Permanence is not a word associated with careers in fashion or journalism. But a lack of job security hasn’t deterred Nora Cranley, who has channeled her loves for fashion and photography into steady work.
It was those two passions that led Cranley, with journalism stints at Us Weekly and Weekly Scoop on her resume, to the position of fashion editor at avant-garde fashion magazine Flaunt. There, Cranley worked with big-name photographers to produce cover stories, fashion shoots and celebrity features.
“I loved working with photographers, with beautiful images,” she said. “I think being a part of Flaunt was a great moment for me to be involved so directly on really creative shoots.”
That experience landed Cranley in her current position of lead editor at Contour by Getty Images, which specializes in licensing and syndication of celebrity portraiture. The company’s fashion shoot-styled images run alongside stories in newspapers, magazines and online. She is in charge of developing and expanding Contour’s roster of renowned photographers.
The daughter of a graphic designer father and mother who was a potter, Cranley said she has been training her aesthetic eye since childhood. “I was fortunate to have really supportive parents who are artistic and creative themselves.”
She was encouraged to study fine arts at school, including photography, drawing and print-making, among other mediums. While forging a career out of covering fashion can be a challenge, Cranley does not have to look far for inspiration.
“My brother is my role model,” Cranley said of her sibling, Evan, who at 17 decided to follow his passion for music. “He’s 32 now, and he’s pursued it and made a career out of it.”
But the state of constant flux that once made her future so uncertain is what she loves most about the fashion and publishing businesses. “There’s so many things you can do now five or six years and take that and go into a different field,” she said. “It’s a changing genre to be in everything’s always exciting and new.”
Cranley lives in Los Feliz with her husband, Adam Frost. In her spare time, she like attending music shows, gallery and museum openings, and Dodgers games.
Alicia Barber
