New York Times Style Editor Passes Integrity Test

April 26, 2011

<em>New York Times</em> Style Editor Passes Integrity Test

We'd love to believe this story is true — an aide to Libya's Minister of Cultural Affairs sends a letter to NY Times fashion editor Horacio Silva, asking Silva to help curate an exhibit at the Met celebrating Muammar Gaddafi's "four decades of superior dress sense."

To entice Silva to come to Libya to appraise Gaddafi's wardrobe — "3400 items of breathtaking sartorial magnificence," including "leisure wear mostly hand made from the finest fabrics on earth" — the letter-writer offers Silva an "all expenses paid trip to Tripoli."

Unfortunately, we find this missive's letterhead way too understated to be genuine. Not too mention the offer of an all expenses paid junket: Any real Libyan bureaucrat would know the anti-American libruls at the Times are so eager to conspire with evil dictators they'd be perfectly happy to pay their own way if they thought they could get away with it.

What this letter is, we're guessing, is a clumsy attempt to make the Times look bad, in the manner of James O'Keefe's ACORN sting. Silva, however, refused to take the bait. Honest, objective, non-partisan fashion journalism is not dead yet.

EARLIER: Muammar Gaddafi: The Man Who Would Be Ken