Tavi: the joke's on you

As much as anyone, I've been perplexed and a little repulsed by the overnight rise of 13-year-old blogging sensation Tavi Gevinson. Where did she come from? What's so great about her? Someone, somewhere, seems to have decreed her to be In, though no one seems to understand why.

I should start by admitting - as you might suspect - that, yes, I'm a little jealous. Everyone dreams about recognition coming so easily. Jealousy, however, is not interesting; what is interesting is the way her abrupt rise illustrates the curious, sometimes inexplicable dynamics of the fashion publicity machine.

Certain things become cool overnight, almost without explanation. This is evidence of a pack mentality: fashion people tend to move as a group, especially in how they think. Oftentimes, they have trouble adapting to new things, but if one of the true avant gardists - Katie Grand or Rei Kawakubo, for instance - should take a shine to something, there is no question that everyone else will follow.

Fashion people aren't very independent-minded; mostly, they're afraid to be left behind. What they may not realize, in this case, is that foisting a 13 year-old blogger on the fashion world is Rei Kawakubo's idea of a joke.

This is a joke that Tavi may be in on - if you'd like confirmation, just look at this picture of her at the Dior couture show in Paris. With her grey hair and ridiculous hat, she's sending up the grand-dame editors of the 1950s and 60s. If you ask me, it's quite droll.