Queens do not retire. For Suzy Menkes, known as the “queen of fashion journalism” retirement is not on the cards quite yet. When she left her position as editor of Vogue International in 2020, you may have assumed that she would retire from the fast-paced world of fashion. You would be wrong; at 81 years old, Menkes is still immersed in fashion journalism, currently running her podcast ‘Creative Conversations’, all while still managing to attend almost every major fashion show.

On an early Saturday morning, I first ask Suzy about how her 60-year career in journalism began. “It was an interest in fashion that came before journalism,” Menkes tells me. “I made all my own clothes at that period. I wasn’t going out and buying things.” Her interest in the practical aspect of fashion led her to study fashion and dressmaking in her gap year at the Chambre Syndicale in Paris before reading English Literature and History at Newnham. When I suggest that her time at Cambridge might have paled in comparison to the glamour of her year in Paris, Menkes is quick to correct me: “I didn’t feel that at all.” Rather, it was the contrary: “I was very excited. I lived in a little village in Sussex, and [Cambridge] was the opening up of the world for me.”

““Inevitably it was a period … at least once or twice a month – if not more often – you heard of the first woman whatever””

Menkes’ time in Cambridge, immersed in student journalism, was as personally exciting as it was historically significant. In the late 1960s, Menkes became the first female Editor-in-chief of Varsity – but did she feel at the time she was a marker of change? “I did and I didn’t.” After a slight pause, “Inevitably it was a period (not just at Cambridge but everywhere)… at least once or twice a month – if not more often – you heard of the first woman whatever.” As she begins reminiscing on her Varsity days, she very quickly remembers the less glamorous reality of having to balance a degree with student journalism: “There was no consideration [from supervisors] that my work for Varsity might make my degree work more difficult. Quite the opposite.” Sixty years on, I assure her that this remains the case, to which she responds with a chuckle, “I’m sure you’re right!”

Mastering the balancing act is undoubtedly the foundation of her career. Menkes began at The Times, moved on to the International Herald Tribune in 1988, spent 26 years there, and eventually joined Vogue, where she became international editor in 2014. Menkes’ impartiality – which she reckons is “a natural skill” for her – has charged her voice in fashion journalism with respect and influence; however, this candour has landed her in some trouble in the past, being banned from several fashion shows after giving a harsh review of a Dior collection.

Menkes does not dwell on the past, however. “The way of recording things changed so dramatically with the invention of phones…When the way of reporting changed, I changed too and I decided that you’ve got to go with the flow.” Take a look at Menkes’ Instagram – where she often posts several times a day – and her embracing of technology is indisputable. “[Social media] is so speedy…If you go to a fashion show now and you’re sitting in the front row and you watch the show, if you write about it then immediately, you’re still behind everybody else in the world.”

“Impartiality – which she reckons is “a natural skill” for her – has charged her voice in fashion journalism with respect and influence”

Her observation steers our conversation toward a broader topic: the democratisation of information in fashion. “The real question is: do people still want to read words?”, she adds “In the past it was the only way they could get the description or explanation… Now, it’s not only instant… but [fashion shows] are not in the slightest bit private as it was in the beginning.” I probe Menkes’ mention of privacy, or lack thereof, in fashion shows; with aspects such as mystique being lost as a consequence, is this shift a net improvement or loss? Her impartiality surfaces: “I think you can take it that way or you can take it the other way: Everybody can make judgments and a judgement from someone who hasn’t seen very much – and is therefore much fresher in their attitude – could be more interesting.”

Having covered the past, I ask Menkes about her more recent shift to the world of audio rather than text with her podcast ‘Creative Conversations’, which began in 2020 and has featured notable guests such as Naomi Campbell, Manolo Blahnik, Tommy Hilfiger, and the late Giorgio Armani. However, she tells me she has had to pause podcasting, not to rest – as one might expect after a 60-year career – but to work on her book. “I’m trying to concentrate on [the book] and not do that fatal thing of filling up your time and not getting on with it.” When I suggest that my generation would call that ‘fatal thing’ procrastination, she chuckles: “Yes, that’s the word!”

Remembering that I’m speaking to someone who has been to almost every fashion week since the 70s, I cannot resist asking what her most memorable fashion show was. Menkes avoids giving one clear answer but reminisces on a few iconic shows she remembers: “Take Yves Saint Laurent – it was absolutely revolutionary in its time.” I ask if she recognised, as she was watching, that shows now considered revolutionary were significant, or if she only realised this in hindsight. “Not with hindsight, always in the moment.” And was it a thought or a feeling? “Both. A feeling first, I would say.” That feeling – the thrill of fashion – is surely what has sustained Menkes’ six-decade career. And it is clear that this thrill has not worn off yet.