Could your astrological sign make you suited to a career in fashion?
As ridiculous as that may sound, Anna Wintour, Robbie Myers, Glenda Bailey, Calvin Klein, Zac Posen, Edith Head, Emilio Pucci, Kelly Cutrone, Peter Lindbergh, Alexa Chung, Isabella Blow, Daphne Guinness, Chloe Sevigny, Lauren Hutton, Jean Shrimpton and Helmut Newton are just a few of the many editors, designers, photographers and style icons who were born under the sign of Scorpio. These folks are successful, powerful, iconic and we had a hunch that it wasn’t just a coincidence.
I happen to be a Scorpio myself and considered that might be the only reason I kept noticing other fashion people with November birthdays, until I realized other people had noticed that as well, like Astrologyzone‘s Susan Miller (aka the fashion industry’s most trusted advisor).
Susan also does the horoscopes for Elle, so she’s familiar with the fashion world, and in fact, works for Scorpio editor Robbie Myers. Also, one of her daughters is Chrissie Miller, designer of Sophomore. Susan was nice enough to chat with us about Scorpio personality traits and why this particular water sign is such a great fit for the fashion industry.
One big reason is that, according to Susan, Scorpios tend to not only have great business sense, but also an ability to marry business with art. “They really understand what it takes to bring a creative idea to market,” she explained, citing Anna Wintour (who she’s seen in action via The September Issue) as a great example. We’re also hard workers. “Virgo gets a lot of the credit for being detailed and meticulous and perfectionist, but a little known fact is Scorpio is just as much so because Pluto teaches them to laser beam their energy straight into the project at hand…Scorpio does amazing research; they keep digging.”
In the magazine world, this means presenting great products in an accessible way. “A Scorpio will never show a beautiful item that cannot be bought. They’re going to be practical enough to know the reader wants to buy it and they’ll do their due diligence to make sure it’s available.”
Another reason for Scorpio fashion success? Discretion. “They’re probably privy to a lot of business strategy and they’re meeting with a wide range of designers and they really have to partition what they know about each designer, so that’s probably one of the reasons for their amazing success.”
Susan also reflected specifically on her boss Robbie Myers. “She’s quite a lady; she embodies that wonderful duality that you find in Scorpios. You find they’re very sexy but very ladylike at the same time. I look at her and it’s like Brigitte Bardot beauty and yet Mensa intelligence and my head pings back and forth. How does this happen in one person? It’s like an enigma; it’s a mystery.”
I also wanted to ask her about how some Scorpios in the industry (Anna Wintour, Kelly Cutrone) and Scorpios in general get a bad rap for being bitchy or mean and manipulative. Susan says not to believe it. “Any time you make it to the top, you get wimpy people complaining that they’re hard to work with. Well, perfectionists are hard to work with but they accomplish a lot and they change our lives.” Okay, then!
So we know what Scorpios are like in their careers, but why are they all so stylish? According to Susan, it’s an affinity for good tailoring, refinement and elegance paired with a need to stay true to their own style. “When they choose a style it has to fit them…they’re a water sign, so they’re extremely intuitive and they may look very current and they are, but it always has to fit their personality. This is not the sign that want to attract attention for any reason other than elegance.” By the way, I promise I didn’t edit Susan’s quotes to paint Scorpios in such a positive light!
Since Susan has so much insight, we had to ask her what’s in store for Scorpios in the coming year so that we could speculate on what that that might mean for the fashion industry. Susan sees collaborations on the horizon. “They’ll team up; they’ll do a joint venture; they’ll do an alliance; they may be writing a book; they may be doing a promotion.” It’s interesting because Scorpios aren’t the most social creatures. “They just like to be free and untethered and do their own thing. They don’t like small talk; they really like to have a purpose for everything.” But now…”Mars (Scorpio’s secondary ruler) is going into relationships and social groups…People are coming together for a purpose. They’re going to be mixing and mingling and actually enjoying it and so much of their personal growth will be achieved from doing that.”
We all love a good designer collaboration and I think this could also mean some very interesting things for magazines, especially one like Vogue that has developed a reputation for playing it safe and sticking with the same people.
So, are Scorpios pre-destined for fashion industry success? Clearly, that’s open to a lot of interpretation (and I’m a little biased) and obviously depends on whether or not you believe in astrology at all. Plus, there are plenty of non-Scorpios making waves in fashion. Still, personality (some of which is thought by many to be ruled by one’s astrological sign) can have a lot to do with career choice and it’s an interesting thought.
