Kyle Anderson - Accessories Director, Marie Claire
12/1/2011
By Susan Lanier
Every woman should own a little black dress but what good is the perfect dress without the right shoes? Not to worry! Kyle Anderson, the newly appointed accessories director at Marie Claire, is committed to showcasing the chicest, most fierce and fabulous items to complete any woman’s look.
“I'm absolutely obsessed with finding cool and unusual pieces,” Anderson said. “I'm excited to bring some of my style, influence and experience to the accessories department at Marie Claire.”
Anderson is well known for his bleached blond hair, extensive collection of leather jackets and affinity for Rolex watches. His interest in fashion started in kindergarten. He says that even then he hoped to work in the field although it took time to pinpoint exactly what he wanted to do.
“I had thought I wanted to be a designer but designing isn’t what I’m best at,” he said. “I’m really good at finding cool things. I’m good at editing other people’s collections, at weeding through what people make and finding that one shining accessory that will make girls go crazy.”
Six years ago Nina Garcia, Project Runway judge and former fashion director of Elle, recognized this talent. After serving one week of a 90 day freelancer gig at Elle she hired him. Now at Marie Claire, Anderson is excited to work with Garcia again and he has some big plans.
His main focus is to differentiate Marie Claire’s accessories content from the competition.
“I think the accessories sections of several American magazines look absolutely identical. I think that’s sad.”
In order to set his accessories section apart, Anderson wants to focus on getting women to take more chances.
“I want to inspire girls to update their look, to try new things, to splurge, to steal, to think outside the box when it comes to jewelry and personal styling.”
But splurging doesn’t always have to come down to spending lots of money on big ticket items.
“I want to make sure that every accessory that goes into the pages of Marie Claire is the best of the best whether it is five dollars or $50,000,” he said.
Anderson also plans to use his prolific Web presence to get people interested in the accessories featured in the magazine. He currently has over 7,000 followers on Twitter. He also blogs at KyleEditor.com where he shares his fashion finds and behind the scenes videos and images of photo shoots.
“I think that magazines more now than ever are using tools like blogs, social media, Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr to add to their editorials with behind-the-scenes video, images, etc.,” Anderson said. “I think it’s as important as the actual editorials. People want to see what goes into the making of the magazine.”
He added that it’s smart bloggers that are the future of fashion. “They have a love for it and a great eye when it comes to what’s next and also a great connection and familiarity when it comes to engaging with fans.”
Pitching Tips
Anderson is tired of designers recycling the same old fads.
“I’m looking for something I’ve never seen before. Each season designers do similar if not the same trend over and over. We’ve seen tribal. We’ve seen nautical,” he said. “You have to think about what’s new and amazing that will make our readers get excited this season. How can we present ideas like tribal or nautical or floral or pastels in a new way?”
He prefers to be contacted via email and invites new designers to send images of their best pieces.
Follow Anderson on Twitter at @KyleEditor.