Tim Blanks

I am going to start properly going through the SS'12 shows tomorrow, and while my reviews will be, y'know, pretty good, there is one man who will always be better than everyone else at writing about clothes and that man is Tim Blanks.

The man himself

Tim Blanks is... a genius? No I probably can't say that, that would be too much of a hyperbole. Tim Blanks is... a visionary? Hmmm I'm not sure if that fits either. Tim Blanks is just very VERY good at his job, which is to review what's shown on the runway, and to make it entertaining to read about.
It really is quite a feat when one looks forward to a show's review almost as much as the show itself, and in his hands, shows become something you feel like you've attended yourself and now understand intimately.

Tim being Tim - what a guy

This may sound silly but he's also very smart, and has a very lateral mind. So when designers cite lofty, intellectual inspiration for collections, Blanks can always tell us if/how it works. In a recent interview for Vice he said self-deprecatingly "I've always had Coles Notes approach to information. I know a tiny bit about a huge number of things". Which basically makes him the Stephen Fry of fashion! Somebody please get him on QI.

But before I get too gushy, let's finish with one of the videos he makes for style.com. Don't you just love the sly, kind of artificial way that he speaks? The succinct little descriptions he has for everything - they are quite practically poetic.

First photo by Jemal Countess from Getty Images