Manus Operandi

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2:56Hello 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 Irish-born New York-based designer, Maria McManus. We're talking about her life in fashion, her life in New York, her life building a no BS brand, and plenty more. Before 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.

3:53Just go to puck.news slash fashion people to join puck or start a free trial. Happy Friday, everyone. Hope you had a good week. If you came out last night to our live podcast taping at Nine Orchard, I thank you and a massive thank you to Elizabeth Vondergold from Poshmark for hosting and to Indra Rockefeller and Rory, and Rory, and Rory, I never could do ours, Satrin for joining us on stage. We talked about good taste or what that even means. The episode will run very soon. On Wednesday, I also hosted a dinner with Jane Siskin, founder of Cinque Set at Dean's. It was a 25 person group. And I'm sure you guys know about these dinners.

4:41They're very famous. But whatever the partner wants, I kind of organize it around that. And a lot of times people want like CEOs. A lot of times people want Derek Blasberg. Sometimes he obliges. This time, they wanted people who would have an opinion about kind of what's happening in the fashion industry. So I was very specific and chose people who maybe don't even work in fashion, but are adjacent or know a lot of the players. And it's a really interesting conversation. And the food was really good. And Jane and Sean Lewis from Sinkassette, they were great. Thanks for bringing us all together.

5:17We had a really good time. Jane has built this business over 10 years, but she's been in the business since the 70s. And it was interesting to learn more about her. I want to run the podcast sooner than later. After that dinner, I walked four minutes with Alex Bigler, my lovely puck partner, to Alistair McKim's dinner for Prototype and promised I wouldn't share any gossip from the dinner. We had a great time. It was so nice, and it was very nice to be included. I'm a huge admirer of Alistair. And I just want to say, I mentioned this in line sheet, but there were a lot of media people there. Ava from W Youth, which is way better than W Youth.

6:02you could have done gen w sarah moonvez but i forgive you sarah was also there and so was mel ottenberg from interview these are obviously three of my favorite editors and people who who i really respect but i also think the fact that they're friends and they're all sort of like pushing each other to do interesting stuff i don't know it was great and mark jacobs was there and Tom Sachs and Sarah Hoover. It was and Arthur Jeff. Like it was Susan Kappa, second shout out in a week. So it was great. I had a great time. I'm very tired. And then on Thursday, if you read the issue, I wrote about Anthony Vaccarello leaving Saint Laurent.

6:42So that took up a lot of my mourning when I wasn't at shows and things. So I am going to some shows. And I will hopefully I'll see you this weekend. I'm going to Paris on Sunday night. On Tuesdays, episode. It's a jam-packed episode. We have many fun guests, but I am going to cover the Tom Sack Chanel store, which is truly incredible. And if you have to go and wait three hours in line, I would do it. I didn't have to wait in line because I'm privileged, but it blew me away. I had such a great time. And we will also discuss New York Fashion Week and the US Open. and we'll discuss Anthony leaving Saint Laurent or he's about to leave or whatever.

7:24He has one more show, but I gotta go. See you soon and let's get going with Maria. Maria McManus, welcome to Fashion People. Welcome back to Fashion People. Thank you so much, Lauren. I'm very excited to be here. I feel like we see each other. We're like ships passing in the night, so it's actually nice to get a minute to sit down and chat. I agree. I feel like, interestingly, we do more together outside of like traditional fashion week or like I'll see you during fashion week. But we've actually spent a lot of time together outside of the fashion world. Yeah. Like in Pilates. And also at random dinners.

8:08Right. Yeah. I'm excited to be able to. It was really fun. And the first time you were on Fashion People, it was this panel that we did in Midtown with Nick Brown and Todd Snyder. And it was great. It was a lot around tariffs and being a designer in the U.S. And it was really nice. But I'm glad that we get to talk about the Maria McManus of it all. First question, though, what did you have for breakfast? So I don't speak to anybody in the morning, Lauren, until I've had a massive pot of Irish tea, whipped milk. So that's my go-to. And then I usually make like a home make a muesli. We love food in this house.

8:48We're big like cookers and we love finding new restaurants. And my husband's an incredible cook. So like family dinner is like a big thing in our house. Everybody has to sit at the table. But for breakfast, I usually make a muesli of like flaxseed and dried coconut and hemp seeds and chia seeds. and put it on a little yogurt with fruit and a little honey. And that's usually my go-to morning snack. It sounds delicious. I have a couple follow-up questions. One is, one thing I've realized is one of the reasons I feel close to you is I've been to your home many times because you host a lot of things at your house.

9:33Like not just you'll do, sometimes you'll do like a trunk show or a fashion week presentation and you've also done talks there. It's a beautiful loft and you always really do have amazing food. Thank you. And your husband's in the restaurant business, right? Yeah, he owns, still is. He owns gastropubs in the city and in Queens, actually. Oh, cool. I mean, I've been to them in the city, but so what the third or fourth question in this is what restaurant do you recommend? I'm coming to New York. I'll probably have one night where I don't have to go to something. Where should I go? So I went to Bistro Ha recently.

10:16Obsessed. Okay. I've been wanting to go. So good. Really loved everything about it. And it's low-key. I really loved it. I also went with the Bergdorf girls. Grace and Sarah, we went to because they're big foodies too. We went to Le Chien on Carmine. Oh, I don't. Oh, wait. It's super chic and tiny and French, but delicious. You know, I barely know about this, which, you know, one of my things is knowing about all the new restaurants and going to them. No, but it's hard. Before people who live in the city go to them. Oh, my. Is it really? I didn't know this. I love. It is my one thing where I'm like, I have to be one of the first people to go to these restaurants.

11:06My friend Amanda says it's actually her husband is like this also. And it's kind of annoying because sometimes the restaurants aren't good yet. So you go too early. Yeah. And they haven't figured out the kinks. Yeah. And so I've been trying, especially in a place like L.A. where the restaurants are not the same level of London or New York. Right. So it is like I went to Vesper in London really early and it was. Not good. awesome it was amazing it was amazing i haven't was so good do you know that guy jackson boxer i i'm sort of like i feel like you would be you would be connected to him be into yeah i don't know him it was awesome and i went like the second week so but i've it was great and it's it's in clerk and well so it's not um if you don't stay far wet like most of his restaurants i guess are very he's apparently very famous there I don't like like this generation's Jamie Oliver or something wow but um but I had never been it was very very good yeah it was good but like in LA you got to give people a couple minutes yeah because it's just not the same level um but in New York yeah I always have a list and I'm like I gotta go to especially like the group like the hearts group the king group the uh marlo group the the like the the restaurant groups of like the younger restaurateurs i uh you know the ignacio restaurants like i if there's a new one i have to go to you have to see yeah they're all so good though like i'm still obsessed with the last meal i had at borgo it was so good so good i was just talking about borgo with someone i i did Chantal and I did our book party there and it was one of the first.

12:59So chic. And Jay Strell, who works with them on comms, he helped us get it. And it was like one of the first parties they did or maybe the first. It was like second week or whatever. It was amazing. So thanks to Jay. But I was saying to someone like, if you're going to get married, just have your wedding at Borgo. Right? So chic. And just. Yeah. It's just. It's the right. But there's so much good food. I was thinking about this a few days ago. I feel like there's really good food in New York right now. And I would not have said that like six or seven years ago. Yeah. Yeah, that's it. Why? What do you think changed?

13:40Especially because you're in it, like you're in the business and you all in your husband's had his his restaurants for like 15 years, right? Oh, even longer, Lauren. I think one was 20 years old last year. Oh, my God. Yeah. And I mean, you know, I was listing. Yeah. Did he have, was he connected to the fat radish? No. No. Okay. You know who he was connected to initially was the guys at Mamafuku. So our friend Kino, he worked at Mamafuku for years. And so, I mean, I don't know. We can go on for days here, but I feel like you like this stuff. So he, his first car. I'll curb it in a minute. I want a little more.

14:25Yeah, exactly. Exactly. His first business he opened with actually somebody I went to school with in Dublin and his best friend. They open a tiny bar on St. Mark's. It's the second oldest business on St. Mark's right now after Mogador. What is it called? it's called bua okay oh yes i remember it yeah teeny tiny you sit on the patio like total dive this place is a total dive i used to go there i used to go there yeah so like so cute so the guys from omofuku because they had just opened up around the corner they used to drink there they make their food and so we became very friendly with them and so they then our our second place was Wolfie and Nell in the West Village.

15:12And they, Kino did the food for there. And it was just like super simple, 10 items, delicious. So that was sort of the genesis of that whole thing. And now all the way to Queens, which it shows how much the city has transformed. How did you end up in New York? Because we actually go further back than we realized because we share Morgan and Eden. We share more. Exactly. Exactly. She does listen sometimes. So I bet she'll listen to this episode and be very excited. Oh, my God. I should have WhatsAppped her. She'll she'll listen. She does. She texts me sometimes. I just saw her in London a couple of months ago.

15:55But but tell me, how did you end up in New York? How did you become a New Yorker? Yeah. Okay. So I am obviously, well, maybe not so obviously Irish. I'm from Ireland, went to school there, but studied international marketing in Japanese. So I studied for a year in Japan. And then it's very, and I always thought I would go back to Japan. I was obsessed, like best year of my life, so much, just loved it culturally, everything about us. But then when I graduated, it's a really normal thing for Irish and English students to travel. We can get that visa where you can go to Australia and work there for a year.

16:37So a bunch of us headed off. One of my friends, Lisa and I, we did like Southeast Asia for six weeks, just backpacking around. landed in Australia, worked in Sydney, traveled around Australia, came to New Zealand. And then a very close friend of mine who is now my husband's business partner was in New York. So we just came here on the way back to Ireland. And I was like, wait a minute, this is, how can I leave? So I parked my ass in his apartment, slept on his floor in Astoria, Queens. Your now husband, that's where he was living? It was my husband. My husband hadn't actually got here yet because he's also Irish.

17:25It's his business partner. So that's how small the world is. So they eventually went into business together. Oh, my God. So it was 2000, pre-September 11th. And I think that's important because visa things changed dramatically, but there was a little bit more of a lenience. Interesting. If you got here pre-September 11th, basically. Wow. And then just work my little ass off to be sponsored. Can you even imagine how hard it is to find new jobs and then be like, and they would love you, right? you've got an accent you're already one up on everybody else but then you would say oh but I need my visa to be sponsored it was so hard but then I started working with Morgan at Eden so that's a whole other story because that was obviously a collection that I was extremely passionate about because it was Irish led it was altruistic we thought we were going to bring trade to Africa, the naivety of us.

18:40Did you know Ali and Bono before you got involved with it, like being cool and Irish? Well, my very close friend, I mean, it's the whole story is kind of crazy. So my very close friend was Bono's personal assistant. So she and I were mates in New York. And then she got a call one day being like, hey, because, you know, Ireland's small, we all know this it's still tiny so she moved back to dublin to be bono's pa and she called me one day and was like listen ali and bono they're amazing ali's starting this brand i want you to meet with her and like ali and i basically look the same we're like sisters from another mister so it was like love at first size and i worked there for about i think i was there for about two years, two or three years.

19:38And what were you doing there? Were you doing merchandising or a little bit of everything? Yeah, I was doing sales. I mean, I think we all did a little bit of everything, but it was a really talented team. Bridget Russo was there. Morgan was there. Rogan. So I worked with Rogan. He was the creative director. He was the creative director when you were there. Yeah, yeah. It was such an amazing experience. ironically I live on Franklin and we worked on Franklin like it's so funny I remember that office right because I went there through many um creative directors who I I ended up becoming very close with Danielle Sherman I mean look I'm wearing oh yes you and she I totally and I go way back this is so funny I I know you two have like done um projects together but I never even thought about the fact that you had Eden in common.

20:32Oh, it's so funny. I still wear this knit that she made. I wore it to a dinner here. I wear it all the time. I also have a pair of little pull-on pants that she did. People always think it's vintage something. She's so talented. She is truly just such a talent um yeah but this top is just so beautiful and such a little angel i love her yeah but it was it was such an interesting i had such a weird not weird but like unique look at it because before imran started business of fashion which you know this he was like kind of involved in eden too because he he consulted for pierre eve so like yeah i just always had and also Morgan I know Morgan we're talking um you guys go way back yeah because Morgan and I Morgan George shout out to Morgan her best friend from growing up was my colleague at Forbes and then she married one of my other colleagues at Forbes Matt who ended up becoming the managing director of Net-A-Porter at some point so like Matt was the real estate reporter and I was the lifestyle reporter and we all used to hang out like in 2006 when Morgan lived in the Trump one of the Trump Towers with her friend she's gonna be you know what she won't care I don't even think she ever told me she lived in a Trump Tower she lived in a Trump Tower with like one of her friends who was like I don't know it was like I never went she's like you never came I'm like no but she was cool she was always like hanging out with the cool celebrities and stuff I know yeah it was it was such a fun we worked really hard like you really worked hard and we all but we all believed it in so much and it was such a great crazy time and you would just yeah it was like I became friends with Christy Turlington we're still friends to this day but that's all through all through Eden oh my god yeah another like really solid human being I don't know but I have many people who are very good friends with her and she seems he's incredible yeah she just the best.

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24:34Okay, so you're at Eden and you're doing like a bunch of different stuff. Then what's your sort of path? You established yourself in Tribeca. I don't even think, no, we only moved in here like eight years ago, nine years ago. So I don't even know oh we were living on a dirty old loft on broom street at that point like it was it wasn't even a a live space it was completely illegal just a shithole loft um it's now stunning i can't remember who's in there like i think matter and matter changed it into their like gorgeous perfect showroom at one point i did an appointment there one day and i was like looking for furniture And I was like, hang on a second.

25:21I lived here. You know, now it's gorgeous. But worked at Eden and was like, you know what? I really love this merchandising element of my job, but I don't think this scope is big enough that I'm really going to learn anything. and my next move I went to Club Monaco and started off as a baby merchant at Club Monaco and was there because it was owned by Ralph Lauren at the time and it was just an incredible experience. Were you there when Aaron Levine was there? Yeah, I was there with Aaron. Yeah. So that was like a real moment. And Jenny Olsen maybe? Wow. Jenny Olsen, no. Not Jenny Olsen, but Caroline Bellhumer, who's now creative director at Vince.

26:13Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was an amazing team. And we worked hard. We learned hard. We, you know, it was really sort of, I call it my master's in the industry because you're literally working on product from the very, very beginning, like merchandising plan all the way through first proto. setting up the showrooms because we did absorb that sort of ralph lauren model yeah where you it's really about okay well what is the customer walking into and and we really bought from that beauty you know like create the beauty and then the customer will follow yeah what how much like were there executives from ralph lauren kind of watching the business because it is true when you go into I mean I haven't been in one since it was bought by Regent who also owns Bali and many other things shout out to Michael Reinstein but it used to feel like you could really feel that it was owned by Ralph Lauren because you walk in and like you're walking into someone's home it wasn't the same home but it was a home and like you get the feeling of who is supposed to be buying this product, which is interesting.

27:31Yeah, I think the story goes that Ralph was casting models back in, I don't know, maybe late 90s, early 2000s. I can't remember what year they bought us. And he's like, who are those trousers? Who are those trousers? And every model would say Club Monaco because they make long inseams. So he became really curious about it and eventually bought it. And it was the only acquisition they ever made. But to answer your question, yeah, we got a lot of mentorship from Roger Farah specifically. Oh, wow. Which was, you know, you get one sentence from Roger Farah and you're like, okay, amazing, check. Yeah.

28:15And John Meehas was our CEO and he also had come from the Roger Farah world. I know John, yeah. Yeah. We had a lot of good mentors who were very patient with us because we were all quite young. Yeah. And did you go with them to Tori? Because they both ended up at Tori Birch, too. Yes. But maybe a different—I mean, I think Roger was at Tori Birch for longer. No, you're right. You're right. Yeah. Yeah, you are— Did they recruit you or did you just— They recruited me. They recruited me. That's amazing. So, yeah, John was like, this is going to be an amazing experience. We're doing, because at that point they were bringing on all new designers, Benjamin Bruno, and Pierre-Yves, I guess, was probably peripherally involved at that point.

29:06Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I definitely think I would create decks for Tori, and she was, like, emailing them on to Pierre-Yves to say, is this any good? Does she know what she's talking about? Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah. So I went there and I was there for three years with Tori. And what did you learn from Tori? Who to me is just like very steely and amazing. She's incredible. She's, I mean, I think Tori is a badass in the most gentle womanly way known to man. Totally, yeah. If that makes sense. Yes. it's just you know the way she enters a room the way she deals with everybody um she's just a woman to be reckoned with you know yes in in her in her just spirits she's just she's a kind person there's people working at tori who've been there from you know she talks about around the kitchen table, which ironically, we pretty much work around my kitchen table.

30:16She talks about the, and those people are sort of, most of them are still there. Very loyal. It's amazing. Shout out to Frances. Oh, I'm seeing tomorrow night for dinner. An honor. Do you know Honor Brody? Yes. Wonderful. Amazing. Like just, she, she had kind of an original crew who are just like good people. Yeah, I think the thing I like so much about Tori is that she seems to really know herself and she's very self-aware and you could tell like she's a human being who struggles with things. But she, I don't know if it's that she's not self-conscious or something, or if she is self-conscious, she's okay with that.

31:03She's just like okay with the fact that life isn't perfect. somehow. It's like a comfort in her own skin, I think. Yes. Which is, which is interesting, given that she looks perfect. Yeah. But I just feel a tremendous amount of respect and affection for her in this way. I really think she should run for office. Like, oh, my God, she'd be incredible. She really was. She has the same thing Cindy Levy has, which is like makes people feel very comfortable and safe somehow, even though she's going to push people. She really does push people. But I actually it's funny that you mentioned this because I'm remembering back to the first time I met with her to interview with her.

31:52And I think all we talked about was politics for the, you know, for the entire hour, because it's, you know, it's obviously a passion of hers and obviously a passion of mine. like you know there's so much altruism within how she has created that organization and what she's personally involved in and the foundation and and all the things yeah so let's let's go on to your work because you there's a lot of altruism in your work too and i think what you share with these companies that you worked for is this thing of like you really want to do things the right way and it's not necessarily about doing it because you think you have to it's because you you know it's right so tell me about your namesake brand and how why you wanted to do it and and then we can get into the um which I'm sure you've told the story a million times but the pandemic of it all which is like yeah completely insane but But tell me, like, what made you, because you left, did you leave Tori to do your brand?

32:59Or did you have a stop in between? Yeah, pretty much. I definitely had a stop in between. And I had given, because I was, you know, I had a very senior position there. So I think I gave them like, I don't know, six to 12 months notice or something, you know, just to give everybody enough time to plan. And I loved them all dearly. And they were so, you know, they were very good to me. but I had felt you know a lot of people especially at that time you know we're in a whole new world now where does anybody care about sustainability not Christ at the moment but I think you do but I do yeah and so I think um at that time it was very sort of topical Tori and I were talking about it I was working on different projects with her to kind of bring a little bit more sustainable vulnerability into Tori and she was, you know, really on board.