Cathy Horyn, the New York Times style critic, is one of the fashion industry’s most respected (and, it must be said, feared) writers. Many have felt the lash of her sharp tongue, and her more negative reviews have resulted in a ban from more than one designer’s show, including Georgio Armani. Not everyone can take the heat, including Lady Gaga, who directed her third installment of “From The Desk Of Lady Gaga,” published on V Magazine’s website this morning, at Horyn’s acerbic pen in what she calls an address of “Extreme Critic Fundamentalism.”

Gaga addresses the “insult vs. insight” of fashion criticism. She asks, “Doesn’t the integrity of the critic become compromised when their writings are consistently plagued with negativity? When the public is no longer surprised or excited by the unpredictability of the writer, but rather has grown to expect the same cynicism from the same cynic?” It’s a fair question, especially in this hyper-scrutinized industry where millions publish their own blogs and lob criticism at designers’ work from a relatively inexperienced standpoint. So while Gaga’s question is certainly valid, taking aim at Horyn, a journalist with years of experience covering the fashion industry for one of the world’s best newspapers, is not.

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