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Journalism of Courage
It8217;s a long way from Emily Bronte to Lauren Weisberger, and even further, perhaps, to Peter Braunstein, the former media columnist for Women8217;s Wear Daily. Or is it?
Something strange happened in court during the Braunstein 8220;fire fiend8221; trial. That was the moment Anna Wintour8217;s name came up as someone Braunstein had fantasised about killing. It began to dawn on everyone that they were about to witness the first use in a high-profile criminal case of The Devil Wears Prada defense.
In a written evaluation, defense psychologist Barbara Kirwin stated that for Braunstein, the sexually charged, celebrity-driven pressure cooker of the fashion world was toxic, 8220;the proverbial recipe for disaster.8221;
The 8220;fashion made him do it8221; defense ultimately failed8212;the jury resoundingly convicted Braunstein last week of kidnapping and sex abuse, and he faces 25 years to life in prison.
Braunstein, now 43, was fired from Women8217;s Wear Daily in 2002 for being obnoxious. He was a seemingly willful misfit, according to former colleagues, someone with bad clothes, bad hair and tone-deaf social etiquette.
On Halloween 2005, after being fired, Braunstein impersonated a firefighter and tricked his way into the apartment of a co-worker he barely knew, where he sexually molested and terrorised her for 13 hours.
The movie The Devil Wears Prada, based on the best-selling novel by Weisberger, a former assistant to Wintour, came out in 2006, while Braunstein awaited trial. 8220;When I saw the movie, I said that8217;s the Peter Braunstein story,8221; Robert Gottlieb, Braunstein8217;s defense lawyer, recalled. 8220;You think people are inferior to you, and then you go into the fashion industry, where you could be inferior,8221; Gottlieb said.
In his diary, Braunstein obsessively vented his rage at, among other targets, Kerry Diamond, then the beauty director of Harper8217;s Bazaar.
8220;I called Kerry Diamond who sang my praises up till then, so I thought she8217;d see a friend in need,8221; he wrote in 2005 while running from police. 8220;She berated me for leaving too long a message on her cellphone. 8216;That costs money, you know?8217; 8221;
He went on: 8220;If there was ever a contingent of hubris-drenched compensated sociopaths crying out for retribution, it8217;s this crowd. And every time I think about their callous indifference along every step of my downturn, it just strengthens my resolve to see this through until I8217;m a bleeding corpse splayed out on the sidewalk filled with police-issue lead.8221;
But he saved his fiercest wrath for Wintour. 8220;There were many high-profile editors, and God knows they had big egos, but you could still get them on the phone,8221; Braunstein wrote, 8220;But Wintour? She just never talked to peons like us.8221;
8220;You get to call me a psycho,8221; he wrote, 8220;and in return, I get to tell you that I willfully renounced the inane regimen of petty satisfactions and grievances that you all live every day.8221;
Who in the fashion world wouldn8217;t recognise the sense of self-importance? If the Prada fits, wear it.
Anemona Hartocollis NYT
