Vogue’s Hamish Bowles will attend all four Fashion Weeks this season — New York, London, Milan, and Paris. When we ran into him at the Vital Voices benefit the other day, he was diplomatic when it came to the topic of watching expenses while covering the European shows. “I think we’re all adjusting to a very different climate, so like everyone, I’ve been much more conscious of budgets, and I’ve certainly been much more proactive about juggling my budget so that I could do two capitals instead of one, for instance,” he said. The Brit added that there’s even an upside to Condé Nast’s belt-tightening. “Economies have been things like sometimes staying with friends, and so nothing is irksome. You know, it’s nice to do that anyway.”
Bowles has probably been so busy planning his extensive fashion-season schedule that some news has just slipped by him, unnoticed. Like the Winter Olympics, which begin in a few weeks in Vancouver. When we mentioned they were coming up, he responded, “They are?” But never mind, the European editor at large eagerly told us which “winter” sports are his favorites: fencing and archery. “I think fencing is so balletic and elegant, and I love the costumes,” Bowles explained. “Archery I think is singularly elegant,” he said, adding that it’s a step up from darts, which his 7-year-old nephew tried unsuccessfully to teach him to play during the Christmas holidays. “I was hopeless. I managed to not hit the board several times, but they were going in a vague direction.”
