Icons of the Edit: Paul Cavaco and Tonne Goodman

• The Bronx Meets the Upper East Side - Paul and Tonne reflect on their wildly different upbringings—his gritty childhood in the Bronx, hers in a cultured Manhattan household—and how those contrasting backgrounds shaped their approach to fashion and image-making.
• Modeling Missteps and Vreeland’s Memo - Tonne shares how her short-lived modeling career ended with a memorable memo from Diana Vreeland describing her as “not pretty,” but still worth investing in—an early lesson in resilience and reinvention.
• From the Streets to the Studio - Paul shares how growing up in the Bronx and discovering style through music and street culture gave him a grounded, real-world approach to fashion—one rooted not in fantasy, but in everyday grit and individuality.
• The Madonna Sex Book and the Power of Play - Paul shares behind-the-scenes stories from the making of Madonna’s Sex book, revealing how humor, trust, and improvisation drove one of pop culture’s most provocative moments.
• Working Under Vreeland, Liz Tilberis, and Anna Wintour - Both editors reflect on their experiences working under three of fashion's most legendary editor-in-chiefs, and how those women shaped the way they understood vision, authority, and trust.
• Amber in Poughkeepsie - Tonne recounts a story of a shoot gone wrong—turned right—thanks to a vintage car parade and quick thinking. A reminder of how the best images often come from the unexpected.
• What a Fashion Editor Actually Does - They unpack the evolving role of the fashion editor—from doing everything themselves in the early days to navigating the micromanagement of today’s content-saturated shoots.
• The Value of Niceness - In an industry known for egos and elitism, both credit their long-term success to gratitude, empathy, and kindness—and explain why being “nice” is often an underrated superpower.
• On Creative Longevity and Staying Awake - The key to keeping ideas fresh? Staying alive to the world. For Paul, it’s about visual curiosity. For Tonne, it’s emotional connection. For both, it’s a refusal to become calcified.
• What’s Contemporary Now - Tonne cites empathy and mutual care as the defining principles of the present, while Paul reflects on how enduring values—rather than trends—shape what really matters.

Notable Quotes: 

PAUL

• "I’ve always believed in possibility. That’s what makes a great picture—letting people surprise you."
• "The first time I worked with Avedon, he asked, 'What’s the surprise?' I didn’t even know what he meant. That question changed how I saw everything."
• "I grew up in the Bronx. There was no fashion in my house. What we had was music, grit, and individuality."
• "When you're working at that level, you're not thinking about the backlash—you’re just trying to make something good."
• "Being nice isn’t a strategy. It’s who I am. I was just so grateful to be doing the work that I never saw a reason not to be kind."

TONNE

• "I was a terrible model. I didn’t know how to give to the camera. I was frozen. It made me understand what makes a great model—and what doesn’t."
• "Diana Vreeland taught me to interpret. You never quite understood her, so you had to learn to translate instinct into image."
• "Everything really does happen for a reason. Even the catastrophic moments usually lead to something better."
• "I never wanted to style the runway look. I wanted to take a rack of clothes and build something unexpected—something that felt real."
• "The through-line in fashion has always been beauty—not perfection, but beauty in its most honest and emotional form."