needed for a BBC six-part series called The Look. For the next two years, she worked on the series and also appeared in 5 of the 6 episodes. Interview subjects included Gianni Versace, Donatella Versace, Giorgio Armani, Ralph Lauren, Donna Karan and Christian Lacroix. The episode entitled Runway was the first to chart the evolution of the Supermodel. Yves Saint Laurent refused to be interviewed for the hour-long documentary about him, although close associates including Pierre Berge, Catherine Deneuve, Paloma Picasso and Betty Catroux did speak on his behalf and Saint Laurent himself was filmed backstage at his haute couture shows and at his 30th Fashion Birthday at the Opera Bastille, Paris. The Look has been broadcast all over the world and was most recently repeated on BBC4.^[9]

Vogue Australia[]

In 1997 Hume was Editor of Vogue Australia for just under two years, managing a team which included today's Editor, Edwina McCann and Creative Director, Jill Davison.

Her first cover (June 1997) shot by Peter Lindbergh, featured Naomi Campbell in a dress by the then-unknown designer, Akira Isogawa. In 2018, cover and dress were exhibited side by side at Sydney’s Powerhouse Museum as part of the retrospective of the designer.

Magazine exclusives included Kate Winslet’s diary of the filming of “Titanic”, interviews with then up-and-coming Hollywood stars Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette, Miranda Otto, Ben Mendelsohn, Guy Pearce and Aden Young and a shoot styled by now 4x Oscar winner, Catherine (CM) Martin.

Hume launched “180 degrees” which showed the life and times of a fashion icon in a single double page image. These, shot exclusively for Vogue Australia, included Karl Lagerfeld, Yves Saint Laurent, Tom Ford, Vivienne Westwood, Azzedine Alaia, Valentino, Armani, Christian Lacroix, Christian Louboutin and such Sydney icons as Trent Nathan and Morrissey Edmiston. Many of these images were lensed by Gavin Bond, who also covered backstage at the international shows, including John Galliano’s debut at Dior.^{[citation needed]}

After her tenure at Vogue came to an abrupt and well-documented end she was called back to Vogue USA. There, she served as acting features director.  Hume then left to join Harper’s Bazaar USA as contributing editor.

She appeared in Vogue Australia’s 60th anniversary issue, December 2019.

2000s[]

Hume became a contributing editor to US Harper's Bazaar. Editor-in-chief, Kate Betts sent her all over the world on assignments, praising her in her editor's letter as ‘steadfast and unafraid.’ Hume left Bazaar following Bett's departure in 2001. Commuting between New York and Sydney, she also took on the post as fashion editor of The Australian. Leading advertising agency, M&C Saatchi were hired by News Ltd to capitalize on the notoriety of their latest hire with billboard advertisements reading, ‘Marion Hume gets under the skin of the Fashion Industry’ and ‘The world's most vicious fashion journalist now writes for us. Be warned, if there is any nonsense on or off the catwalk, she just won’t wear it.’ ^[10]

Books[]

She has contributed to many books including The Cutting Edge (Victoria and Albert Museum, 1994) and collaborated on the V&A exhibition of the same name as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Streetstyle (1995). Hume’s novel, The Fashion Pack was published by Penguin (2005).

The Fashion Pack

2005 saw the publication of Hume's novel The Fashion Pack, published by Penguin, initially to rave reviews.^[11] Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana said of it "We thought we knew everything about fashion...until The Fashion Pack came out!" However publication served as an opportunity for her firing from Vogue Australia to be re-aired.^[12]

The Ethical Fashion Initiative[]

In 2009, Hume was appointed an International Consultant to the United Nations’ agency, ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative. In 2011 she became senior consultant. Hume works with the designer partners of The Ethical Fashion Initiative, and closely with Simone Cipriani, who helms this vast initiative which has more than 5,000 people in long term work in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Mali and in Haiti.^[13] High points for the initiative have included Suzy Menkes’ 2011 trip to Kenya^[14] and trips with Vivienne Westwood^[15] and Sass & Bide.^[16]

2010s onwards[]

Concurrent with the AFR, Hume authored Letter From London for Forbes.^[17] One of the few on-set reporters for Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby (2013), she was granted rare access to Carey Mulligan. Her interview with double Academy Award winner, Costumier, Catherine Martin appeared in The Saturday Telegraph Magazine.^{[citation needed]} Hume is the co author with Philip Treacy of the hat designer’s best selling monograph for Rizzoli (2015).

Bespoke, The Sydney Opera House[]

Fashion summit, Bespoke, was staged at World Heritage Listed icon, The Sydney Opera House on 16 May 2013.^[18] Speakers included billionaire businessman, James Packer; Jeremy Langmead, Mr Porter; Saturdays Surf NYC; Ramdane Touhami; Imran Amed, The Business of Fashion; Eugene Tan, Aquabumps; and Karen Walker. A fashion shoot was created live as the summit progressed. Starring Coco Rocha and in collaboration with Harper’s Bazaar, it generated global social media engagement.^[19]

Activism[]

Hume is currently working on a significant fund raising initiative. Under the auspices of United Nations Foundation, she worked with Project Perpetual which raised US$5.7 million in a single night to benefit shot@life, which is supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and works in association with WHO, UNICEF and GAVI to deliver global childhood vaccines.

From 2009 to 2014, Hume was International Consultant, then Senior Consultant, for The United Nations’ ITC Ethical Fashion Initiative. The bridge between fashion and development, Hume was instrumental in delivering the vision of founder, Simone Cipriani to connect marginalised artisans to top designers including Vivienne Westwood, Christian Louboutin, Stella McCartney, sass & bide, Karen Walker and Stella Jean. She orchestrated a media strategy which resulted in features in The Economist, US and global editions of Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, the International New York Times, among others.

In 1988, Hume co-founded Fashion Acts raising funds for the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Keynote speaker[]

Hume gives keynote speeches, both in public and at in-house conferences, on how responsible action must replace what she describes as, “Business as Usual”.^{[citation needed]}

Hume has moderated the Fair Living Wage summit for H&M in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; working on diamond sustainability with Rio Tinto in the sub-Arctic; and traced sustainable cashmere to its source in the Gobi Desert, Mongolia with Kering.   At Copenhagen Fashion Summit, May 2019, she moderated the animal welfare panel joined by conservation scientist, Dr Helen Crowley; animal activist, Philip Lymbery of Compassion in World Farming, and cotton farmer, La Rhea Pepper of Textile Exchange. 

Books[]

• Philip Treacy, Rizzoli 2015 (ISBN 978-0-8478-4650-4)
• Black on White: opinions and reflections about design (contributor, edited by Jose Antonia Gimenez), Hiatus, 2013 (ISBN 978-84-615-2477-8).
• The Fashion Pack, Penguin, 2005 (ISBN 9780670041640).
• The Cutting Edge: 50 years of British Fashion (contributor, edited by Amy de La Haye), The Victoria & Albert Museum, 1998 (ISBN 1851771999).

Television documentaries[]

• The South Bank Show special: John Galliano, season 20, episode 12, 1997.
• The Look, BBC, 1992.

References[]