Dana Thomas is a fashion and culture journalist and author based in Paris. Her books include ', ' and '. She also wrote the script for ', a feature-length documentary directed by award-winning Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino.
She began her journalism career working for the Style section of The Washington Post in 1988. Thomas is a regular contributor to The New York Times Style section and British Vogue, and is the Paris correspondent for Harper's Bazaar Australia. She served as a contributing editor for ' from 2012 to 2017 and WSJ., the Wall Street Journals monthly style magazine, from 2011-2012; as the European editor of Conde Nast Portfolio from 2008 to 2009; and as European cultural and fashion correspondent for Newsweek in Paris from 1995 to 2008. She has contributed to various publications including the New York Times Magazine, The New Yorker, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Los Angeles Times, Financial Times in London. She also writes regularly for Architectural Digest and Elle Decor. She has spoken at the Aspen Ideas Festival, Harvard Business School, Yale School of Management, TedxOxford, Business of Fashion Voices, and the Copenhagen Fashion Summit. She is the author of the New York Times bestseller ', published by The Penguin Press in 2007. The book addresses the disparity between the rarefied world that luxury once represented- populated by private, family-owned businesses that catered to the aristocracy and the billion-dollar, mass-producing and mass-marketing industry it is today. The New York Times called the Deluxe, "a crisp, witty social history that's as entertaining as it is informative." In February 2015, Penguin Press published Thomas's second book, ', an investigative double biography of two monumental British fashion designers who succumbed to the pressures of corporate luxury fashion in a globalized world. In 2010, McQueen killed himself; a year later Galliano was fired from the creative helm of Christian Dior for a drunken anti-Semitic outburst in a Paris café. The Mail on Sunday called it "A riveting double biography... Thomas had a ringside seat while all this divine madness unfurled", and Huffington Post deemed "Gods and Kings": "One of the non-fiction titles of the year... like a modern Faustian tale of tragic dimension." Amazon named "Gods and Kings" a Book of the Month. In September 2019, Penguin Press published Thomas's third book, ', an investigation into the damage wrought by the colossal clothing industry and the grassroots, high-tech, international movement fighting to reform it. The New Yorker called it "a glimpse into how consumerism, slowed to a less ferocious pace, might be reconciled with sustainability.” The New York Review of Books said it was a "Marley's Ghost-style warning of the irrevocable destructions to come... Thomas is engaging and vital.” Thomas lives in Paris and is a member of the Anglo-American Press Association in Paris and the Overseas Press Club. She taught journalism at The American University of Paris from 1996 to 1999. In 1987, she received the Society of Professional JournalistsSigma Delta ChiFoundation Scholarship and the Ellis Haller Award for Outstanding Achievement in Journalism. In 2017, Thomas was a fellow at the Logan Nonfiction Program of the Carey Institute for Global Good.
