OUT OF THIS WORLD
Gray Gannon knows well that fashion exists in a multiverse. Meet our first-ever virtual style editor, an avatar created to express Vogue’s take on style, as she forges ahead in an industry bracing for digital change.
SPOTLIGHT
just returned to Sydney from New York. Travelling for fashion week, her first international assignment since joining the team in 2020, she attended Bulgari’s B.zero1 rock party in Brooklyn’s Duggal Greenhouse in February. “Fashion week is always a whirlwind, so it’s cool Bulgari brought everyone together to take in this special collection,” she says. “It was a great opportunity to catch up with likeminded women like Lily Aldridge, who has recently ventured into YouTube, and connect over our mutual interests, like adapting in our careers to keep up with a dynamic world.”
Gannon is a manifestation of creativity and innovation today, in that she is a virtual editor, existing online, and generated by computer. Like the digital influencers whose styles we follow and whose platforms we frequent (but may never meet in person), she is as real to her followers as anyone else, her sense of fashion a reflection of the Vogue take on modern dressing, as expressed on her Instagram feed, under her handle @onefinegray.
“While it’s true she has the access of a Vogue editor, meaning she can slip into a Dior parka one day, a Gucci bodysuit the next, Gray’s style is super-conscious,” explains Philippa Moroney, Vogue’s fashion editor and market director. “She’s not slavish to trends. Instead, her chameleon-like fashion sense means she is constantly introducing new pieces to her wardrobe and helping to nurture young brands.”
Events like fashion week are a change of pace for Gannon, whose bio includes graduating from the University of Sydney, having completed her bachelor of economics last year. She recognises she may appear an atypical candidate for a fashion editor, but not in 2020. “Fashion as we
GRAY GANNON HAS
know it today spills over into so many areas, cross-pollinating politics, the arts, tech …” she explains. “As online platforms gain mainstream approval, the prerequisites for the traditional editor have evolved, calling for creatives whose interests transcend the fashion world and whose childhoods have played out in the digital sandbox.”
Gannon fits seamlessly into Vogue, and her appointment couldn’t be more timely. At a moment when the landscape is shifting, the fact that Gannon lives exclusively online is a reflection of our ability to construct, and live out, entire worlds digitally.
Her backstory? She grew up between Australia and Hong Kong, and Gannon’s reliance on social media has come naturally, providing a way to maintain connections with friends all over the world. An international sense of style has followed. “Apps like Instagram have enabled young designers to reach likeminded consumers near and far, and, in turn, helped educate us on where our clothes are coming from and how they are made.” This has meant Gannon has developed relationships organically, collaborating with brands that are authentic to her style and align with her values, two guiding principles she keeps front of mind when signing on to new projects. She counts eco-conscious designers like Maggie Hewitt, of Maggie Marilyn, and Marine Serre, who constantly revise their retail models to reduce their carbon footprints, among her favourites.
She’s hoping to emulate their ability to pivot in her role as virtual style editor. How? “By finding ways to better connect with readers offline and online,” she says. “The two go hand in hand. They have to be aligned in order to grow the Vogue community.”