'Emily in Paris' Fact Checks & Taylor Swift Fantasies

0:03Hello 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 the stylist, editor, and all-around opinionated person, Kate Young. We're talking Emily in Paris, the Spanx founder, sneakers, and changes at Victoria's Secret. Let's get started. Hey, everyone. Hope you're having a great week. I am on vacation. We were in Portland. Now we're in the Bay Area. I plan on doing a lot of Pilates and seeing friends. We had dinner at our friend's place in Mill Valley last night, and it was just the best. All ex-New Yorkers talking about how great it is to live in California.

0:49It was really nice. Line sheet is packed as usual, but I am not around. So Rachel Sturgatz, my partner and beauty correspondent for Puck, is chipping in a bit more this week. today I actually did an interview with Tori Birch about it's it's pegged to the launch of her new fragrance it's her first fragrance with Shizeto since she moved over from Estee Lauder and I just took it as an opportunity to talk to Tori I love chatting with her she's very straightforward she knows what she's doing and she's just an interesting designer and entrepreneur and the way she's built her business is really smart and as usual she she had great answers to my questions and unexpected answers that did not feel like spin.

1:41There's one answer in particular that I expected her to say one thing and she just flat out was honest and said the other thing. And so I had a great time. I hope you enjoy it. And speaking of Estee Lauder, Rachel Strugetz has been predicting and all of her sources, I have a few sources in that world too, have been predicting that Fabrizio Freda, the CEO of Estee Lauder, would leave by the end of 2024. The company and people close to the company kept denying that. No, no, no, he's sticking around, sticking around, sticking around. They just announced on Monday that he is retiring. So Rachel had a bit in line sheet on Monday about that, but on Wednesday, look out for more.

2:29There isn't much news this week, But the other thing to look out for is Saks Global is hosting a meeting with all of its brands on Wednesday. Mark Metrick is hosting it, the CEO, to talk about the future of that company. And I think we're going to hear some announcements about the merger. And my prediction is that the merger is going to go through with flying colors with the FTC. It's going to be totally fine. And I think that maybe we're going to find out this week if that's true or at least an update. So watch out for that. I will be back and raring to go starting on Friday. So if you have any tips or intel or whatever, shoot me an email.

3:12Maybe not text me because I really am trying to take a break. But we'll definitely talk next week. And I'll be back on Friday with a really fun, fun episode. So let's get started with Kate. Kate Young, welcome back to Fashion People. Thanks for having me. We don't usually ask what you had for breakfast on Tuesday mornings, but sometimes I ask if you bought anything over the weekend. Did you get anything good? I bought glaze for my ceramics, which isn't very exciting to purchase, but it'll be exciting when it comes out of the kiln. So are you big into ceramics? No, I do ceramics one month every summer upstate.

3:54So I've been doing it for a long time and I really love it. And it's like my favorite thing to do in the summer, but I don't really have the time or the, I mean, it's time consuming. So you're not going to be selling these ceramics like Somsack or Guys from Creatures with the Wind or anything? I mean, maybe that's act two, but not right now. No, I'm not also that good. I'm first in lie to buy. They're mainly gifts, so you'll get one. Thank you. There's not that much news this week, if you noticed. I say the lineup, it's really dead. That's why I can glaze my ceramics. It's true. It's true. One thing that happened last week that was interesting was I went to the premiere of Emily in Paris in L.A., which I guess you have gone to a lot of these TV and movie premieres.

4:51Yeah. They're fun. It was fun. It was really interesting because it's a TV show. It's not a movie. And so there's a different level of production, I would say. And the other thing was all of the sort of, they built the party outside of the Egyptian theater in basically the parking lot. all that build out which was sponsored by shop google so good for stephanie horton for getting that sponsorship for them it was open to the to consumers the next day and they had all these like interactive things you could play the game so it was interesting but it was funny watching the show i mean i love do you watch the show i do i haven't watched the new one but i definitely have watched the other two and i read an article in the times this morning about hate watching tv and it's definitely that for me.

5:45Like I don't want to watch it except I totally enjoy watching it and can't stand it simultaneously. Totally. And I think part of that is because a few of the actors are just so good. Like the woman, the French woman who plays Sylvie is just, she is worth - Oh, Philippine Loire-Value? Exactly. Is that her name? Yes. She's so chic and she's a real actress. Totally. She's so fabulous. Everybody's so attractive, right? They're all so good looking. It's like it has that feeling. If you, like me, have ever gone back and watched Models, Inc. or any of those shows, I mean, who cares what happens? The people are pretty.

6:30They're wearing trendy clothes. It's great. I kind of need people on shows to be attractive for me to watch it. I just feel like I'm not going to say the name of the show, but there is a show that is very well done and successful and everyone is so unattractive. I'm like, I didn't watch it because of that. I know exactly which one you're talking about. This show is made for the theater. That is hilarious. I was like, no, there's not enough going on there for me. I need people to, that's why I love presumed innocence. innocent everybody was really good looking they were so one thing that's interesting about this season that i wrote a little bit about last week like how much because the storylines are not ripped i don't want to do any spoiler alert i don't want to spoil it for you storylines are not ripped from the headlines this is not a lot this is not law and order but they clearly model certain things after what actually happens in the fashion industry or what's happening in culture at large.

7:37I think this season it's a there are a couple of things where I was like, I don't think this is the right alignment. It's not feel good enough. And it feel it's not it's not based on anything real. But like, that's what I read in your in your email that they sell a couture dress for$3 ,500. So they resell. So there are a couple of things. So one is that they and I texted every single PR person I know just to be like, this doesn't actually exist. And I don't know about it. Right. There is a fake company called JVMA or something like that. It's like obviously supposed to be the other four letter company that actually exists.

8:16And in there's a plot line where they have the quote unquote brand room. It's called the brand room. And every single brand in the group is represented in that room. Have you ever heard of something like that? Because I asked people who worked at LVMH and Caring and other groups, and they were like, no, I've never heard of that. Because I think part of the brand strategy, I mean, obviously I'm an outsider, but from what I can tell based on my experience working with all these brands, part of the brand strategy by the people, the masters of those companies, is that the brands are competitive with each other.

8:56Totally. So like to put them together, I mean, they're constantly competing with one another. So the idea that they would be there if the designer came in to check their stuff, they would like, you know, turn the other designers clothes around on the rack or like spill a coffee by accident. Yes. And I don't want to be like a Debbie Downer because I like the show. I think it's really fun. and I think they do a great job with it. But those kinds of specifics, to make it feel real or make it not even feel real, make it enjoyable, you kind of have to nail that sort of thing. Those tiny little things to be like, oh, this is...

9:36Because the first season, my feeling about it was there's actually a lot in here that feels true to the fashion industry, even though many of the storylines are fake or whatever there was stuff that the way that emily cooper acts like there are people like that and so i was kind of like you could have you shouldn't you should have thought of something else the other big thing was this couture thing and maybe maybe i'm wrong but there were two parts so at one point emily's bff the one who's like a singer who's a she goes into vestaire collective store and she tries to sell this dress that her boyfriend who is the heir to jvma or whatever it's called gives her because he thinks she looks like a hoe usually which she does and she looks awesome in this dress let me just again these are little spoilers but this beautiful like fake chanel dress it's gorgeous and it's supposed to be couture and she goes in she sells it to vestiaire they pay her automatically which i was i looked it up on vestiaire site that's that doesn't happen but they pay her outright and they give her 3500 euro for a couture dress i mean you have to have a fentanyl addiction to do that deal exactly okay thank you right like i i i guess about a year ago or a year and a half ago, I was at Couture and I was like, there was this very, very, very simple dress in one of the Couture shows.

11:15And I was like, that's it. I'm buying it. I am a woman of a certain age. I've worked in this industry my whole life. I'm going to buy this Couture dress and I'm going to wear it to every party I go to. I'm going to be buried in it, blah, blah, blah. And I think I'm going to get a deal because I know them. And I called and was like, tell me, how much is this dress? Now, this is a dress with no beads, with no lining, with no zipper. No, it's the most simple dress ever. It was 42 ,000 euros, and it had already been sold in North America. So if I bought it, I was like not allowed to wear it in North America.

11:55No, it's so crazy. Congrats to the Emily in Paris people. Love the show. I understand they need to like make it a little more accessible for people. But they should have just not called it couture. Just say designer. I don't know. I always have a problem with fashion shows. I feel like there's this idea that fashion is silly. And of course, we're not doctors, right? Or teachers. Like there are jobs that have a lot more significance in the lives of other people. But I also don't think it's a completely frivolous job. And it's a huge part of our economy. And a lot of the people who work in this industry are brilliant.

12:37Like that was the thing that was so exciting to me when I first got into it is that everyone I met was like well-educated and smart and interesting and literary. And like on TV and in movies, fashion is so silly and catty and ridiculous all the time. And like I just sort of want to see Mad Men of fashion at some point. Because it's also been run by women largely for years. And that's fascinating. This isn't like an industry that's always been run by men. It's like, look at magazines. Look at. Yeah, we're going to talk about a company that's being run by a woman very soon. But yes, on that point, I agree.

13:20And living out in LA for the last four years, which definitely makes me an expert on Hollywood, I think a couple of things. One is when industries are sort of run by men and something is more directed towards women or there's more interest from women. A lot of times it's they don't get it right. Like if you look at the way general interest publications have covered fashion over the years, that was always like a big issue for me because and it's definitely not an issue now. Like I, I don't feel this at all in my current job, but when I've worked at general interest publications that are run by a bunch of guys, like they're kind of just like, oh, fashion is just this little thing that, and they don't take it as seriously.

14:05The pink ghetto or whatever. Like that's how a lot of people refer to it. And that diminishes its significance in the economy, its role in like our life day to day. And I agree. And I think but I think one of the other challenges about Hollywood is that like people that culture is like a very ordinary culture. You know this you meet with people in in the entertainment industry. You think we it's funny because fashion is the same way like it's not as glamorous as it seems. But the people who go into fashion are kind of geeks. Like you have to be really obsessive and you have to like take a leap to get go into that industry.

14:56Whereas Hollywood, it's much more representative of America. The people who who live here and work in the industry, it's not everybody has an Ivy League degree or or studied in Europe over the summer or whatever. And I think that what that does is it creates a lot of amazing culture, but also can diffuse certain things in the culture when when they make a show or what have you. It's it's 720 a.m. where I am, people. So just know that what I was thinking that night was like this wasn't the end. There are fashion industry people involved in in the show and consulting on it and all of that stuff.

15:43But like that was my next question. I was like, we need they need to have like, you know, how Derek Blasberg was the billionaire consultant on Succession. Where's the fashion consultant? They need more. I just think it's interesting. this season felt, even though the storylines are really close to fashion, it felt the most distant from fashion. Like the fact that I guess they probably didn't know that they were coming out right after the Olympics, but it just, that could have been an interesting tie-in. Like there were just so many things that it feels like the storylines are, they're definitely pulling straight, trying to pull straight from the industry, but they feel so disconnected from the industry.

16:23So I feel like a normal watcher of this isn't going to care at all. But the thing about Sex and the City, if you want to compare them, since it's impossible not to, was there was like an underlying truth to what was happening on that show. Yeah, to New York, to women in New York, to working women. Totally. And also, I guess the other part of it is my friend and I were seated with all the influencers. And it was sort of by accident. My friend is like eight months pregnant and she really needed an aisle and we couldn't find the we like parked five minutes away we got there it was really hard to find it and she said I just really need an aisle so they put us in really nice seats and it was with all these influencers none of which I had ever seen there was very few people in the audience I was like trying to find people who I knew and there was I saw very few people but they were all dressed like Emily Cooper they had berets on They had their makeup was really done.

17:23They were all wearing florals. They looked like the way I described the party was it looked like walking into an Instagram restaurant and they looked like that. So I guess that's their reality. Well, I mean, there were there was I think in the first episode, didn't the Sylvie character was like, why do you dress like this? It's ridiculous. And I mean, you would get fired if you dress like that in New York. And also, I think that the people at the marketing agency seem realistic, like her and the two guys, like they they feel like believable. Yes, they feel like caricatures of people we know. And so the fact that, like, if you get it so wrong, it just feels a little little off.

18:10But again, maybe these Instagram girls don't don't care and they're just having a great time. And I mean, it's fun. And there's a really amazing Ami storyline, the first episode that I'm like so happy for those guys because it is. I like them. I like them so much. And it will make Ami way better known in America. And that's what they need. So I'm happy for them.

18:37Hi, this is Jill Schlesinger, CBS News Business Analyst, Certified Financial Planner and the host of the Jill on Money podcast. With the new year upon us, there's no better time to take control of your financial life. And the Jill on Money podcast is here to help. It's your questions that make it possible for me to provide unconventional and I hope entertaining insights on your money, more importantly, on your life. Follow and listen to Jill on Money wherever you get your podcasts.

19:12Speaking of TV shows that get fashion right, it's interesting. Have you watched Industry? I'm going to have them on the podcast with their costume designer in September, like right before the season ends. Do I need to watch it? So I really like it and a lot of fashion people really like it. The Throwing Fits. Have you been on Throwing Fits? No, what's that? oh you should go on it it's like the podcast with these two like uh shock jock guys who who sort of work in fashion they do work in fashion but lawrence and james i think you would be a really good good guest i'm gonna tell them you should go on i don't even know what it is i'm gonna i'm gonna listen to that today and then go watch industry so industry is this show about like working in the city in London.

20:03Oh, yes. I know about this show. I have it on my queue. So the guys, the showrunners really like fashion and they're very, they've been on Throwing Fits. You should listen to their episode. But the thing about that show is it's not even like Succession where it was like every single scene you could see head to toe what they were wearing and it was just outfit credit, outfit credit. The show isn't like that, but it feels a lot of fashion people really like it. And I think that's like they get, they nail it better. Like I want them to do a show about the fashion industry. It's actually a really good idea because they nail like inner dynamics, interpersonal dynamics better.

20:47And then also the way people are dressed on the show, it's not super designery. Like there's one girl who's really rich and clearly wears nicer things. but I can't even tell if they're just buying like fakes. Oh, interesting. Well, usually they are. Like I can't tell you the number of times I've had panicked texts from my clients who are on set and they're like, my client is supposed to be rich and the handbag they're having me carry is so shitty. Yeah. Can you get me a Birkin? Yeah. Like my character would carry a Birkin And I'm like, they weren't loaned for that, but here's where to buy one and then sell it again.

21:31Here, you know, call your mom. Yeah. You know what I mean? But how would a movie production afford a$20 ,000 bag and also get in the queue to get the bag? Yeah. Yeah. So someone just messaged me on Twitter asking if Yasmin, one of the characters, is wearing the Margo, but it doesn't have the right lock or something. So I'll ask them when they're on the show. They're going to be on in September, knock on wood. I don't know if you're supposed to say that when people come on. But anyway, you were mentioning that women really run this industry in many cases. And I just wrote this book about Victoria's Secret.

22:09And a big part of the book is about like there were these this group of guys at the top of the big company. But the day to day, the CEOs of the business were almost all women. and they were really running Victoria's Secret and making it what it was. And Victoria's Secret just announced a new CEO, this woman, Hillary Super, who I called a bunch of people who I know who work in mall retail. That, you know, the low of my high-low coverage. And a couple people actually worked with her when they were really young, like when they were just merchandisers at different stores. But she doesn't she's not like super well known.

22:51She's moved around a lot in her career. She was at Anthropologie, the CEO there for five years. And I think that's probably her big success story. But I'm curious from your perspective. So we'll see. I think it's really interesting. They hired a merchant and not like a turnaround expert or a CFO or something. They really obviously know that the product and the marketing needs to get better. But do you have any relationship with Victoria's Secret? Like what as a consumer previously, like what is your feeling towards it? So, I mean, I used to do the catalog and I mean, I shot for Victoria's Secret all the time.

23:30It was sort of a standard, like if I had a day I wasn't working, I would tell Victoria's Secret and work for them. It was like a blanket hold that I had. And I loved working with them back then because it was like a lot of Wayland art directors. I loved a lot of the art directors. The models were the best models and they were fun to work with. From a purely like practical standpoint, it was a nine to five with a sit down lunch. Yeah. And like as a stylist, it was like shoes and jewelry. Amazing. It was really easy. It was like a really like easy way to work. Yeah. You know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I styled, Selena Gomez performed at one of the runway shows.

24:11I designed that dress. So I was backstage and at all the rehearsals for one of the runway shows. And I've listened to the podcasts and heard all the stories and stuff. I don't know. I feel like I do. I think that Victoria's Secret makes like a molded t-shirt bra and a strapless bra that I continue to use all the time. Yeah. I use their like nude thongs all the time. Like some of the product is really good. You know, like those bras work, which I mean, there's like bras that you want to wear every day. and there are bras that are more like a t-shirt bra is sort of a complex thing. And I think they're really expensive to make if they have no seams and they have all that stuff.

24:56But Victoria's Secret had the money to make those kind of bras and they're superior. Yes. Yes, you're exactly right. So here's the thing. It is very, very hard. And I'll probably say this on here and I've written it millions of times. It's hard to make a good bra. And they have the supply chain that a lot of other brands now use their supply chain and use their their partners in Sri Lanka is a big place I don't know if it is as much anymore but when they first started out that's where they moved like basically all these executives from I guess it was Germany was like the big bra place they moved them all to Sri Lanka and yeah because that's Triumph in Germany Yes, yes, exactly.

25:42And so a lot of Triumph executives moved to Sri Lanka and partnered with these companies. There's this company called Mast that was owned by the limited group for a long time and then spun out in 2000. But it's really hard to make a bra. There's a reason that Victoria's Secret still sells six billion dollars worth of bras. One of the reasons is they have an insane amount of discounting and distribution that is actually not very profitable. But the other reason is it's really hard to make a bra. And like for the last 10 years, underwire bras have not been in fashion, but they're back in fashion.

26:18And also it's not about like what's cool and what's not. Like some people physically need bras. us yeah I mean it's about fit and function and I do think there is a level of like consumer loyalty like I do almost always ask a new client like what's your favorite bra yeah because I can't run a bra fit shop like if they have a bra they know works yeah then I will just buy them more of that bra because when you have the brand and the size that fits you it's very it's hard to stray like why bother totally totally so best of luck best of luck to hillary super speaking of good fit and good fitting under underwear the thing that i got the most responses to i i went on vacation last friday and so the last like five days or so the thing that people have been bugging me about is this Sarah Blakely sneaks.

27:18I think it's S N E E X. It's foot high heel sneaker that is like a bra for your foot essentially. And Sarah Blakely is the founder of Spanx, which revolutionized shapewear, revolutionized the underwear, lingerie. Skims would not exist if it wasn't for Spanx. And now Skims is like killing Victoria's Secret and Spanx. It's just dominating the market but sarah blakeley really changed the way like under smoothing and all of that stuff i don't ever wear this stuff so i don't have a lot of experience with spanks other than their their winter tights but but i the sneaker came out and it actually reminded me of like fashion sneakers from like 2010 era it looks like mu mu in balenciaga it reminded me of balenciaga and i was like well if she she apparently started developing it nine years ago so it kind of makes sense like that it would still be dated then but at least you could you could see but i'm just curious what what you think about this especially as someone who has to put people in heels do you think that there's if the technology is good that it could be something that she could license to other brands or do you think that like ergonomically it's just impossible to make a comfortable heel i mean i think it's a great idea right yeah it's a great idea having said that it's not a new idea i mean what was that fits like a pump oh yeah looks like a pump feels like a naturalizer do you remember those ads?

29:02I think so. And the women would play basketball and heels. And then Cole Han tried to do that too. Like that was a big push. I did that campaign for Cole Han. So like I knew all about those shoes. I think it's a great idea, right? I mean, there is something where it's like, okay, we can make like a jacket that weighs 0.3 ounces that's windproof and waterproof and, you know, light reflective, but like women are still wearing shoes that are like bad for us and painful and make it so that we can't run. Except they're ugly. Like I Googled them when I read about them and was like, but these don't look like a sneaker or a high heel.

29:50Yeah. It's just like, it doesn't, it doesn't fulfill the promise. No. It's like a bad fashion shoe. And the thing is, I mean, you can really drag Rothy's. But what I will say, living in California in a place with a lot of ordinary people, Rothy's are not bad looking. Like they're there, especially their little sneaker is very cute. And I like that brand. Yeah. Like it's cute. Like I think they have the best intention. Agreed. And I think for people who don't spend three hours a day thinking about what they want to wear in clothes and all of that stuff, like they make very comfortable flats that people can throw in their bag.

30:38And that whole idea of like, bring a pair of flats and then change into your heels. Like Rothy's actually, they deliver on that. So I just think, I mean, good. And this Sarah Blakely is really, really impressive entrepreneur and has done amazing things. I wish that that technology. First of all, I just don't think like science would or physics would back this up that like it's going to make it easier to. There's just certain things about walking in in heels that some people can do it really easily and other people can't. And it's just. Yeah. And I do think there are basic things like I don't know if you've worn any of the Bottega shoes under Mathieu.

31:20I haven't. Like so those Bottega shoes, if you flip them over, they have like a rubber tread on the bottom of the regular looking heel. Yeah. So the shoe is formed exactly the same way from the top down. But when you flip it, it's got a rubber tread on the bottom. And when you wear them, it provides a rubber cushion on the bottom and it's anti-slip. and that to me was like oh my god nobody else does this it looks exactly the same and it's so much more comfortable and it's safer yeah yes this makes so much sense totally and you can make that look designy yeah and it looks it you know you don't notice it from a photo you notice it when you put it on yeah like it's the shoe you're gonna wear all the time and rebuy because it doesn't hurt at your feet.