Elsa Klensch, who passed away on Friday in New York City at the age of 92, won two CFDA awards in her legendary career: a Special Award in 1986, and the Eugenia Sheppard Award at the 1998/1999 CFDA Fashion Awards – both of which she more than deserved.
The Australia native, who had made her way to New York in the 1960s. She got her Seventh Avenue education at Women’s Wear Daily, then worked for Grace Mirabella at Vogue, and Tony Mazzola at Harper’s Bazaar. But it was her pioneering show, Style with Elsa Klensch, that jolted the fashion industry with its successful run from 1980 to 2001 on CNN.
Where once the Collections in New York, London, Milan, and Paris were reserved for print media and buyers, Style brought the runways to life with Klensch’s elegant and insightful commentary and backstage interviews. According to WWD, the first-ever episode of Style featured a Halston runway show and interviews with Halston friends such as Liza Minnelli, Martha Graham, and Andy Warhol. With her camera crew in tow, she added a new energy to fashion shows and brought the creativity of fashion weeks into living rooms around the world. In the process, Klensch would often shine a spotlight on New York fashion, from Bill Blass, Oscar de la Renta, and Fernando Sánchez to Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Helmut Lang, Marc Jacobs, Cynthia Rowley, and more.
It was widely assumed that Kim Basinger’s portrayal of roving TV fashion journalist Kitty Potter in Robert Altman’s film Pret-A-Porter was based on Klensch.
As news broke on Saturday, the American fashion industry started to pay tribute to the legend.
“Our styles of reportage were worlds apart, but I always had the utmost respect for you,” said Jeanne Beker, who had her own show, Fashion Television, in Canada.
CFDA member Victor Alfaro added, “Before the noise and chaos of today’s digital fashion coverage, she was how most of us got our latest from the world.”
“How many of us owe it all to you?” Town & Country Editor-in-Chief Stellene Volandes wrote on Instagram.
“She WAS fashion,” added CFDA member Isaac Mizrahi.
Indeed, she was. Rest in peace, Elsa.
