Betts '86 rises to the top

Kate Betts '86, editor of the quarterly publication "TIME 'Style & Design,'" must blend high fashion with high journalism. As a former reporter for "Vogue" and Editor-in-Chief of "Harpers Bazaar," Betts said she could write about and celebrate "fashion for fashion's sake." But ever since assuming the role of 'Style and Design' editor in 2003, Betts has rigorously tried to build compelling stories around style-related news.

"I need to captivate my audience and make the story appealing — it can never just be a trend story," Betts said.

Betts describes her job as "strictly speaking, journalism." Her success at "Style and Design" does not come from her skill for predicting next season's trends, but rather from her knack for reporting on the world of design and integrating it with the world of business. While does go to a myriad of fashion, gift and furniture design shows in Milan and reports on what she sees on the runway for TIME publications, she also tries to find a new hook, to create a story that appeals to the general interest of five million of TIME's readers.

Betts' articles usually cover up-and-coming designers or someone who has done something new and noteworthy.

When she's not writing for "Style & Design," which is devoted to fashion along with home furnishings, architecture and interior design, Betts fulfills her role as editor by fighting for space and pitching story ideas.

Betts says she prefers this angle to writing strictly about fashion. Even at "Vogue," her work was more general reporting than based on seasonal trends. But although Betts, a European history major, seems to be the ultimate poster girl for combining creativity and intellectualism, she did not exactly feel that her ingenuity was cultivated at Princeton. During her tenure at The Daily Princetonian in the mid-1980s, she found little success and called it "mostly a boys' club."

Betts moved to Paris after graduation, where she lived for five years. Though she was unsure of what she wanted to do, she didn't want to go to journalism school or, as "most people did in 1986, head towards corporate life," Betts said.

In Paris, she got an internship at The International Herald Tribune — "basically the only job an American could get in Paris then," Betts said. She started as a freelancer and wrote about French cultural life and jobs. Eventually her stint at the Herald Tribune led to a job at the Paris office of Women's Wear Daily, a powerful force in the fashion industry run by a fellow Princeton alum.

The fashion industry in Paris around this time was also becoming particularly interesting as fashion became more globalized. It was a "high point for fashion in Paris," Betts said. She acquired a lot of knowledge about business and journalism at Women's Wear Daily while continuing to cultivate her reporting and writing skills. Her body of work became so well-regarded in the fashion world that eventually, Betts was invited by Vogue editor Anna Wintour to work at the apex of fashion magazines as their new fashion news director. From there she went on to work as editor-in-chief of Harper's Bazaar and, in 2003, began her work with Style & Design.

While Betts is now fully enveloped in a world of high style, this was not the case in her days at Princeton. When asked how fashionable she was as an undergrad, Betts simply replied, "not much." However, according to Betts, those who matriculate here have an "idea of it as a certain place they've aspired to be all of their lives." It is a "nostalgic idea of Princeton that fashion follows," she says.

She remembers Princeton as a male-dominated society — all about "drinking and getting into clubs" and that it's students, including her roommates, were "big athletes" who "couldn't believe she was into clothes or putting on makeup," Betts said.

When assured that there are in fact plenty of Princeton students who fall into the latter category today, Betts gave some insider advice for the fashionistas among us: the new hot label is Proenza Schouler and this season there will be "lots of color, a feminine mood, lots of prints and bright colors and pretty clothes." However, be warned: as Betts reminds us, just as the seasons rapidly change, these trends will also "change soon."