Chanel Check

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1:47Hello and welcome to Fashion People. I'm Lauren Sherman, writer of Puck's Fashion and Beauty Memo Line Sheet. And today with me on the show is Brian Boy, the OG influencer, fashion editor, and V.I.C. He's here to discuss what else but Chanel.

2:08Before we get going, I wanted to remind you that if you like this podcast, you'll definitely love puck where i send an email called line sheet if you're a fashion person you get that reference it's an original look at what's really going on inside the fashion and beauty industries line sheet is scoopy analytical and above all fun along with me a subscription to puck gains you access to an unmatched roster of experts reporting on powerful people and companies in entertainment media, sports, politics, finance, the art world, and much more. If you're interested, listeners of Fashion People get a discount.

2:44Just go to puck.news slash fashion people to join Puck or start a free trial.

2:52Happy Friday, everyone. Hope you're having a great week. I had a really nice week myself. Lots of meetings, lots of planning, lots of eating. Had some nice wine on Wednesday night. Paris is great. It's a great place to live if you write about the fashion industry. Probably should have done it a lot earlier than this. It was also a very busy news week with plenty of creative director switcheroos at the smaller houses. But this week on Line Sheet, we had way more than that. Rachel Strugatz had a giant scoop about the Alex Earl beauty launch. Rachel, as usual, has all the figures and the sales figures you'll never find anywhere else.

3:33And on Thursday, I did a bit of philosophizing about where Dario Vitale should go next. He has options. Even though there aren't like a lot of open jobs right now, I think he has many options and I have opinions about what he should do. And on Tuesday, earlier in the week, Malik Morris had this great piece on District Vision, which is this running brand run by two, I would say, former fashion guys that has really blown up over the past couple of years. They have a big collaboration, ongoing collaboration with New Balance. And they started out making running eyewear. I remember getting a pair really early.

4:17They sold it at Barney's. and congrats to Max and Tom. I think I'm going to have them on the podcast soon to discuss it, but you should read Malik's story. Malik did a bunch of reporting, found out they don't really discuss numbers, and of course Malik got them because that is how we roll or whatever. I hate that term, but it's fine. We're not going to redo this. Anyway, enjoy this conversation with Brian, who I have known since we sat together in the bloggers front row at Dolce & Gabbana in 2010. So we've come a long way, Brian, and it was really fun to discuss Chanel with you. Brian Boy, welcome to Fashion People.

4:57Thanks, Lauren. I can't believe you've never been on before. That's totally insane. I know. It's like the scheduling, but we're here now. Again, very honored to be here. We're calling in both from Paris in different places. We do these remotely. So it's a surreal experience. You're wearing your Chanel. First question of the day, what did you have for breakfast this morning? Did you eat breakfast? I did eat breakfast. I had salmon, smoked salmon. I had an omelet. I had two croissants and one pan chocolate. Quite a substantial breakfast. We'll talk offline about how you can do that and maintain your slender figure.

5:41But we don't want to. Let's avoid eating disorder corner. That's not what we're talking about today. No, no, no. That sounds delicious. Okay. So I wanted to have you on today because of to talk about the Chanel phenomenon. We have talked about Chanel many times on the podcast. I've talked about in line sheet a million times and also on Instagram. It's sort of become definitely your personality, part of my personality to do shopping for people who want to go to Chanel. So I thought, And you've been a journalist for 15, 20 years. You've been online for 15, 20 years. You're an influencer. You're an editor.

6:24You're a huge shopper, admitted huge shopper. And you and I really bonded over this Chanel thing. We have bonded over many things over the years. But the Chanel thing has really been amazing. And so I thought it'd be interesting to break it down with you. So let's start with Matou Blasi's first collection. You're seeing it from as an editor, as an online person, as a consumer of it. What was your, were you a big Chanel person prior? And what was your initial reaction when their first ready-to-wear collection dropped last, I think, I guess it was October by that point or in 2025? Well, I mean, the thing about when you watch a show, you also don't have an idea, you know, in terms of how it's going to look like at the boutique.

7:21You know, we see whenever we watch fashion shows, we're kind of like blinded by the whole aura, by the whole atmosphere. You go there. The set is incredible. You know, you watch the show. You're kind of like six feet away from models. And then you go to the reseed. You see all the stuff. You know, I mean, it's wonderful. But when I, you know, when you go to the boutiques five months later to see everything up close, I mean, how I felt, you know, was kind of like similar whenever I felt, you know, whatever I would, you know, watch Virginie's shows, for example. I mean, I had a big problem with Virginie in terms of, you know, image and ad campaigns and styling.

8:08But with Chanel, when you go to the boutiques, everything became magical. That's where the magic happens. So I've always been a Virginie fan, always been a Chanel fan. But when it comes to Mathieu, it's the same effect. You know, the show was beautiful, but it was even more enchanting in real life. I mean, I went there on March 4th, you know, at the boutique the day before it launched. And I had a special preview. They weren't even selling it. They won't even let us buy anything. But they were able to place some things on hold. And what I saw was so different from what I felt, you know, at the show.

8:47It was incredibly modern. It felt fresh. It felt new. The quality was, you know, it's just so different. Even the little tiny chains on the jackets, they're much thicker, you know, waist heavier than like the old Virginie jackets. I mean, you're just kind of like hypnotized by the whole thing. It's interesting because as someone who I've obviously admired Chanel and the idea of Chanel and as a journalist have thought it was interesting. And also I thought Virginie, her first few collections, I was interested in them because they were the thing that Chanel needed to do was it didn't need to be more in the conversation to an extent.

9:36Like it doesn't need to lead the it's leading the conversation now, but we'll talk about that later. It doesn't necessarily need to lead the conversation. I think a great comparison is Hermes where Nadege Vanhee, she's in the conversation, but it's not. She's just kind of dialoguing with the rest of fashion. She's not a part of the rest of fashion. And so I never have thought Chanel needed to be. It is the all of the DNA and the sort of house codes are so strong that you don't really need to make a big directional designer thing. So especially early on, I was like, she's making culottes. I don't want to wear them, but Leandra Medin does.

10:17And that's interesting. I felt like as she went on, you could kind of feel that her time was ending and she probably felt that, too. And it started to get it was honestly for me, the runway a little a little depressing. But but I understand what you're saying that from a product perspective in the stores, it was so good. What I will say, I was not at the the first Matu show. I was in an airport, I believe Boston, trying to get home. And I watched it online and was just completely as not as a journalist, not as a kind of observer of these brands, but as like a little girl who loved fashion growing up.

10:59I was just blown away. And I loved the way the set. And, you know, I really liked Matu's Bottega Veneta. But the but the thing I would say about it, and I did buy a few things from it. It it wasn't for me. The Bottega was about the fact that he made great bags and that the runway concept. I love the ideas behind the runway concept. It wasn't so commercially driven in my mind, whereas the Chanel immediately. there was this one jacket that I was like, this jacket is my dream jacket of my entire 43 years on this earth. And the interesting thing was, then I was able to go to the show in New York and then the couture and see it in person.

11:49And in person, you see it even more. And just falling in love more and more with this whole idea. And the thing to me that was really interesting is the how that it is it does feel directional in this very specific way it's not like he's creating new silhouettes but he is proposing something that maybe people haven't been wearing like a drop waist skirt that maybe it will never really catch on but he's kind of saying like i'm not going to give up on this i believe in it and um before we get to the retail and this last collection because it's so interesting how the two, the new ready-to-wear and the retail connected.

12:35But from a fashion editor perspective, what do you think about the sort of silhouette that he's proposing? A broad shoulder with, you know, double-breasted in many cases, very boxy and so much drop waist, which I don't know if the last time that was a popular silhouette was probably the 70s. what do you think of that proposition that he's making as a as a leader in the industry i think in in general what the biggest notice that i you know the one thing i noticed and what i love about his collections i mean i totally agree with you since day one chanel will never be that conceptual brand never you know directional yes but i think for me what i felt was it's tangible.

13:23Everything that Mathieu does, it's tangible, it's real, it's deliberate, it's, you know, and what I love about all the silhouettes that he put out there, it's freeing. You know, he really captured the essence of what Gabrielle did, you know, to free women. I mean, these are clothes that you can wear, you know, day to day. You can eat, you can drink, you can party, you can dance, even the way those silhouettes move, you know, everything under the knee kind of like move. There's a certain, you know, flow and movement in those clothes. And sure, like the drop-weight silhouette, I mean, it's something that Gabrielle, you know, obviously did.

14:03I mean, I think it's gonna work. You know, there's always all this discussion online, you know, only tall people can do that, but you don't know how it's gonna translate at the boutique. You know, when they do it commercially. But But on an editorial perspective, I mean, he does push things a little bit. You can tell. It's not extreme. He's not, you know, creating and selling only ideas, which a lot of designers now do. You know, when they design collections, it's all about pushing an idea. It's all idea. The idea of this, the idea of that. But nothing is tangible, you know. But with Mathieu, it's all real.

14:44there's the idea and then there's also the product and it's so interconnected and when you go to the boutiques you can actually buy them and wear them yeah and then and the idea the other thing is people need newness in their closets someone said to me today well why didn't you just buy a vintage jacket and I said it's funny I did buy a vintage Janelle jacket right after the show and I love it and it's great, but this is, it feels new. There's so little on the market right now that feels like totally original. And it is a silhouette that, a drop waist dress, you aren't going to find a lot of those from other eras that fit well now or look modern.

15:29And what everything, and it's really the ready to wear. We'll talk about the shoes and bags too. But like, I just can't even explain. I had all these ideas of every time I come to Paris for the shows, I buy like two or three designer things. And that is my clothes for the next, you know, it's part of my little collection. And this time I was just like, no, I'm not buying anything else because I have to. Once you let me know that it was not out of my reach, the jacket that I wanted, that was it. But let's talk about the lead up to the retail and then the interplay between the new show and the retail.

16:21Because I think that was really smart how Chanel did it. But first question, you're a big consumer of fashion. and anyone who follows you on social media knows this, did you pre-order anything from Chanel or did you wait till it was in the store to see it? I guess every client had a different policy. I've been going to the same sales associates in Kanban for eight years, eight, nine years. And we have a system where since I go to the shows, they always ask me, Brian, what do you want to order from the shows? And then I send them pictures and they're going to tell me, okay, we're going to take note of it.

17:03The next time you're in Paris, we're going to reserve it for you. They've never taken a deposit, never let me prepay anything. And whenever I'm in Paris, when it's there, it's there. For this particular collection, I definitely, I have a screenshot. You know, October 4, Or, you know, I want look number one, look number two, look number five. And then, of course, when I went there on March 4th, I was like, where's look number one? You know? Yeah. And they said it sold out. So my heart was broken, you know? Like, I mean, I really, I mean, not only, I mean, I wanted look number one because it's the first look of the first show.

17:45So it's a very symbolic thing. and also the storytelling behind it how on the first day of Mathieu he went to the studio he brought his own men's blazer took a pair of scissors, cut it to see how it's going to be and then they created a narrative about it how Gabrielle used to borrow from the boys blah blah blah blah blah mythology but I just love the story behind it and a collectible point of view I really wanted it And to this day... Yeah, sorry. No, keep going. To this day. To this day, three weeks after it launched, I still don't have it. I had friends from around the world hunting for it.

18:30Everyone from Kim Jones to Lily Allen to my friends in Singapore, you know, to all my friends in Japan. It's all sold out.

18:45This episode is brought to you by Fandango. People say fans are too distracted these days, but the truth is when a great movie hits the screen, you show up, you stay glued, invested, part of the story. And without fans like you, there'd be no cinema magic, no shared moments. So head to Fandango.com to get tickets, stream, or rent or buy top movies and series. Fandango loves fans. Have you ever felt like you were living just a B or B plus life? It's so dangerous to live that, more dangerous than a B-minus or a C-plus life, because when you're living a B or B-plus life, you don't change it. You think it's good enough.

19:24Is it? I'm Suzy Welch. I host a podcast called Becoming You. People think, okay, an A-plus life is not available to me, but there is a way. We are all in the process of becoming ourselves. Listen to Becoming You wherever you get your podcasts. so what name a few things you do because you did end up buying multiple things what what did you end up like name the like the your hero items you're wearing a jacket right now right yes i think this is like look number five or so number five yeah and i might be wrong but yeah look number five another you know crop jacket very very light and the thing i like about you know the new chanel jackets.

20:11It's kind of loose in the arm. The armhole is not really high and tight. I mean, it's all just it feels good and it feels so light and airy. Yes, you are. I'm looking right now and it was paired. Did you buy any of this? Do you wear skirts? You wear skirts sometimes. No, I don't wear skirts. Only on events. I didn't buy the skirt, but I bought a match. Basically, I bought three suits. Okay. And then a gold jacket. The gold jacket is... I know. It's really the best. It's so great. There's one look that I really, really love. And Mathieu called it the scarecrow look. Which is what Margot Robbie wore on the 25 campaign.

20:56It's basically all beaded. But it's so lightweight. It's so lightweight. And then you also have this sleeveless top. With all these fabric hay sticking out. and when I found out the price tag I mean I was really first I was shocked because I was expecting it to be a certain amount I was expecting it to be like you know oh a fully beaded jacket it's gonna be like 30 ,000 40 ,000 you know I'm not gonna even but then I found out the price it was like 20 I mean it's still substantial but I'm like I am not ready for a 20 ,000 you know euro jacket yet well it's interesting though the pricing was we don't want to sound like complete deranged people but the pricing was more I think reasonable is not the right word but like it was not as much as the line sheet I saw the jacket that I got it was about half the price of what it was on this line sheet that being said it was in the U.S.

21:59and also these line sheets the prices are often more expensive because they end up using different fabrication different factories and i think my feeling about it was that they they thought carefully about like what is the value and it was honestly felt a little bit more of an hermes approach to pricing which is that like they say they don't price for marketing what who knows but i think the right word could be it's justified yes and there's a value like the in in um justified is a great way to put it also in mba terms the price value equation was there so like if you looked at a chanel jacket from 1990 and you adjusted for inflation the price that we paid for our jackets was the price that they cost in 1990 and I'm okay with that because that you know that is if that's how you you choose to but whereas there are other things on the market that feel which the glass effect Tom Ford PVC yes or seven thousand dollars yes you're just kind of like okay I'm sure there's a reason but it's not a reason that I'm willing to make myself delusional over.

23:23And I love that collection. But I was really pleasantly surprised with the pricing, especially when I've been buying jackets for 15 years from Chanel. Yeah. And, you know, there was a time when every single Virginie jacket was like 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 18. But with Mathieu, it's really, you know, the men's blazers. I mean, the blazers, the crop blazers, like$7 ,000,$6 ,400,$7 ,000. And they really improved on the quality. They've upgraded so many things. You know, the fabric is incredible. Like the chains, the little buttons, the details, the lining. It's, you know, compared to what's out there in the market, I really felt like you're getting so much out of it.

24:15It does feel really high value. The jacket I got, which was, I think, look 40 something. Jacket. That was a beautiful, the red buttons are, you know, just divine. Red buttons. It was paired on the runway. I am a skirt suit girl. And if it was another world, but I'm not going there. But maybe if I find it on the RealReal in five years, it's going to be, if someone said to me today, it's going to be so fun to watch the resale market of that first collection. Maybe I'll end up getting the skirt too. But it was paired with this plaid silk shirt on the runway that like in real life, I would never buy the shirt too.

24:55It's too much for me. But the amazing thing about the jacket is it's lined in the plaid and you can see it coming out from the bottom and from the arms. And so even though I've worn the jacket exclusively with black, because there's a lot of black in it. It's so fun that I feel like I got an extra piece because of that. It's so special. It's fascinating. That's the thing with Chanel, though. I mean, for me, you know, when you buy a piece of ready-to-wear from Chanel, I mean, the longevity is definitely there. It's not like a lot of, you know, fashion pieces from other brands where everything is designed to be obsolete.

25:40with Chanel. When you buy a Chanel jacket, I mean, it's for life. You can wear it with literally anything. A Chanel jacket, it's a Chanel jacket. I mean, I can wear jeans, trousers, slacks, shorts, denim. I mean, it lives for a long time. Yeah. It's also interesting. I was thinking about what Bruno Pavlovich Pavlovsky. Pavlovsky. I was thinking about what Bruno, the president of fashion, said a couple of years ago about the bags, where he kind of went on the record. And he's sort of the spokesperson for the brand other than the designer, typically. And he went on the record and he was like, our bags got too expensive and we need to improve the quality and we need to be more careful about pricing.

26:35But it feels like they did that about clothing as well. I have a question. How do you feel about all of these people online who are constantly talking about like bag quality, clothing quality? these a lot of times some people are experts but a lot of times they're just like super consumers who have made some sort of either hobby or sometimes it's their job now to discuss this stuff do you pay attention to that I know you look at it sometimes but do you do you think that that discourse is good and that's pushing the brands to make better stuff or how do you feel about that whole discourse online?

27:19I mean, it's really hard to take it seriously because what I do, you know, I would find it more credible if it comes from actual consumers with product, you know, with experience with a product. You know, I mean, I love that, for example, with this guy, Tanner Lederstein, now it's my turn to kind of like mention it. And I don't know if I pronounced it right. with that guy I know that he dissects bags he dissects product I mean and he's most of the time he's valid but what I do disagree on is that value and worth is kind of subjective I've had incredibly I have so many bags it's almost embarrassing and And I also have bags that are like 30 euros, which I got from a flea market in Thailand that I like to use often.

28:26And that's probably like 25 years old and it's still around. And I also have Prada bags and Gucci bags that I don't use. And the quality is also incredible. I have Louis Vuitton. My Louis Vuitton Speedy from 1997 is still in great condition, you know. So there's so many factors at play when it comes to so-called quality. It's very subjective. It's how you treat your item. It's how you use your item. Of course, if you use your Birkin every single day for 40 years, it's going to show wear and tear. Totally, yes. Does that mean it's poorly made, you know? Yeah. But it's just very subjective. And I tend to take all these comments online and discourse about it with a grain of salt unless it comes from personal experience.