Hot Dogs and Hamburgers? During Fashion Week? How declasse

When The Times’s fashion critic Cathy Horyn called the noted fashion designer Oscar de la Renta a “hot dog,” in her review of his Tuesday

 runway show at Fashion Week, the octogenarian decided to add to the menu. He took out a full-page ad in Women’s Wear Daily on Friday, in

 the form of an open letter objecting to what he saw as personal criticism. “If you have the right to call me a hot dog, why do I not have

 the right to call you stale 3-day old hamburger?” he asked.

 Here’s what Ms. Horyn wrote in her review:

 Mr. de la Renta is far more a hot dog than an éminence grise of American fashion. He opened his lively show on Tuesday with a red latex

 pencil skirt, a sleek ivory wool pantsuit and dairymaid lace. The models’ hair was streaked with war paint, and midway along, after bead-

 quivering jackets and neon-bright skirts, he sent out white lace with black pencil-like scribbles. It was wonderfully cantankerous, a good

 bit of window-dressing for the gooey stuff that followed.

 The spat is silly, but entertaining, and maybe just a little bit enlightening.

 For one thing, Ms. Horyn’s review of the show was fairly positive. For another, her use of “hot dog” clearly was meant to suggest that he

 is flashy, and not over the hill. It didn’t strike me as derogatory.

 Ms. Horyn’s editor, Stuart Emmrich, The Times’s Style sections editor, responded this way when I asked him about it in an e-mail Friday

 morning:

 There’s a history of this kind of thing, of course, with critics being barred from shows after negative reviews and even ads like this.

 Ironically, I know that Cathy feels she actually gave Oscar a pretty good review, and, in fact, felt that the term ‘hot dog’ was meant to

 convey showman, and wasn’t meant derisively. But sometimes words take on different meanings for those who are being written about than the

 ones who are doing the writing.
 When I chatted with Cathy Horyn by phone on Friday, she described the designer’s response as “over the top.”

 “Oscar clearly misunderstood,” she said. “I meant to say he’s a cool guy who’s showing off his tricks.”

 There undoubtedly is a line of personal criticism that a writer shouldn’t cross when describing an artist or designer – though that line

 is pretty far out there when you consider the benefits such figures gain from their celebrity status.

 Ms. Horyn’s review didn’t even come close to the line. And I say that with, well, relish.