What is a fashion person? I thought I knew but that changed when I listened to a recent Fashion Talks podcast on luxury. Retail wizard Nicholas Mellamphy and Globe and Mail contributor Nathalie Atkinson were each explaining how their interest in fashion came about, when Mellamphy declared, ”I don’t identify myself as a fashion person.”

Mellamphy is one of Canada’s most highly regarded fashion insiders. As creative director of Hudson’s Bay’s The Room, he transformed the moribund department into one of the country’s most exciting fashion destinations with fresh labels such as Mary Katrantzou, Christopher Kane and Delpozo. When he left that post, he was courted by luxury merchants from New York to Dubai, but decided instead to launch his own soon-to-be retail concept in Toronto. He attended the couture shows in Paris in January. And he has appeared on the Toronto Life Best-Dressed list.

Like Mellamphy, I have spent all of my career on the frontlines of where trends are born. In my former roles as a newspaper fashion editor and magazine editor-in-chief, I reported and shaped the news. I am fascinated by innovation, whether I personally decide to embrace a new look or not. And I love following fashion as sport. Keeping an eye on which designer is knocking it out of the park and who should be benched is part of staying current.

I have loved clothes as far back as I can remember, right back to the candy-striped cotton bikini I wore when I was 2. I have a clear memory of the leopard-spotted corduroy pants I wore in kindergarten (and wish they still fit!). And I still have the shift my uncle brought back from Africa when I was 6 because the exotic embroidery was heftier than any I had ever felt. While other kids were blowing their allowance on candy, I was buying Vogue.