In this day and age, few people have the power to influence closets and change the fashion-industry conversation with the stroke of a pen. As chief fashion critic of The New York Times, Friedman does both. Her specialty? Incisive interrogations of the wardrobes of the world’s most powerful.
What’s something people get wrong about you?
I have heard people think I am scary. I attribute it to wearing my hair pulled back in a bun. But I am not scary at all!
Name an influence of yours that might surprise people.
The writers Joseph Mitchell and John McPhee. They have nothing to do with fashion, but everything to do with how to write. They paint very complex portraits of people, places, and even geology with totally deceptive simplicity. Start with Mitchell’s Joe Gould’s Secret and McPhee’s trilogy, Annals of the Former World.
What do you want to see more of in your industry? Less of?
More upcycling, more thinking and experimentation, more time for designers to prove themselves. Less stuff and less sycophancy.
What would you wear to meet your greatest enemy?
The same thing I wear to meet my friends. Clothes that make you feel like yourself are the best clothes no matter who you are meeting.
What’s been the hardest part of your career so far?
Dealing with people who tell me they never think about fashion. I ask them if they dress themselves in the morning.
What grounds you, and what invigorates you?
My kids—I have three, all in their 20s—who are always willing to tell me when I am doing bad mom dancing or buying too many sequined things. Second, ideas—and flying trapeze. It’s my most serious hobby. There’s nothing like being upside down in the air to put things in perspective.
What question do you ask yourself most often while you’re making work?
Is this going to help readers understand the world, and how can I say what I want to say more effectively?
What keeps you up at night?
Our cats, Maximus and Ozymandias. They apparently really like to do parkour in the dark, and sleeping people are their obstacles of choice.
Where do you feel most at home?
Walking around New York. I grew up here, and even though I know it seems counter-intuitive, there is something about being anonymous amid the chaos and life of the city that I find enormously soothing. It’s always changing, and there is always something to see.
What would you be doing if you weren’t working in your field?
Being either a litigator or a private detective. If I hadn’t gone into magazines, I was going to go to law school. Then, later, I took one of those tests to determine the best job for you and it came up with detective. When you think about it, it’s not that different from being a journalist. You ask a lot of questions and spend a lot of time looking at the world, trying to solve a puzzle.
To read more from the 2026 CULT100 honorees, see the full list here.
in your life?
