The Tamesis
In the late 1990s, when the bright-eyed Leslie Fremar was promoted to Anna Wintour’s first assistant after just six months, she found herself in a position to hire a deputy. A few years later, Fremar was reading a preprint of the book. The queen wears prada…and realized she had been written into it.
“She’s who I am — I’m Emily,” she tells Chloe in this week’s episode Continuity with Vogue. “I guess I’ve never really talked about it.”
Now a stylist to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars (most notably Charlize Theron’s longtime collaborator), Fremar recalls how intimidating her early days at Vogue were. “There were some rules that were passed down to me: I couldn’t eat at my desk. You couldn’t even go to the bathroom because one of the assistants always had to be there,” she said.
When she takes on the role of first assistant, Freema relaxes a little — she even keeps a pair of Birkenstocks under her desk. “I think [Anna] “I knew I was going to do this,” she said, “I didn’t know if I could get through a whole day in heels.” She also offered some pointed advice to her junior assistants: “A million girls would die for this job,” she recalled, a sentiment she still stands by.
When Lauren Weisberg published the novel, Fremar admits she felt betrayed. “We never talked about it – we never spoke again after she left.” Still, she said she doesn’t hold a grudge. Asked what she would say if they spoke today, Freema said matter-of-factly: “There’s nothing to say.”
the rest of her Fashion Experience inspires less ambivalence. After more than 25 years as an assistant, Fremar received a call from Wintour with an extraordinary opportunity: design a Fashion The cover stars former Vice President Kamala Harris. “I’ve been doing this for over 20 years and have designed many international covers, but never an American cover. Fashion,” she said. “It felt like a real full-circle moment — and probably my proudest moment. “
