“Some days you’re in, and some days you’re out.”
No one hears host Heidi Klum’s famous one-liner more than the judges sitting next to her on Project Runway. But now it looks like one of the judges actually is out… of a job!
It has been confirmed that Nina Garcia has left Elle magazine. Friday she was given notice to leave her post as fashion director, a position she has held since 2000. Some say she was “let go” but other sources claim that Garcia resigned as Fashion Director of Elle Magazine. Her contract was reportedly up for renewal, which could have been one of the reasons why the higher ups at Elle have said ‘auf Wiedersehen’ to Nina. Since neither Garcia nor anyone from Elle has yet commented on the whole matter, it looks like we will have to wait to see how both camps explain the sudden farewell.
Nina didn’t just fall into the Fashion Director position, she worked hard to get where she is (or should I say, was)! She began in the fashion industry in the decade of big hair and shoulder pads, remembered fondly as the 1980s. She attended Ecole Superieur de la Mode in Paris and the Fashion Institute of Technology. This girl knows her stuff! She also worked in the public relations department for Perry Ellis back when Marc Jacobs was the designer. But working for Marc Jacobs doesn’t make you invincible, as some may think. Then she moved to Mirabella magazine as Assistant Stylist and Market Editor, until taking a position at Elle Magazine. This woman has done it all, and that still doesn’t keep her off the chopping block. At Elle, she worked her way up the ranks until she became Fashion Director in 2000. At Elle, Nina was in charge of around 20 editors and assistants, who worked alongside her to develop articles and layouts featuring new trends in fashion. Her working-class fairytale story is almost too good to be true— I guess we now know that it really is too good to be true seeing that she no longer works for Elle.
Speculation about her departure from Elle has been circulating for months, especially after the arrival of Joe Zee at the beginning of 2007 as creative director. Last spring, Garcia left the magazine on maternity leave, and began writing a monthly fashion column, “Fashionina,” for Elle upon her return. I may wonder if this played a part in her eventual exodus from Elle? Garcia was in the office on Friday morning, but by the afternoon it looked like things had gone ka-put. That sounds like a textbook firing move. Sources close to the building say Hachette’s Midtown offices were abuzz about the rumor of her exit.
This unexpected exit comes at such a successful time in her life, which makes me feel a little sympathetic towards Nina. Her first baby, Lucas Alexander Conrod, just recently turned one in March. Her book, The Little Black Book of Style, hit shelves last September. She is even slated to appear on an episode of Ugly Betty next month along with season four’s Project Runway winner, Christian Siriano. Not everyone can have all the good luck! Let’s just hope for the sake of her reputation that her recent departure from Elle won’t affect future deals with Project Runway. That’s practically the only thing she has left. Only Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn have made it work thus far, and are signed on indefinitely for the fifth season. But there has been no word about Nina and divo fashionista Michael Kors continuing their reign as judges on the program. And to make things even trickier, Runway will be moving from Bravo to Lifetime after the upcoming fifth season. It seems like everything is going wrong for this Señorita.
But does anyone even feel bad for her? Or do you think she got what she deserved from being so mean on all those seasons of Project Runway?
