Cathy Horyn vs Her Readers

A little scuffle broke out yesterday at fashion critic Cathy Horyn's blog, On the Runway. Writing about the Golden Globes, Horyn quoted an anonymous stylist calling actress Christina Hendricks a "big girl." A photograph published alongside had obviously been stretched, making Hendricks seem wider. Several commenters made a fuss, and Gothamist even wrote a post about it, pompously stating that they had 'contacted Horyn for comment.'

I doubt anyone at the Times distorted the image on purpose; it was most likely a mistake made in a few seconds, made even more likely if, as I suspect, Horyn uploads most of the pictures herself. She's a busy woman. In the end, Horyn simply replaced the stretched photo with an unstretched version and that, one hopes, will be the end of it. What's important, though, is that this shows that an influential newspaper critic can be held instantly accountable by her readers.

Cathy Horyn started blogging several years ago, but she still seems to think of her blog as a one-way street, or at best as a question-and-answer session with She Who Knows Best. She takes an interest in what some of her commenters have to say, but rarely, if ever, does she admit to having made a bad call.

Compare to another blogger, the Atlantic contributor Andrew Sullivan, who regularly posts emails from readers disagreeing with him. Though they write about completely different things - Sullivan sticks to politics - it's an interesting contrast that the fashion critic would seem to be more rigidly entrenched in her authority.

In an area so subjective as fashion, it can be hard to tell the difference between a valid difference of opinion and simple ignorance. It will be interesting to see how Horyn continues to balance her authority as critic with her readers' responses.