I was in the beige part of it.
But Polly was a forcea force that I cant explain.
I did not work with Polly at the beginning.
Polly Allen Mellen
Next, I worked in Grace Mirabellas office for about four months.
I was happy to be there and easy to work with.
All of this was before I was brought into the lions den, into Pollys office.
I had no idea.
I came to Polly quite proud.
I walked in there pleased as punch with myself.
(Or, as Polly would say, Se-mellescompensees, dearie!
Im doing a bad imitation.)
You should come back in jeans, sneakers, and a T-shirt.
I felt I had gotten off to a very bad footing with her and was worried about my job.
I worried that I looked too vain or pretentious.
She made me feel like I was not a worker and would not work out for her.
She also asked me if I was a genius.
I was taken aback.
And she said, Well, you better get a pad and pencil, then!
I handwrote every command she ever gave me.
The specificity of it was insane.
Everything was militaryI mean, military.
What I learned from working as a sittings assistant were lessons I probably could never have learned anywhere else.
But really, it was tough love.
The level of perfectionism, passion, effort: She was really a queen.
But Polly was a force thats hard to even describe.
At that time of year, weallshot there:Elle,Glamour.
The vans were also where the models did hair and makeup.
Ive worked on every street on Fifth Avenue.
At this one shoot, Polly said, Wheres this hat?
And I looked frantically; the vans were not big.
I thought I was going to have a heart attack.
Ten others were there, but theoneshe needed was on aDeborah Turbeville shoot.
My heart just went down to my feet and back up into my throat.
You have to get it, she said.
I left the van.
It was a torrential downpourI mean, torrentialand I didnt have a dollar on me.
I noticed the other Conde Nast vans behind me.
I went into one, and Patrick Demarchelier was sitting there.
I asked, Could I just have a dollar or two to get back to the office?
Patrick thought it was hilarious and has told that story to everyone for 20 years!
After all that, Polly said, You have ruined this sitting, my dear.
You have ruined it.
And now we will be off schedule because of this.
I know now that, in many ways, this was Polly giving me tough love.
Im trying to think of which shoot that was exactly.
We didnt always use hats in those days.Voguethen was more minimal.
I did another shoot with her and Dick Avedon at the studio on 75th Street with Margaux Hemingway.
That was another difficult shoot because Dick did not allow anyone in the room he shot in.
I was Pollys assistant and had to put a hat on Margauxs head.
She was about six one, and Im five six, and there was no ladder.
And she was mad at me because I couldnt get the hat on her headeven when she was kneeling!
These are the kinds of things I had to live with every day.
A lot of people dont know what a sittings editor really is.
You give them that confidence as a model or supermodel.
Polly was also protective.
Polly knew about him and said, You arenotgoing out with him.
She went up to him and said, She will not be joining you for dinner tonight.
Shell be having dinner with me.
Theres a story Ive never told!
After a while, I was made a sittings editor.
I then shared an office with Polly.
The stress of sharing an office with Polly?
I can tell you that her presence was not just felt, it was electric.
You suffer a thousand deaths as a sittings editor.
I was very upset.
I sat there and just questioned whether I should even be atVogueanymore or be a fashion editor.
Polly sat down with me and said, Dearie, listen to me.
I go through the exact same thing.
I always worry Im only as good as my last set of pictures.
I think she always believed in me.
Shed already leftAllureby then, and we worked together even still and had such a great time doing it.
After she left magazines, she never went back to fashion.
She didnt go to shows.
I know what it meant to every editor there.
We were there because we felt honored to be on theVoguestaff.
We felt that we had an education that no one else could get.
We felt we were at the epicenter of that world.
I was there through all those transitions.
Can you imagine going from Marella Agnelli to Kim Kardashian?
Thats quite a thing to live through in one life.
But the thing about Polly is she embraced it all.
She never got old.
She never saw things in one way.
Pollys passing is raising a lot of feelings about our relationship and how much I learned from her.
She was a force to be reckoned with and never relented on her standards.
I will never forget Polly.
