Star Struck Style

January 29 is Mary Katrantzou’s birthday.

I discuss Mary Katrantzou a couple of times in “Star Struck Style.” There is something very special — and very Aquarian — about the way that she goes about her own business. I also put her in a category with Christopher Kane and Jonathan Anderson. I believe that they’re all weirdos, but I mean that in the nicest possible way. I like weirdos.

It takes a lot of fortitude to know exactly who you are and to stick to that script. That is the role that Aquarius natives were born to play. Despite all the hoopla surrounding the sign and its relationship to humanitarianism and community, first and foremost it is a fixed sign. I can honestly say that I believe it is the most-fixed sign. With Saturn, the heavyweight of the zodiac, ruling over the sign, fixity is the hallmark of Aquarius. To attribute open-mindedness to an Aquarius native without something else to back up that assertion would be wishful thinking on the part of an astrologer.

But wishful thinking is rampant in astrology. Practically everything I read about Aquarius natives starts with a “good news first” approach that belies tradition. Modern astrology has distorted the Aquarian archetype by suggesting that Uranus rules over the sign. I get the association (and I don’t even dispute the idea that co-rulers exist), but the Uranian Aquarius native is more like a mythical creature than an actual character you would encounter in everyday life. She is the unicorn of the zodiac.

On the other hand, there are a lot of Aquarius natives like Mary Katrantzou. Her individuality may make her seem a little weird, but she is so fixed in her vision of what fashion should be that she rarely finds herself aligning with the current trends. She operates like an outsider in the fashion business, and yet the insiders can’t get enough of what she’s doing. Christopher Kane and Jonathan Anderson do the same thing. They might not be Aquarians, but they fit the bill.

It’s interesting that this particular brand of “weirdo” is often borne from Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design. After I had published my book, I looked up Louise Wilson’s chart. The legendary professor of fashion design at Central Saint Martins was a Pisces, but she had Mercury, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn all in Aquarius. No wonder I believed that an Aquarian spirit was influencing British design. It made me wish that I had discovered the connection earlier, but I didn’t.

Anyway, I make plenty of these associations in my book. If you haven’t ordered a copy, what are you waiting for?