Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. Yes, Hermès also slightly missed Q1 projections—sales were still up 6 percent on an organic basis—but remember: There is a war! Everyone needs to chill just a little bit and think strategically about how to address long-term changes in consumer behavior. Excited to discuss it all with Luca Solca at Fête de la Kering tomorrow.

To talk you off the ledge, we’ve got a downright feel-good issue… mostly. First up, the scoop on how Justin Bieber’s Skylrk drop performed during the first weekend of Coachella. (I’ve got receipts.) Plus, Malique Morris has the first word on a Nike collaboration that you will definitely care about if you are a 37-year-old man living in New York, Los Angeles, or Northern Europe. Malique also reports live from the U.S. premiere of Brunello Cucinelli’s documentary. There’s tons of goodwill for him and his brand, but they really hit the jackpot when Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson decided to walk the red carpet together.

For the main event, Rachel “Rachel@puck.news” Strugatz is here with a close look at the apparently successful launch of Vada, Brittany Aldean’s new fragrance line for the MAGA set, and why there’s a real, uh, white space for brands targeting conservative consumers.

Mentioned in this issue: Brittany Aldean, Vada, Elliott Hill, Justin Bieber, Our Legacy, Brunello Cucinelli, Giuseppe Tornatore, the Allbirds situation, Martha Stewart, Oprah, Hailey Bieber, mules, Rhode, Tory Burch, Phoebe Philo, and more…

Three Things You Should Know…

The Skylrk drop that broke Coachella records: If anyone thought Justin Bieber’s fashion brand was simply a dinky Yeezy knockoff orchestrated by mysterious Canadian fixer Matt George, you might be wrong. I’m told that the Coachella drop made $5 million during the first weekend, and that broke festival records.

Yes, the fact that it was available online surely helped, but it’s still incredibly impressive and indicates that this brand may have legs. Separate from the merch, the brand also built a 10,000-square-foot “oasis” for people to hang out on custom Skylrk furniture and get misted at a cooling station. (I really hope I never have to go to Coachella.) Meanwhile, why am I suddenly emotionally invested in Justin’s health and wellness? A rep for Skylrk did not respond to a request for comment.

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Malique Morris

Legacy kicks: I’m hearing that a shoe collaboration between Nike and Our Legacy, the LVMH Luxury Ventures–backed Scandi label, is in the works. The details around the actual product (or products), as well as the timing of the release, are unclear. But it’s a promising development for the sportswear giant, which has arguably lost cultural relevance in recent years and is embarking on a turnaround under C.E.O. Elliott Hill. Meanwhile, Our Legacy has had a dominating presence in menswear in the last half-decade with its ubiquitous $710 Camion boots that every male influencer under the sun owns.

Our Legacy, which is making a bigger push into sportswear (it launched a “Workshop Sport” line last fall), seemed to foreshadow the Nike pairing on Wednesday when it posted a teaser on its site for its Workshop Sport drop, arriving this Friday, which featured some borrowed Nike products. With all of its brand heat, Our Legacy could have teamed up with anyone. But joining forces with the largest sneaker maker in the world, with ostensibly the most resources and reach, is probably the smartest move. We’ll see if consumers agree. (Nike didn’t return a request for comment. Our Legacy declined to comment.)
Cucinelli’s gratitude: Brunello Cucinelli is perhaps the only living designer who could self-finance a movie about his life that feels equally mawkish, self-serving, and sincere. To wit, at last night’s New York premiere of The Gracious Visionary, a new “docufilm” directed by Oscar-winning Italian filmmaker Giuseppe Tornatore, I believed Oprah when she appeared in the first 10 minutes of the film to note that Cucinelli designs from his soul. (A dinner after the screening with Oscar Isaac, Naomi Watts, Martha Stewart, and Shonda Rhimes helped preserve the spell.)

Cucinelli built a $1 billion ultra-luxury empire on the back of sumptuous cashmere sweaters, seemingly honest manufacturing practices, and employing locals in Solomeo and Umbria, Italy. Last year, the brand faced accusations of violating sanctions and selling goods in Russia during the war, but it emerged unscathed, mostly because people want to believe in a founder who preaches about “humanistic capitalism.”

Perhaps the doc, to be released in the U.S. on July 24, will help sell more $2,500 cable-knit sweaters—but that’s probably beside the point. Either this is the least cynical vanity project ever produced, or the most earnest advocacy for an ethical billionaire ever put to screen. The brand is one of the few luxury labels immune to cyclical downturns; why not add a glossy, high-production-value film to that legacy?

And now, over to Rachel…

Make Aldean Great Again

Brittany Aldean’s new MAGA-friendly fragrance brand, Vada, seems to have had a strong debut week. After all, conservatives shop for beauty, too—and they also happen to wield enormous spending power.

Rachel Strugatz

Life is funny. Last week, shortly after I published a brief item about Vada, a new beauty brand for the “family values” set from Brittany Aldean, a spokesperson for another company named Vada reached out to me on behalf of its founder, Katie Caplener. Coincidentally, both companies are named after their respective founders’ grandmothers, but everything else about the brands seems to be different—from their websites and logos to the products they sell.

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This P.R. person was particularly focused on articulating another critical difference. The Vada I wrote about, you’ll recall, was founded by a passionate Trump supporter and Instagram influencer who is best known as the wife of country music star Jason Aldean. And the other one, in case you didn’t know, is a small, 13-year-old, Austin-based jewelry and sunglasses line. “[Caplener],” the email read, “wants to establish the difference between her brand, which has built a community over the last decade, and a brand run by somebody with completely different political affiliations.” Apparently, Caplener’s lawyers also sent Aldean a cease-and-desist letter, but it’s hard to imagine how the consumers who’ve been buying Vada’s $600 sunglasses would think that Aldean’s $98 MAGA-friendly perfumes came from the same company.

Of course, there’s a long history of smaller labels feeling threatened by celebrity-backed ventures. Rhode NYC very publicly sued Hailey Bieber’s Rhode for trademark infringement, and the former wound up shuttering its business. And maybe Caplener does have reason to feel threatened. I’m hearing that Aldean’s Vada had a pretty big first week, despite a lack of press attention (beyond a piece in conservative women’s magazine Evie) or any backing from big-name investors. (Aldean said affiliate fees from ShopMy, LTK, and similar platforms helped her self-fund the project.)

It’s possible the reluctance to cover Vada stemmed from an off-color joke that Aldean made on Instagram several years ago, widely viewed as transphobic, when she thanked her parents for not changing her gender when she went through a tomboy phase. But despite Aldean’s past comment, the reality is that Vada has a high ceiling: Her following feels like they don’t have a space carved out for them in beauty, where there’s an abundance of virtue signaling from liberal founders who market products to customers in ways that mirror their own politics. After all, conservatives shop for beauty, too, and they also happen to wield enormous spending power.

As for the fragrance itself, the branding is universally appealing to a mass audience—and, with a price point just under $100, it’s both attainable and still aspirational for many. I’m told that Aldean and her small team worked with fragrance house Robertet, which counts Byredo as a longtime partner and is responsible for its Gypsy Water and Mojave Ghost. (Those who like Gypsy Water or Glossier You will like Aldean’s “Muse.” I swear.)

Still, it’s an open question whether Aldean can successfully court left-wing consumers. Her fans have never heard of Phoebe Philo (it’s unlikely she has, either), they’ve never been to the Hamptons, and they’re definitely not out protesting on behalf of liberal causes. As Aldean put it, her brand is designed to appeal to customers “rooted in red, white, and blue,” and whose big splurge of the year may be a country music concert. It’s perfume for church, which is certainly an underserved market in the beauty space.

Last Friday night, Aldean was giving out discovery sets of fragrance at the New Orleans Rodeo. She’s practically begging to become a Real Housewife of Nashville, and the more she leans into that, the more successful she’ll be. Navigating some light legal threats might just be the cost of doing business.

What We’re Reading… and Hearing…

Tory Burch is reportedly taking a $346 million loan to buy back private equity firm General Atlantic’s stake in her business so she can own all of it. When General Atlantic invested in 2012, the company was valued at $2.25 billion. We’ll say more tomorrow. [Bloomberg]

Should men wear mules? Maybe Birkenstock clogs for walking the dog, that’s it. [Le Monde]

Phoebe Philo’s sexual revolution continues: The first print advertisement is a decidedly unconventional takeover of a British arts and literary journal that revolves around the subject of desire. 10/10 idea, no notes. [Erotic Review]

There is online drama around Ralph Lauren “leaving” the Australian Open as a sponsor. I don’t know who would care about this, not even tennis heads, and yet people are chatting, so here you go. I’m told that the reason is pretty straightforward: The event is oversponsored. Ralph, pretty much the most powerful brand in fashion right now, gets way more out of sponsoring the U.S. Open, Wimbledon, and, of course, the Olympics than the Australian Open. I asked a rep for Ralph Lauren why they decided to leave. They said that the company remains “deeply committed” to sports and named all the things I mentioned above as proof points. [The Internet]

After announcing a fire sale to American Exchange Group last month, Allbirds is becoming an… A.I. business? The company said on Wednesday that it secured a $50 million financing facility from an institutional investor to create NewBirdAI, which will provide some type of cloud computing service. The Allbirds name and footwear assets will go to American Exchange, pending regulatory approval, and the A.I. piece will be its own thing. Anyway, Allbirds’ stock jumped more than 500 percent on the news. I guess when one bubble bursts, you just join another one. [Allbirds]

Matthieu made the Time 100! [Style Not Com]

Please, no zombie Barneys on Madison. [WWD]

Until tomorrow,
Lauren

P.S.: We use affiliate links because we are a business. We may make a couple bucks off them.

Puck fashion correspondent Lauren Sherman and a rotating cast of industry insiders take you deep behind the scenes of this multitrillion-dollar biz, from creative director switcheroos to M&A drama, D.T.C. downfalls, and magazine mishaps. Fashion People is an extension of Line Sheet, Lauren’s private email for Puck, where she tracks what’s happening beyond the press releases in fashion, beauty, and media. New episodes publish every Tuesday and Friday.

The industry’s go-to source for unflinching reporting on the trillion-dollar business of artificial intelligence - perhaps the single most important technology of our time. Ian Krietzberg, the powerhouse journalist behind The Deep View, delivers twice-weekly insights into the latest dealmaking and breakthroughs in A.I., and how the intersecting worlds of finance, entertainment, media, and politics are being transformed in its wake.

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