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"   As a freelance fashion writer living in the Far East, Betsy Lowther once interviewed Alber Elbaz in the back of a pedicab. As a fashion blogger (a title she&amp;#039;s held for more than a decade), Lowther has been invited to lend her distinct, cheery-airy style of writing to very high-profile campaigns for the Houses of Gucci, Chanel, and Dior. Having recently given up the freelance life for a desk job\u2014her first in years\u2014Lowther is now a senior editor at the The Washington Post&amp;#039;s year-ish old luxury fashion magazine FW (think of it as T Magazine&amp;#039;s D.C. equivalent). Serving as both a writer and a stylist, Lowther and team are actively changing the face of fashion in our nation&amp;#039;s capital through bold editorials, fresh, real-time NY Fashion Week reporting, and nabbing interviews with industry darlings like Jason Wu and Scott Schuman. Named one of this year&amp;#039;s best dressed by Washington&amp;#039;s super hip Brightest Young Things, Lowther&amp;#039;s closet is filled with as much new and eBay-ed all-black Lanvin and Lim as it is floral-burst Manish Arora and Tuleh. And behind all of that? Racks of stunningly executed DIY, Asian marketplace accessories, mint condition thrift shop bin finds, and a library of first-edition fashion books. Whenever I&amp;#039;m tempted to judge someone for being too Carrie Bradshaw, I always stop and think of Betsy(&amp;#039;s closet) and remind myself there are people out there who genuinely love to do it up one way one day and do it up a whole different way the next. That&amp;#039;s Bets, and that&amp;#039;s just one of the reasons why Washington was so very fortunate to land her. Enjoy! You were a very successful freelancer up until fairly recently\u2014what made you decide to take an office job? And why did you choose The Washington Post? For a lot of writers, going full-time freelance is the ultimate goal \u2014 but I did it for five years and was ready for a change. It&amp;#039;s definitely nice to work in your jammies most of the time, but I missed being part of the editorial process \u2014 from assigning stories to planning photo shoots to crafting layouts. As the writer, I&amp;#039;d usually only be responsible for the article, and once that was in and done, the rest was out of my hands. Plus, it can be kind of lonely. Sometimes, I&amp;#039;d be working so hard at my laptop that I wouldn&amp;#039;t speak to another person all day. Whether my colleagues want to or not, there is usually at least one thorough discussion per day about Jersey Shore. I got very lucky that, at the time I was thinking of going back to an office, the Post launched a new fashion glossy, FW. I wouldn&amp;#039;t have given up the pajamas for just any job, but one popped up that was the perfect fit.  Besides getting to write in your pajamas, is there anything else you miss about working from home and on the road? Probably the best thing about freelancing is that I never knew where it was going to take me. My experience was somewhat unique because I was based in Asia for four years, and my assignments often sent me all around the continent: riding around Beijing in a pedicab with Alber Elbaz; getting an inside look at the beauty industry in Japan; following one of the top chefs in Mumbai to his favorite hole-in-the-wall eateries. Now, I mostly travel from my desk to the coffee shop down the street. I also miss my gold frequent flier status and the lovely express lines and airport lounges that came with it. Most editors write or style, but you do both\u2014which is your greater talent, in your opinion? Which do you enjoy more? Most of my career has been spent focused on writing, and it&amp;#039;s probably still my strength. But lately, I&amp;#039;ve been doing a lot more styling \u2014 it&amp;#039;s an entirely different skill set, but I really love it. I feel pretty lucky that I work at a publication that allows me to do both \u2014 when I worked in magazines in New York, you were either a features editor or a fashion editor, and that was that. I&amp;#039;m happiest when I don&amp;#039;t have to choose. Tell us a little bit about FW: its genesis, its audience, the process, etc. FW is The Washington Post&amp;#039;s luxury fashion glossy, and it currently comes out five times a year. The idea behind the launch (about a year and a half ago) was that D.C. was finally starting to embrace fashion and was ready for a local publication that kept them in the know about shop news and styles that were most relevant to the city. Our audience is a real mix \u2014 from older Oscar de la Renta fans to the young, hip creatives that are invading the city.  You also help edit the style section in the Post&amp;#039;s heavily read commuter paper, Express. How do you choose style stories for a paper that has such a wide but likely not fashion-enthusiastic readership? Doing style coverage for Express is a ton of fun, because the idea is to be trendy, hip and, ultimately, accessible. Because the fashion/lifestyle section comes out every week (on Fridays), there&amp;#039;s also more opportunity to experiment \u2014 this week, our main feature was a round-up on new sales shopping strategies; next week, we&amp;#039;ve got a concept shoot on cool wintery hats. We stick to more mainstream, affordable fashion concepts \u2014 Express readers are more likely to head to Ann Taylor than Dior for their daily attire, but they still seem to appreciate the regular infusion of new ideas and products to perk up their wardrobes. You&amp;#039;ve worked in fashion publishing in both New York City and Washington. Give me one pro and one con about each. Just walking down the street in New York is inspiring to me; it attracts the most clever, creative, and driven people in the world. But I also find it to be, at times, very cutthroat and catty. One thing I love about D.C. is how friendly everyone is; no one&amp;#039;s going to judge you for wearing two-year-old Prada. (No one will probably even recognize it.) But as you mentioned, fashion is still a relatively nascent concept here \u2014 even those who dress perfectly well still tend to play it safe when it comes to experimenting with their style. My kingdom for a little more fashion risk-taking! Recently, a bunch of teenagers in LA were charged with burglarizing the closets of Audrina Patridge, Lindsay Lohan, and Paris Hilton, among others. If jail weren&amp;#039;t a consequence, whose closets would you burgle? Well, definitely not Audrina Patridge&amp;#039;s. (What were the burglars even thinking?) When Katie Holmes gets it right \u2014 Ala\u00EFa, Lanvin, Jil Sander \u2014 she really gets it right. But I&amp;#039;ll leave her the grungy flannel and jeans (and also Tom Cruise \u2014 he does nothing for me). I&amp;#039;ve been gone from DC exactly one year now. Has anything changed, style-wise? Has Michelle Obama&amp;#039;s influence led to more Moschino blouses and Ala\u00EFa belts on M Street? Well, you can buy McQueen on M Street now \u2014 at Hu&amp;#039;s Wear, a great little boutique that opened up last spring \u2014 and I like to think that&amp;#039;s a promising sign. D.C.&amp;#039;s always going to be a city where looking classic and understated reigns supreme, but I do see more people stepping up their fashion sense. I lived here briefly about seven years ago, and the city felt absolutely devoid of fashion. Now there are small but strong pockets of personal style. At this rate, I like to think it won&amp;#039;t be long before the Ala\u00EFa arrives. Finish this sentence: Style-wise, what DC lacks in ___________, it more than makes up for in ____________. effort, appreciation ... On a daily basis, people who don&amp;#039;t look particularly stylish themselves never fail to stop me on the street to compliment my shoes (or bag, or dress ... you get the point). They might personally be stuck in a sneakers &amp;#039;n pantyhose rut, but they can still appreciate Dries Van Noten when they see it. You have 5K to spend at Barney&amp;#039;s\u2014in what department do you start and what do you buy? I&amp;#039;d squander it all on approximately 1.5 utterly gorgeous Lanvin pieces, and it would be completely wonderful and worth it. Photos: Courtesy of Betsy Lowther "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a3435/sartorial-sitdown-the-washington-posts-betsy-lowther-1290/>