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Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. ’Tis the season to order the new issue of
L’Étiquette Femme.
It’s Inner Circle day in these parts (trade up here). Puck is worth your while always, but especially today. Up top, you’ll find all you need to know about Prada and Zegna’s Q1 2026 numbers, and a peek at Jacques Marie Mage’s fundraising deck. I’ve
also got an on-the-ground report from Tory Burch’s breakfast at the Pierre this morning honoring Anna Wintour.
Plus, by popular demand, I’m evaluating Delphine Arnault’s tenure so far at Dior. Jonathan Anderson’s first resort collection show in the new David Geffen Galleries at LACMA, on May 13, will be a critical moment for the brand. Has the eldest Arnault lived up to the virtually impossible
expectations?
Tomorrow on Fashion People, my guest is Nili Lotan. We talk about her life in New York, starting a business at 47, and motherhood. She is inspiring. Listen here and here.
Finally, as you may know, I’m
in New York for a few days. Yes, I wanna see you, too! To kick things off tonight, I’m co-hosting a private, off-the-record dinner with Glamsquad C.E.O. David Goldweitz and a few of our favorite founders. More on that tomorrow.
Also mentioned in this issue: Xavier Niel, Bernard Arnault, Chloe Malle, Le Nouvel Obs, Gianluca Tagliabue, Mark Guiducci, Matthieu
Blazy, Asics, Lauren Weisberger, Hélène Mercier-Arnault, Sidney Toledano, Sara Moonves, Moët Hennessy, Amy Odell, Biarritz, Chris de Lapuente, Haider Ackermann, Michael Burke, Leslie Fremar, Sam Lobban, and more… |
Four Things You Should
Know…
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- An
eye-opening prospect: Fashion itself might be struggling, but there is more interest than ever from both consumers and investors in adjacent categories like fine jewelry, shoes, lingerie, luggage, and… eyewear. The sunglasses category is a growth engine for both LVMH and Kering, which have been busy taking back businesses from licensors and snapping up smaller brands with vertical supply chains in an effort to profit even more from high-margin SKUs. Consumers are interested in newish, niche
brands, from Thistles and Maison Bonnet to Eyevan 7285 and E.B. Meyrowitz. It all reminds me of what happened a decade ago in fragrance, when niche perfume labels became the go-to instead of designer-tagged scents.
One breakout name is Los Angeles–based Jacques Marie Mage, whose current investors are looking to raise more cash, presumably to fund more retail expansion, according to multiple sources. I’m told the company’s fundraising deck promised a $100 million run rate, with a valuation
north of $400 million. One could assume that the margins on a pair of Jacques Marie Mages, which retail for more than $900, are pretty high—but they are also probably a lot more expensive to produce than a pair made by eyewear supergroup EssilorLuxottica, since the volume of product sold is lower. Anyway, the high valuation also has to do with the excellent returns on physical retail and product category expansion opportunities. So, will Jacques Marie Mage get its Byredo-style exit in
the end? If you know, call me!
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A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR |
Agentic commerce isn’t a future concept. It’s already reshaping how people shop. Static storefronts are giving way to
guided, conversational experiences that don’t just surface products. They drive decisions and conversion in real time. Swap’s Agentic Commerce 101 breaks down what’s real and what it means for brands right now. Inside: |
• What agentic commerce is and why most AI tools don’t qualify • Why AI discovery platforms aren’t built to convert for your brand • Why owning your AI experience and your data is becoming non-negotiable |
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- Tory
on Anna: This morning, I ventured to the second-floor ballroom at the Pierre for the Tory Burch Foundation’s second annual Founders Breakfast, honoring several of the entrepreneurs the foundation has backed, as well as Anna Wintour, who is in the midst of a Met Gala-meets-Devil Wears Prada media blitz. As you know, Burch is the ultimate fashion industry ambassador, and something of a politician in the most positive sense. Her foundation is helping
a group of women who wouldn’t typically have a chance to build generational wealth, which is admirable.
Speaking of generational wealth, almost every female New Yorker with a fat checkbook—real or virtual—was in that room today, from Wendi Deng Murdoch to Natalie Massenet, who sat next to Tory Burch C.E.O. (and Tory Burch husband) Pierre-Yves Roussel at the head table. At least two women were wearing my same Chanel jacket. (Truly,
everyone was either in Tory or Chanel, or a mix of the two.) Like Wintour, who was honored for her “entrepreneurial spirit,” Burch has the ability to inspire people to show up.
To wrap the breakfast, Burch and Wintour sat for a fireside chat. I’m not going to act like anything revelatory was said, but there were a couple of honest moments. On the Met, Wintour said she “fell into” the “30-year-plus second job,” which will ultimately be her most lasting legacy. Of course, Burch also asked
Wintour about her changed position within Condé Nast. The editor spoke with admiration about American Vogue head Chloe Malle and Vanity Fair lead Mark Guiducci and said she hoped that W magazine editor-in-chief Sara Moonves, who was seated with her former colleagues, would “come back someday. She’s the best of the best.” - The Prada sitch: The Prada Group’s first-quarter
results underscored what we already learned from LVMH and Kering: The American market is super strong, China is picking up, and Europe and the Middle East, where war is closer to everyday reality, are still struggling. Prada slightly missed analyst expectations, causing shares to dip slightly in after-hours trading, but executives trumpeted the U.S. boom—retail sales up 15 percent year over year—as well as a bump in wholesale.
About a decade ago, Prada famously backed away from nearly all
its wholesale contracts, but in a market like this, where Saks Global is recapitalized, it makes sense to go a little deeper. Also, Prada quietly readjusted some of its pricing. Most consumers wouldn’t notice, but friends who were invited to pre-buy the collection remarked that they had less sticker shock than in seasons past, especially when it came to coats and jackets, which can creep into the five figures.
The big challenge here is Miu Miu, which was proliferating fast but has, as
Bernstein’s Luca Solca put it, “decelerated even faster than expected.” “The bar [for Miu Miu] is now high,” group C.E.O. Andrea Guerra said on a call with investors, noting that the brand remains underpenetrated in the U.S., where lots of the opportunity seems to be these days for everyone. As for Versace, not much to report, other than they are busy “simplifying the business model, … particularly in terms of sales channels and discounting.”
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A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR |
Agentic commerce isn’t a future concept. It’s already reshaping how people shop. Static storefronts are giving way to
guided, conversational experiences that don’t just surface products. They drive decisions and conversion in real time. Swap’s Agentic Commerce 101 breaks down what’s real and what it means for brands right now. Inside: |
• What agentic commerce is and why most AI tools don’t qualify • Why AI discovery platforms aren’t built to convert for your brand • Why owning your AI experience and your data is becoming non-negotiable |
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| Malique Morris
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- Zegna-bucks: On Thursday,
Zegna Group reported a 3 percent year-over-year revenue jump, to €470 million, in the first quarter of 2026, beating analysts’ estimates. Growth was driven by the flagship brand, where sales rose 6 percent on the back of strong performance in North America. Tom Ford chugged along with a modest 0.4 percent increase, and can now start to pull real growth levers to buttress Haider Ackermann’s pitch-perfect vision. On a Thursday earnings call, Zegna Group C.E.O.
Gianluca Tagliabue said a new handbag is on the way.
Thom Browne, the group’s perpetual laggard, logged a 58 percent drop at wholesale, but its D.T.C. business grew by 10 percent. (Its sneaker collaboration with Asics was a hit.) Tagliabue assured investors that the brand will pull back on wholesale and ramp up the direct channel. One could assume that Thom Browne C.E.O. Sam Lobban is looking to forge more collaborations and make them D.T.C. exclusives.
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Three years in at Dior, there’s still some lingering skepticism about whether Bernard
Arnault’s eldest daughter was suited to lead a turnaround at the world’s second-biggest soft luxury brand. But there are signs that her massive bet on Jonathan Anderson is working. Frankly, the group needs it to. |
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At LVMH’s annual general meeting in Paris last week, chairman and C.E.O. Bernard Arnault’s
premonition about a potential world catastrophe resulting from the escalating conflict in the Middle East sucked up all the oxygen—for all the obvious reasons. “Either it’ll be a world catastrophe with very serious and very negative economic impact—in which case, who can say how 2026 will unfold?” he said. “Or it will be resolved more rapidly in some shape or form that we all hope for, even if it doesn’t seem to be easy—in which case, business will recover and resume their normal
course.” Less attention was paid, unsurprisingly, to the statements made by his children, who each presented on their own current projects.
Jean talked Louis Vuitton watches, Frédéric spoke of still-growing Loro Piana, Alexandre shared progress made at Moët Hennessy, and Antoine touched upon the group’s sustainability efforts. But it was Delphine—B.A.’s eldest child, only daughter, and C.E.O. of Dior—who
delivered the most memorable remarks. After all, Dior is the second-largest soft luxury brand in the portfolio, behind only Louis Vuitton. It’s also in the midst of a difficult turnaround. Naturally, investors want to know how it’s going.
In her own words, Delphine described her first three years running the business as “daunting,” while underscoring that there was “something of a revolution” happening under creative director Jonathan Anderson, who will
present his first Cruise collection (the last of his “first” collections across men’s, women’s, and couture) on May 13 in the acclaimed new David Geffen Galleries at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. She also took a minute to run through her C.V., reminding everyone that she started in the shoe division of Christian Dior in 2001 and then moved over to become Michael Burke’s “number two” at Louis Vuitton during the 2010s before, finally, at 47, being appointed C.E.O. of Dior
in 2023.
Of course, the Arnault family testimonies were a response, at least in part, to a broad, sweeping investigation published days earlier by Le Nouvel Obs, a prestigious weekly magazine part-owned by Delphine’s husband, the media and tech entrepreneur Xavier Niel. The three-part series, informed by more than 30 hours of interviews, aimed to capture the state of the succession situation. And yet Delphine was barely mentioned. For whatever
reason, the reporters decided to focus more on family drama—in particular, Niel’s strained relationship with Delphine’s stepmother, Hélène Mercier-Arnault—and less on business performance. |
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It was a missed opportunity: Dior is the biggest story at LVMH right now, and perhaps the definitive
microcosm of the myriad challenges facing the luxury industry writ large. Delphine is at the center of it all. |
When Delphine was appointed at Dior, luxury was still on top, but the product was growing stale and
discontent was growing among consumers. When things finally broke down, she was left to pick up the pieces—overseeing multiple operational reorganizations, the replacement of separate men’s and women’s creative directors with a single head, and, more recently, supply chain challenges that have been covered closely (rightly or wrongly) in the alternative press. These issues are not unique to Dior. Gucci also reorged multiple times, replaced its creative director, and dealt with
supply chain challenges during the same time period. But Gucci is not run by the eldest child of Bernard Arnault.
Internally, there’s skepticism regarding whether Delphine was the right person to install at Dior at this juncture. None of the LVMH execs have real turnaround experience, but at least many of them have led a major brand before. While Alexandre has become something of a Mr. Fixit within the group—at Rimowa, Tiffany, and now, Moët Hennessy—he’s always had a much more
senior operational partner by his side. Delphine has been equipped with multiple deputies and advisors (like former Dior C.E.O. Sidney Toledano and Chris de Lapuente, the former C.E.O. of Sephora), but the buck stops with her.
Ultimately, Delphine has made a massive bet on the talent and capabilities of Anderson, and it seems likely that he will succeed in transforming Dior into a singular,
modern brand with a dedicated customer base. There are already indications that it’s working, with appetite increasing in key markets including China and the U.S. However, the public’s obsession with the new Chanel is also affecting how his Dior is being perceived: The incredibly close coverage and warm feelings toward Matthieu Blazy’s Biarritz collection ensure that Anderson’s LACMA show will be scrutinized even more intensely. As Delphine heads to Los Angeles, her focus,
undoubtedly, will be ensuring that V.I.C. clients are happy with what they see. Anderson can’t afford a letdown, and neither can she. |
Saks Global C.E.O. Geoffroy van Raemdonck announced
more layoffs today, which I previewed a couple of weeks ago. Van Raemdonck noted that the board has “made the important decision to right-size our corporate organization and concentrate our resources on critical capabilities that will drive profitable growth.” I’ll have more details in the coming days regarding who was let go, and how everyone who’s
still there is feeling. Meanwhile, if you were in today’s town hall, send me your feedback. [My Texts]
The best Devil Wears Prada coverage so far? Chloe Malle lassoing a large handful of former Anna Wintour assistants—including Leslie Fremar, the original inspiration
for Emily—for podcasts, screenings, etcetera. It was a fun, smart, novel way to skin it. She even got Lauren Weisberger, the author of the original roman à clef, to contribute an essay about life after Vogue. She currently lives on a fishing trawler. (Look it up.)
There is so much to say about the Disneyfication of fashion, the decline of legacy media, and the power of I.P. in Hollywood as it pertains to this movie. But Weisberger back
in Vogue is also a reminder that we might all still be afraid of making eye contact with Anna Wintour if she hadn’t poked the bear 23 years ago. The September Issue may have never happened. Amy Odell may have never written her book. It is important to speak truth to power, I promise.
[The Run-Through and Vogue]
I hear that a string of retailers—including Sidney Garber—will participate in May Day Strong, the “no work, no school, no shopping” protests
that are taking place tomorrow, May 1. [The Guardian]
If you have a crush on New York magazine editor-in-chief David Haskell (it’s okay), you might want to go check out the first solo exhibition of his sculptures. [Instagram]
People at LVMH really like Jean Arnault. He might be the favorite child among executives! [Bloomberg]
Amanda Dobbins, the world’s foremost expert on The Devil Wears Prada, offers her unvarnished opinion on 2. She
convinced me that I need to go see it. Also, it’s going to be a ginormous hit. [The Big Picture]
Air Mail is hiring a photo editor. [Why Not Apply?]
Think of getting your colors done as you do getting your chart read: totally necessary
and unnecessary at once. [Soft Power] |
Until tomorrow,
Lauren
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