Post-‘Succession’ Fashion, Anna’s Voter March & A Sarah Burton Update

• On Blake Lively’s September Vogue shoot: Let’s put aside the argument that Blake Lively, Hugh Jackman, and Baz Luhrmann—the subjects and director, respectively, of this month’s jewel heist-themed Vogue cover and photo spread—don’t represent what’s really happening in current culture. (After all, the Luhrmann-directed Elvis was a commercial success and Lively’s new film, It Ends With Us, is tracking for a big opening at the box office.) Let’s also put aside the fact that Tonne Goodman is a brilliant stylist and I am deeply reluctant to criticize anything she does.

  But this cover and inside spread are not good—from the photography to the art direction to the lack of chemistry between the two stars. Despite the ambition (magazines gave up on these expensive, multi-location productions long, long ago), I’m disappointed in this one, even though I am generally charmed by Lively’s lack of self awareness and, also, her beauty. As always, Vogue is held to the highest standard because it is the standard.

• Vogue’s march down Seventh Avenue: I’m having a panic attack just thinking about this “non-partisan march” that Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) are hosting on September 6 in Midtown Manhattan to “encourage voter registration.” Sponsored by Old Navy (read: Zac Posen), Vogue and the CFDA have beckoned about 1,000 “designers, models, retailers, factory workers, editors, influencers, and students” to join them. Old Navy will outfit the participants in t-shirts and dresses. (I’m envisioning an updated version of the famous Fourth of July flag t-shirts.)

  Anyway, I’m sure the event itself will be well-organized, safe, and draw big names. And Posen’s marketing track record has been good since he started in his corporate role at the Gap Inc. Most importantly, Anna Wintour isn’t one to care much about optics—look, she just put Blake Lively on a September issue cover. But just a reminder that, less than six months ago, many of her employees were marching to save their jobs (or at least improve their jobs). Also, these “get out and vote” initiatives spearheaded by privileged people who are effectively preaching to other privileged people never sit right with me. The bottom line: They are going to get skewered in the press, and they need to just be okay with that.

• Speaking of Zac: What happened to that Zac Posen white dress for Gap? Apparently they did start shipping, and you can actually order the dress right now in a few sizes. You might not have seen anyone wearing one, however, since it appears that the product run was tiny. I asked my friends at Yipit, which tracks e-commerce sales through receipt data, to keep an eye on it for me, but the dress is an “incredibly small fraction of observed sales.” (If you bought one, please let me know how it fits, if you like it, where you’re wearing it, etcetera.)

  Yipit did let me know that Gap.com’s overall sales have been pretty good, especially when compared to its larger competitive set, which has been hit hard over the past couple of months. Also, F.Y.I., Banana Republic recently offloaded a bunch of inventory to Costco—you know, in case you’re headed there this week.

• Goodbye to our dream of Sarah Burton?: All the fashion people are on holiday together, and they’re all saying that Burton never sealed the deal with Givenchy. (The speculation is that, along with a big salary, she wanted to launch with couture, and that LVMH wants to start with only ready-to-wear.) I hope this is wrong, and that Burton is on her way to LVMH. Or, if it’s not her, that someone else spectacular is going to take the job. All those people toiling away at Givenchy deserve some good news!

Grand told me she had such a good time working with Weaver on the Rihanna covers that she couldn’t let him go. “He’s one of the most thorough people I have ever come across,” she said, noting that they have similar tastes. “I’ve done everything I have wanted to do as a stylist—I was much more happy watching Jahleel work on that Rihanna shoot than I would have been if I were doing it myself.”

Grand has always been a mentor to other stylists and creative people, which is probably why she’s been able to maintain relevance over decades. Weaver, for his part, sent me a heartfelt note about Grand, for whom he has a “huge reverence.” He said he wants to “create beautiful, profound moments that we can hopefully sit with through time!”

There is momentum with indie magazines right now: Perfect, W, and newer titles like L’Etiquette, among others. (My love for the folks behind The Gentlewoman and Fantastic Man is eternal.) The lesson, if there is one, is that advertisers want control and credits, sure, but they also want to align with publications that stoke enthusiasm. “Letting a stylist shoot five pictures of Comme [des Garçons] because it’s working,” as Grand puts it, eventually nets out positively.

• Ralph Lauren pulled it off: We’ll see how Sunday’s look goes over with the very vocal public, but Ralph Lauren is probably the only American fashion company that can afford this sort of lower-eight-figure sponsorship and fulfill the logistical requirements. The uniforms for the opening and closing ceremonies have to be made in the U.S., which is expensive on top of the cost of securing the sponsorship. Then they bring something like 40 tailors on site for three weeks. Ralph Lauren could certainly do more with its sponsorship—the marketing window is quite short, and the available merchandise to buy is limited—but it’s probably worth the money for the media impressions. (I’ll have social media data soon.)
• As the official podium dresser, Nike still gets the most consistent exposure: No matter which brand is sponsoring an athlete, every American medal winner wears Nike on the podium. That’s pretty significant given that the U.S. consistently wins the most medals.
• The Skims partnership has the most potential: As previously mentioned, the deal structure for these sponsorships varies, and my understanding is that Skims is only paying a nominal fee to provide an off-duty kit for those living in the Olympic village. (The Olympics receive a royalty on the Olympics-themed merch sold on Skims.com.) All around, very smart. The young athletes love their Skims loungewear, and don’t forget that Kardashian–Jenner parent Caitlyn is a legendary, gold medal-winning decathlete. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an increased presence in Los Angeles four years from now, when Skims will likely be a much bigger, probably public, company.
• What LVMH got: People are calling LVMH’s $160 million sponsorship of the Paris Olympics “the Macron tax.” After all, the conglomerate was basically strong-armed into becoming the Games’ benefactor. But it was also worth it. Not only did it give LVMH more leverage with the French government, but it has made the group a household name in far more households. Now I wouldn’t be surprised to see the group return for the Los Angeles Games—there’s so much more they could do with Tiffany alone, which, remember, is a U.S.-based company.

Looking back at Gates’s wardrobe over the years, she always looked pretty good, but now she looks designer. On her YouTube series, Moments That Make Us—where she interviews Sun Valley-adjacent female luminaries like Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, and Billie Jean King—Gates is now gussied up in puffed sleeves, psychedelic prints, and Schiaparelli shirt dresses. What happened?

At the back of the last decade, around the time that Succession taught large swaths of uber-wealthy people the definition of “stealth wealth,” they changed their tune. By the start of the pandemic, Gates was papped wearing a $1,700 pink Givenchy sweater with inverted heart cut-outs on the upper arms, and Mark Zuckerberg had traded his Alternative Apparel hoodies for Brunello Cucinelli and Loro Piana. For years, I wished only that the men hosting the Apple keynote at WWDC would simply tuck in their shirts. Today, they employ stylists. The women wear jumpsuits. And don’t forget about Jeff Bezos, who upgraded his physique and printed jacket collection as fast as you can say “Lauren Sánchez.” Or Elon Musk’s hair plugs and Wegovy bod. David Zaslav is trying with his Brunello Cucinelli.

Zuckerberg’s seemingly sudden attention to his appearance—gold chains and all—signals that this generation of nouveau riche is finally accepting that looking good can help you gain a different kind of respect. As Zuckerberg himself posited in a 2020 email about his public image—sent to Thiel, Sheryl Sandberg, Nick Clegg, Antonio Lucio, and Marc Andreessen—how he shows up is “particularly important” because he is “the most well-known person of my generation.” (Just an F.Y.I.: Taylor Swift is also a part of his generation. So is LeBron James. And Prince Harry. But nonetheless, he makes a point.)

Let’s leave Donald Trump out of this; he’s an anomaly, and of another era. Everyone else is fair game, though. Kamala Harris, standing behind Walz at a rally early this week, looked splendid in a ballet slipper-pink blouse and navy suit, and is arguably the best-dressed candidate in presidential election history. Walz didn’t look half-bad himself, in a black suit, blue tie, and charmingly unruly white brows trimmed just enough. Vance, too, has shown up properly groomed, notably trimmer, and in suits that fit since being added to the Trump ticket in mid-July.

The industry might be challenged at the moment, and extravagances are always going to be called out by the opposition. (Republicans just slagged Harris for wearing a gold Tiffany necklace that’s similar to a $62,0000 one the jeweler is currently selling.) Still, it’s never been more okay to carry an Hermès bag.

Who needs Jeffrey Epstein for financial advice? Former Victoria’s Secret owner Les Wexner’s $1 million investment in Atlantic Crypto has swelled to a $720 million stake in what became the “A.I. cloud juggernaut” CoreWeave. Some people have all the luck. [Forbes]

Youth culture expert and expert newsletter writer Casey Lewis is launching a pod next week with the creative agency Day One. (My B.F.F. Britt Aboutaleb, Day One’s S.V.P. of development, is producing it). Get excited! [After School]

Bill Cohan offers a smarter, sounder framing of the “market correction.” [Puck]

Not required reading, but complementary reading, for Friday’s episode of Fashion People: My last two columns that talk about Nike (here and here), Jacob’s columns on Zuck’s new image and Tim Walz’s dad vibe, Kyle Chayka on the Industry aesthetic, and Noah Johnson on whether Nike is still cool.

If you are a Harris-Walz supporter, Nicole Najafi (a screenwriter who used to run a denim brand beloved by Sofia Coppola) and designer Kiana Toossi objectively make the best political merch. [Merch for America]

Truly the cutest. [Charlotte Collet’s Instagram]

Two nightlife destinations on the Eastside of Los Angeles, Tenants of the Trees and Zebulon, have been embraced and mocked so widely, with such fervor, that they are now known to people who have never run into Father John Misty at Taix. [Cobrasnake at Charli XCX’s birthday party and Carmen Christopher’s Instagram]

Fashion brands also love Glen Powell. I still think Set It Up is the best thing he’s ever done, though. [BoF]

I love that Nicole Phelps’s Wednesday newsletter spotlighted this charming Caro Editions collection at Copenhagen Fashion Week. [Vogue Runway]

Until next week,
Lauren