Leandra's Theory of Everything

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 Leandra Medin. We're discussing her new tights line for Swedish stockings, the state of the collaboration, the state of Hermes, best dressed at the Academy Museum Galley, and plenty more. Happy Tuesday, everyone. Hope you had a great weekend. I am back in Los Angeles, where tonight I'm hosting a Puck private dinner with the great people from List. I am so excited to see Emma and Jenny and Katie and everyone else. We did one of these in Paris with List a couple of years ago in November, like right around Thanksgiving, November 23.

0:49And I'm so happy to be reunited, especially in my current hometown. It'll be so fun. The guest list is incredible. I'm sure there will be lots of conversation that you'll never know about because it's all off the record, but super, super pumped for tonight. This week on Line Sheet, you'll find a report on Hermes. There are lots of changes at the company right now, but they sort of illustrate exactly why it's so stable. Very little drama over there. I'm sure there's drama behind the scenes, but not drama that I find out about, and that says something. It's really about being practical and doing the right thing.

1:30As many of you know, their menswear designer retired last week, And today they announced, I believe that they are going to announce the new designer today. So you'll know who it is by the time you listen to this. But I also have a pretty big magazine cover scoop. Yes, that can still happen. Rachel Strugeatz weighs in on the fact that Kering is selling its beauty unit for 4 billion euros to L 'Oreal. This is a huge deal. And she'll write about it later this week, too. And I think it's going to sort of be an ongoing story for Rachel. the push-pull between L 'Oreal, Estee Lauder, and Cody, and what it means for the beauty industry.

2:10I'm very excited to read about it. And really quickly, I also wanted to give you a little retail report from Nashville. You all really responded to my Montecito retail report. So I went to Nashville last week to cover the Hermes store opening. You can read more about it in line sheet. All of these secondary and tertiary cities are hyper-developed now. And we were talking about on the trip, they all sort of look like Williamsburg, Brooklyn and Denver, Colorado. Like what's the difference? I don't know. Same stores, same aesthetic. It's all about mixed use. Mixed use is not a new thing, but like you have to have the right mix of places to get the young people to come in.

2:48There is a ton of money in Nashville right now. It's all external, I think, because music industry is big there. A lot of Hollywood people live there. And then also, like I ran into so many people who have just moved there at the Hermes dinner like Will Guadara was there who is you know a restaurateur and hospitality guy his book is great but then there was just a lot of a lot of people who have moved from New York to to Nashville which I may have mentioned last week anyway there is a crew of developers known for these like cool young places Jamestown which did Chelsea Market, is probably the most famous.

3:29And they've done them in a bunch of cities. And then there are people who have sort of come out of Jamestown and created their own thing. In Nashville, there's this guy, Ben Weprin of AJ Capital Partners, which is developing the Wedgwood-Houston area where Hermes just opened. They are developing this big mansion that the Kings of Leon used to own. It's really interesting. Anyway, Ben is also the guy behind Little River in Miami and has a really good reputation. A couple of my real estate sources messaged me after I went and was like, oh, Ben's the best. But there's just so much happening in Nashville.

4:03It's crazy. Lots, as I mentioned, lots of external money. But the development that really blew me away, it's called Neuhof. It is being developed by New City Properties, which did Ponce City Market in Atlanta, which you've probably been to if you're American. So Neuhof is on the Cumberland River. And it's all these old buildings that were the city's meatpacking district, like way back in the early 1900s. It kind of reminded me of a more rugged Coal Drops Yard for people in Europe, like or something like that. All the buildings here and the other thing like Coal Drops Yard is where a lot of tech.

4:41I think Google has things there. This is this Neuhof development, which is like 900 ,000 square feet, is going to be adjacent to the Oracle global headquarters. So I think they're going to make a little footbridge. So it will become the village of, in the same way platform in Los Angeles is the village of like Sony Studios and Apple and Nike and all that. This will become the village of the Oracle headquarters. But the architecture itself is what, it really blew me away. So all the buildings are sort of like crumbling and half open. This company called S9, if you just Google Neuhof and S9, you can see it.

5:20and it's just like breathtaking, I have to say. Like you can, the restaurants are inside, but then you sit outside in these half open spaces and then they have a walkway that reminded me sort of of the High Line. Anyway, I went over there with Libby Calloway, who many of you know, she's the go-to person if you're a global brand doing something related to Nashville. She was a fashion editor for a long time, New York Post, all that stuff. So everybody knows Libby. And she and I stopped by Sid Mashburn, which is started in Atlanta, but has stores all over the country. Sid and Ann both have great stores and do a really good job.

6:02I got to say hi to Sid, who was in town for the Hermes event. We looked at his tie table. He told me the more ties you make, the more you sell. They're really, really great. But it's such an interesting business. Anyway, if you go to Nashville, I would say check out Wedgwood Houston because you're obviously going to want to see this Hermes. but also check this Neuhof out. I am obsessed with retail and development and what it says about society and I would literally come back just to walk around this space. But let's get going with Leandra.

6:36Leandra Medin-Cohen, welcome back to Fashion People. Hi, Lauren Sherman. Thank you for having me again. I'm so happy to have you. How was your weekend? My weekend was, it was okay. Yeah. Same. Yeah. Kids. I love my kids there. And I love my career. It's hard. That is what's hard. Yeah. I love both so much. Yeah. You have three. I do. I'm always like, I just have one. It's not that big of a deal. But it is. I think that when your attention is being taken from yourself to anything outside of yourself, it's the same thing. Yeah. I was asked why I don't wear dresses this weekend. I don't wear dresses either.

7:23It just doesn't feel like enough personal style. As someone with way less personal style than you, I don't know. I think it just hasn't been... Yeah, it doesn't do enough for me. There's not enough room. What I mean when I say personal style is that there's not enough room to... There are no breakthrough points. I wrote a newsletter about the concept of breakthrough points. like three weeks ago. Yes. Which is basically about like the crack or the opening in an outfit that allows someone else to see your, this is going to sound so like elitist or dramatic, but your humanity, meaning just your humanness.

8:04Yeah. You know? Yes. And dresses, I find it really hard to find a breakthrough point with dresses. They just feel like armor. Yes. And maybe that's why more body conscious stuff has become more popular. I bought an Emily Dawn Long dress that I wore to... Did I send this to you? Yeah. No, but I have a dress of hers that I absolutely adore also. It does a lot of weird things and it's cotton, so it feels easier. Yes. And I think there's something about the way it is with the body. But what I will say is, I understand what you're saying. there's not enough to think about if you just wear a dress. Mm-hmm.

8:47Yeah. I know. It's fascinating. I feel like a breakthrough point could be a pair of your Swedish stockings. What a perfect segue. I did it. I did it. Tell me about this collaboration with Swedish. What is Swedish stockings? How did you end up collaborating with them? and tell me what your vision is for for this yeah um Swedish stockings is a tights brand that's based in Sweden um and I've been wearing their tights for I guess probably like four years I'm an organic fan because there's like the slightest bit of compression in the tights So they also keep you really like sealed in in a way that's comforting.

9:43I don't actually it's not fact checked. I kind of just assume that there's a slight bit of compression in them because they hold me in in a very like comfortable way. Nice. You look really hot in them. I did notice that. Thank you so much. You're welcome. But so I've been wearing the tights for a number of years. and like last year I guess they started sending me some pairs and they sent me this leopard print pair that I wore a lot and actually ended up wearing as or I did a whole newsletter about tights being the main event of an outfit and shortly after that newsletter they reached out and asked if we wanted to do a collaboration but it wasn't the first time that we had been in touch about potentially working together.

10:36Just the timing hadn't been right yet. And on the heels of that newsletter, I was like, it would actually be amazing to create a complete collection of tights that feel like they can be an outfit centerpiece. So you don't have to think so much about everything else that you have going on in your clothes. And I also feel like tights tend to feel so specific to the holiday season or like a necessary evil for staying warm in the winter. and so I wanted to turn that on its head. It also could be a good breakthrough point. They are a great breakthrough point. Even with a dress. Well, yeah, like with a little black mini dress, the tiger tights, wild.

11:20The tiger tights are so good. I love them. So what, and Becky wore, our friend Becky Malinsky wore a pair of your, the gray ones in which are like a dove gray I feel like yeah in her newsletter this weekend and I thought well those tights look really good and they were of course part of of your collaboration so what's the sort of mix of available styles there so that dove gray pair has the slightest bit of shine in it it's a very subtle it's like a very subtle silver or as I like to call it, dirty snowflake twinkling in the sun. Because it's like a little shiny. Those are pretty opaque and they also come in like a red shiny.

12:09And the red shiny are really fun to style not for holiday. Like I was just shooting them for a newsletter and I put them with a sheer white top. That like little top, it was very 70s. and some low rise, like cobalt blue pants. And I had them over the pants with the shirt tucked in. It was a little bit Peter Moulier, Alaya. You know, those corseted jeans? That was the vibe. And that felt like an exciting accomplishment when I landed on that outfit. I like that. I also love, I'm just like going through them now. And I really love the sheer white pair as well. The sheer white pair is, I fought for those.

12:54I really needed those to be in the collection because I personally have been looking for, and it's always like this, right? The thing that you feel is missing in your wardrobe is often the thing that resonates most. but I was really wanting a pair of sheer white tights because I love white tights. But when they're opaque, they don't offer that much like depth and texture to an outfit. They look really great with white shoes if you're a white person. Oh, that's yeah. I might get them also. In LA, this is just not a conversation. like there's just that's the idea of wearing tights even when it's kind of chilly would be kind of feel crazy here yeah this would be a moment when it would make sense well are you also feeling that the gravity of exposed skin is heading south i'm less and less interested in wearing open toe shoes with like turtlenecks and jackets, I find myself wearing tank tops and boots a lot.

14:02Ah, that's interesting. Yeah, I've been wearing boots, boots quite a bit, but that's, that's a good point. And also the tights with, with sandals, which I feel like you definitely spearheaded that trend still feels really right to me. Yeah, there's just something nice about But a closed toe. Yes. Yes.

14:32So you do a lot of these partnerships because you are someone, if you wear something, people want it or are inspired by it. And you've done, I don't know, dozens or hundreds of these over the years. I remember when you had your shoe line that was like fully, fully yours. What, as someone who's also an observer of the industry, what do you think about the sort of trajectory of the collaboration concept? Because it used to be every year I wrote a marketing story about like, are collaborations dead? I think that people don't write those anymore because obviously they are just like a part of the marketing playbook.

15:17But in your experience, when do these partnerships work? When do they not? And what do you think the sort of state of that part of the industry is right now? it's funny that you're asking because i've been thinking a lot about just the concept of creative collaboration and i believe the reason they've become so popular is because there's a real like energy burst that comes from taking two different creative visions and bringing them together to create something new. And I have been finding more and more lately that I'm craving creative partnership, creative collaboration. So I'm never really thinking about it from a marketing perspective.

16:07For me, it's so much more about the connection of two distinct creative visions and what happens when they're pushed back against each other and embraced. And with Swedish Stockings and Cody Litke, who shot the campaign for us in particular, like there were three and this is the same as it was with Sir also, the French brand that I've collaborated a few times. They have such a specific point of view and like a respect for the creative process. And there's there's like a really healthy pushback on, OK, well, we understand like we expected that you were going to want to, you know, stud the top of the tights and have them be footed with five toes.

16:56And these are the reasons we can't do those things. And yes, we expected that you were going to want a pair of tinfoil silver tights. We can't do that. And here's the reason. And there's there's something that is like almost more fulfilling about the challenge of finding um like creative expansion after all of those no's have been like deployed yeah i think that idea of if anyone who we i i always say i come from a place of yes but um i love that you come from a place of yes it's important it's been important to my life but there is a but they It's important to have tension and pushback. When there's no tension in a project, you can tell.

17:46And it's most of the time not as successful. Because tension is what, like that creative collaboration, like you're saying, that tension is what makes the thing good. So if they were like, do whatever you want, it would be cool. But maybe it wouldn't, people wouldn't connect with it so closely because there wasn't that sort of like being made uncomfortable. Yeah. So I think that collaborations will continue because they're a low stakes and exciting way to bring new life and energy into a brand and that they work when you can feel the tension. And this is also, by the way, why stylists are so important to brands.

18:30I agree. You need a second set of eyes that are different from the eyes that are constantly looking at the clothes that are making the clothes to like take them and spin them into something else. Yeah, it's it really I don't know if you felt this this season, but I really felt the need for some designers don't use stylists or they their team does it themselves. They use style. They do it themselves or their team does it. but I really saw it in the collections this season who worked with stylists who didn't and who's working with the right stylists or the wrong stylists because and that that collaboration changes like Katie Grant and Miuca Prada worked together for years I think they still have a really good relationship but then Miuca from Miu Miu started using Lata and that totally transformed the business and that is a sort of, those relationships sort of run their course like any relationship in many ways.

19:34Yeah, totally. It did feel a bit like the season of The Stylist. Maybe, I guess it's not just me who was more plugged into what a difference the styling of a collection makes. It kind of feels like the whole thing yeah it was such a it was so important this season and sometimes it wasn't because the clothes were either so good or or not enough um but i thought there was a couple like i thought at loeve i thought jody barnes you could really see that jody barnes is so good and like basically like cinching like zipping up collections in this really sharp way and i thought I mean who knows they they're also pretty sharp slick designers so maybe it would have been similar but I thought I could just I see when he he does a collection which is interesting what did you think of the Charvet Chanel conversation they're not calling it a collaboration they're calling it conversation super unsurprising yeah I I'm so the thing that I find And what I found most interesting and important about the Chanel show is that Chanel has always existed in a universe of its own making, like completely outside of the industry, but also still of it.

21:02And this goes back kind of to the point of creative collaboration more broadly, is choosing Mathieu Blasi as the designer was making a choice to participate in the conversation. And there's almost like a creative generosity of spirit in opening the doors of Chanel and being like, we are we are actually going to participate in this conversation now. Our clothes are going to be in dialogue with the broader industry. And this is how it's going to go. So the Charvet collaboration felt like the first in a series of ways that the house is about to change. yeah and there is something about the way he works that is he has like a sense of wonder yeah it's it's childlike of and i think that's why everyone connects so closely to it because it is the reason we love fashion it's not um because he's trying to be cool or trying to like check a bunch of boxes it feels like and and it is it it really connects like to the desire of wanting to like dress up and that to me is um what makes it so special and I agree it's not a surprising it feels so right like it just felt like the right thing and I'm I'm glad they did it I will not be buying one of the shirts, but I am excited for everyone who does.

22:33I'm saving my pennies for a$27 ,000 skirt suit. I'm really curious to see how not to use Chanel is received by the culture. Like I'm really curious to see how it plays out in the world. Yeah. see how the the high street interprets it which pieces kind of connect what it are we I think we're definitely all going to be wearing low low rise skirts yeah that's already started as far as and I I have been craving and styling silk skirts like unsworn low rise with like heavy leather belts over them there's something about the like thick material with the flimsy that contrast that just feel so delicious right now.

23:22Yeah. Style is changing for sure. I'm feeling I'm in like one of those phases where I go into my closet and I'm like, none of this is right. It's all dated. Yeah, I am feeling that, too. You're right. It's the silhouettes moving, like you said, down. And and it's and it's exciting. It's just a matter of how are we how are we going to replace the stuff. You know what? You know what never changes, but is always changing. But because it's always changing, it stays the same as Hermes. That's correct. Another good segue. It's it's never too early or too late to buy a pair of riding boots. It's true.

24:06In particular, if you're a man. That's definitely true. So speaking of, last week, Hermes announced that it's it's menswear designer of 37 years. Veronique Nicanian, which I am sure I'm mispronouncing. Do you think that's right? Veronique Nicanian. I don't know how that's spelled, but. I wonder if she's Armenian. I was just going to ask that. Either Armenian or Persian. You know, I'm a quarter Armenian. I didn't know that. Yeah, we can talk about it offline. I'm very proud. But she has been with the company for 37 years. She announced her retirement. By the time this airs, from what I know, the new designer will be announced.

25:00Veronique is going to do one final show in January. I'm like this close to booking a ticket. I think it could be really amazing to see. I've really enjoyed seeing her shows over the years when I occasionally pop into the men's shows. But it's interesting. So I was at this Nashville, and I'm curious what you think about how they work. So I'm at this, I'd make a decision to go to their Nashville store opening because I knew that a lot of senior executives, including the CEO, Axel Dumas, was going to be there. It's a week after Fashion Week, but I thought, I'm going to just do it. It's two days. It'll be worth it to, like, spend time with the team and see how do you open an Hermes store in Nashville.

25:46And it was super valuable. I'm so glad I went. It was totally worth the time and money and all of that stuff. but as after our gibson guitar factory tour and lunch um i see on style.com that le figaro congrats to matu over at le figaro for breaking this news by the way i'm a fan of his um that veronique was stepping down this is a mere hour or two before they're they're about to do this Nashville opening and I was promptly told, don't even try. Axel's not going to say anything about this. But of course I tried a little bit at the event and he kind of was like, whatever, like just shrugged. I feel like any other executive would have been like, oh, and he was just like, whatever.

26:36And I would say, you know, being in that store, there were probably three of us who don't work at Hermes who knew that this happened. And we went to the store, we went to the event. Axel sat with Jack White. Jack White sang a song. Alison Mosshart sang a song that Jack White had pressed in an album at Third Man Records specifically for Hermes. it was a beautifully done space nothing would indicate to anyone that like such a major thing had happened at this company that day and it to me it kind of spoke to the fact that like the way they operate is so I don't want to use the word humble but it's like from a place of practicality that this was not going to be a big drama no matter what I'm sure they've been planning this for a long time.

27:40I'm sure whenever she said, I would like to retire, they made a plan. They already have the person in place. I've never once heard the only name that I've ever heard come up around it is Grace Wells Bonner. I have no idea. I don't think that's who it is, but we'll know by the, again, by the time this runs. And there is, there was such a lack of, it was just like, this is what happens when you run a business that's almost 200 years old. there is change and we move on and we do the next thing and um and the way that they open this nashville store which is in this really early developed neighborhood called wedgewood houston in an old hosiery factory that type of thing there's no other luxury goods stores around there i think brunella cucinelli will open and it will become a development because hermes was there first, but it will require people to, it will be a destination.

28:37And I don't know, it's just a really interesting, once again, it's such a good lesson for the industry at large. I don't think people should try to copy Hermes, that won't work. But the idea of like, this stuff just happens and we need to manage through it and manage the process instead of having a sort of there's no panicking at that company is the indication that I get. Yeah, that's interesting. Do you think that's also because it's a universe, it exists within a universe of its own making? It's that similar thing of not really ever looking beyond their own shoulders? Well, I think yes. And it's it'll be interesting to see who they did pick, because if it is someone if it was someone like grace or someone like you said matu is in the conversation it'll be like nadege is in the conversation but of but within the hermes language and she also was not um i'm such a fan oh i love i love love her and just like her depth like the yeah like the way that the collections change but stay the same.

29:55She's a true designer. Yes. And I think whoever it is, whether it's a name or not, it will be a true designer. And it's funny, when Chanel was looking, I remember hearing from people inside that they were like, we are going to treat this more like Hermes treats their designers, which is that their job is to design the collection and not to drive the entire business. And there's been a lot of talk in the industry recently because of something the new caring CEO Luca DeMeo said about this 20 % rule where 20 % of the business should be direct runway, direct from the runway, and 80 % should be everything else.

30:37And the thing is like Chanel, Hermes, they've been operating, whether or not it's exactly 20, operating like this forever. And I see our entrenchment back to sort of the old playbook in a responsible way. Like someone designs a collection, they should not be responsible for the profits of the entire business for the next 20 years. The collection needs to sort of enhance the rest of the business. And so it'll be interesting to see who it ends up being. Is there, I almost hope it's someone like Nadege's profile, someone who was at a lot of different places behind the scenes and had a very, very good reputation and then is able to create something completely new and her own.

31:28And I've really enjoyed I know you and I have talked about this idea of like sexy dressing and and empowering dressing a lot in the last couple of years. And I think she is what she's done there is like example number one of that. Like it's not like she is making stuff that is overtly sexy, but it's super sexual and super like. Makes you feel good to put it on. But is there anyone on the menswear side that you think could be an interesting person that you would or a kind of person you'd like to see them hire? So I was thinking about this earlier, and this is not this is not the right person. But someone who feels like Teddy Santis to me, who really creates a universe based on heritage, feels like the right profile.

32:25yeah you know honestly like a Michael Ryder yeah totally totally too bad he's taken um but yeah I know what you mean I think um there's so much opportunity in menswear and especially now that women and men sort of shop over each other overlap so much like men shop women women shop men and I really liked Veronique's collections and they were in the conversation in an interesting way and there were people who really didn't like it. It's interesting. There were people who were obsessed with it and people who didn't like it at all. It was weirdly polarizing in that, which I don't think happens in menswear a ton but I think you're right that there is just, The other big thing about Hermes that people don't realize is it's not cheap.