Lynn Yaeger is a renowned journalist whose acerbic wit and humor have been a staple of The Village Voice’s fashion pages for three decades, and now regularly appear in Vogue, WSJ, and New York Magazine. Fearless in her pronouncements, as in her fashion, Yaeger is known for her unapologetic candor on paper and her unwaveringly individual style.

She is instantly recognizable for her cropped, henna-dyed hair, doll-like makeup, and layered, voluminous skirts, which she has crafted alongside such fashion eccentrics as Isabella Blow and Anna Piaggi. She is a Japanophile and avid collector of antiques and rare items, such as original Raggedy Ann dolls. In an interview, designer Marc Jacobs said Yaeger was one of his muses, and her style has influenced other designers, including Undercover, Alexander Wang, and Chloé.

“I took out a student loan,” she recalls, “and thought if I spent all the student loan money on dresses, I would feel more confident and study harder. I bought six French dresses—I still remember them, they were beautiful—and I ran out of money.” To remedy her financial situation, Yaeger took a part-time job in the advertising department of The Village Voice, which led to an opportunity to write for the paper.

“The second article I wrote was a humorous piece about packing for Europe. Helen Gurley Brown, who was the editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, read it, called the editor of The Voice, and said, ‘I love this article, I’ll buy it for Cosmo. Who is this Lynn Yaeger? She writes so well.'”   

Yaeger worked at The Voice for about 30 years—”my entire adult life”—until she was unexpectedly laid off on December 30, 2008. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, I’m not going to go to the shows.’ I was just devastated. Then I got a call from New York magazine, and they said, ‘Would you cover the fashion shows for us?’ It was such an unexpected gift.”