NYFW Fears & GQ’s New Groove

Lauren Sherman (0:01)

There will always be people who can afford Celine Reebok sneakers, but what people don't realize is that the middle class drives a lot of sales for these brands.

Peter Hamby (0:14)

Welcome to The Powers That Be Daily, Pucks podcast focused on the intersection of Wall Street, Washington, Silicon Valley and Hollywood, and the players who run it all. I'm Peter Hamby. It's Friday, September 11th. Today, I'm joined by Lauren Sherman, who brings us The Dish from New York Fashion Week, where insiders are concerned about a pullback in luxury spending. And they're still gossiping about Anna Wintour's failed attempt to celebrate John Galliano. Lauren also breaks down Adam Baidawi's challenge as editor of GQ, a storied title that Baidawi is promising to refresh for a new generation.

We'll discuss all that and much more on today's episode of The Powers That Be.

Happy Friday everybody and welcome to The Powers That Be. Got a very special guest today. She came all the way across the pond for New York Fashion Week. That would be my line sheet colleague, Lauren Sherman, who I haven't talked to since she was featured in Vanity Fair. We're going to talk about New York Fashion Week. We're also going to talk about GQ's new-ish editor and how he's doing over there at the Condé Nast property. Lauren, great to see you. My mom texted me on Wednesday. She still subscribes to Vanity Fair print. And she was like, oh, your friend is in the magazine. I hope the feedback has been very good.

Lauren Sherman (1:44)

It's been nice. It's been nice.

Peter Hamby (1:46)

I thought it was a fair profile.

Lauren Sherman (1:48)

I agree.

Peter Hamby (1:49)

A lot of puck haters out there, but you can stay on background. You can stay on background, guys.

Lauren Sherman (1:55)

You know, a lot of people are jealous of us, Peter.

Peter Hamby (2:01)

Anyway, Lauren, give me the headlines from New York Fashion Week. This time of year, every year, I feel like I've known you three, four years now. You are either in Milan, New York. I can't keep track of the fashion weeks. I think you're going to Des Moines Fashion Week in a couple of weeks. But we'll have a touch base from there. What's the big news out of New York this fall season?

Lauren Sherman (2:22)

I would say the biggest thing is that there was a report, I believe in Bloomberg, that there is a luxury slowdown coming for the US. The luxury market has been doing really well in the US. So I'd say the shows this week, we'll see Calvin Klein, Tommy Hilfiger is showing after that big Travis Kelsey campaign.

Dime von Furstenberg is a new designer, Henry Zankoff, they're showing tons of stuff happening in the next five or six days. But I would say, I think that the slowdown that's coming, the US market was like sort of the last market to keep performing, is making everybody a little bit nervous.

Peter Hamby (3:02)

Well, what specifically are they worried about?

Lauren Sherman (3:04)

Well, look, like, especially the luxury brands. Dior did a big thing on Thursday night at the Cherry Lane Theatre with A24.

Celine launched their Reebok collection on Wednesday night. These brands are really relying on this market to move them forward. And so, yeah, it's back to school. The September Fashion Week is always really celebratory. There were the CFDA Council of Fashion Designer announcement on Wednesday. And so, you know, young designers like Emily Don Long and Sophie Buhai and Zane Lee, they're celebrating being nominated for an award right now. Everybody's in a pretty happy mood, but, you know, I'm always, I'm a realist, Peter, and I am always thinking about in the background, like, what does this mean in the broader context if people aren't spending as much on shoes and handbags and clothes?

Peter Hamby (3:59)

Maybe this is a political narrative from my beats, but do we not live in a world with, you know, a bunch of wealthy people, a shrinking middle class, and then people who could never afford some of these luxury goods? Like, the luxury slowdown, am I being mistaken when I think that there's always going to be people with disposable income in the United States who can afford some Celine Reebok sneakers?

Lauren Sherman (4:26)

There will always be people who can afford Celine Reebok sneakers, but what people don't realize is that the middle class drives a lot of sales for these brands. If you're really high end, if you're Hermes, you're a little safer right now, because it's only people who can afford five, six-figure handbags that are really shopping there on that level, and they're not selling tons of lipsticks yet. They do have beauty. But I would say that for a lot of the bigger, like the Mastige luxury brands, the middle class is a big deal for them. Louis Vuitton is doing super, super well right now, but part of that is the middle class. It's their first entry into luxury. Gucci, same thing. They've had an uptick in the US after struggling for a long time. They need this market. So we'll see. It's not going to, look, people with money spend their money, but it's just something I'm thinking about in the context of they're so reliant on this market in particular.