Hi, welcome back to Line Sheet. And welcome back to the real world. Summer was great, and now it’s over, okay?

If you’re in the U.S., I hope you enjoy the long weekend. Given our situation over here—Labor Day is the one day where nobody is supposed to work, for real—I will send my first email of the week on Tuesday, September 3. (I just glanced at the Google doc and it’s already packed. You’re welcome.) Excited to see y’all next week.

Today, though, I’ve got lots of fun stuff, with big news from Telfar, a major development in the Chanel creative director search, and, as usual, a whole lot more. Sometimes I give too much away up top, so that’s all you get for free for today. (Or, you know, you could subscribe to Puck. I honestly think you’d be a happier person if you did it.)

🚨🚨Programming note: Tomorrow on Fashion People, I’m joined by Edie Parker founder Brett Heyman. You might know her as the designer of cute acrylic clutches (ideal for nail tapping), or as a Gucci P.R., or as a purveyor of legal cannabis products. We get into all that and much, much more. Listen here.

Mentioned in this issue: Telfar, the “Bushwick Birkin,” La Maison, Victoria’s Secret, Tyra, Gigi, Adam Sandler’s Khaite bag, Chanel, Virginie Viard, Karl Lagerfeld, Simon Porte Jacquemus, Gap Inc., Abercrombie, Fashion Nova, Chloé Spring 1999, and many more…

• Telfar is launching real leather: I was thinking that I hadn’t heard about Telfar for a while. The company, founded 20-some years ago by Telfar Clemens, often dips in and out. They don’t attempt to make a moment every fashion month, or even every year. This fall, however, they’re launching real leather handbags—with materials sourced from a supplier that The Row uses to make their Margaux bags. The rollout will include a four-week pop-up at Selfridges in London. They’re also hoping to open a store in New York, I hear, somewhere downtown. No news yet on the pricing, which will inevitably be higher than the polyurethane-polyester blend that the brand typically uses for bags. (A large shopper, embossed with the Telfar T, is $257. A real-leather tote from Mansur Gavriel is $795.) A rep for Telfar declined to comment.

  It’ll be interesting to see how the Telfar fan base—greatly expanded since The Cut’s “Bushwick Birkin” article four years ago—reacts to the pricing, and to learn what Clemens and his business partners aim to do by introducing leather. Other than, you know, make more money. (My guess is that there was always demand, and they just waited to do it until they had the means to execute properly.) This is a bit of a stretch, but I wonder if this movement of people abandoning veganism and vegetarianism (yes, it’s truly a thing) will result in a broader swing away from faux-leather.

• We’re getting our show, guys!: Remember when I told you about a new Apple TV+ series, filmed in France last summer, billed to me as “Emily in Paris meets Succession”? Well, a trailer for La Maison is here, and I don’t want to get too excited, but it… delivers?

  A plot refresher: Vincent Ledu (played by Lambert Wilson, who you know from The Matrix) is the designer heir to the Ledu couture house. He gets “canceled,” and a new designer, Paloma Castel (Zita Hanrot, giving Marine Serre vibes), is brought in to “save” the brand. There’s also a “ruthless” C.E.O. of a luxury group called Rovel that wants to acquire Ledu, even though the maison desperately wants to remain independent. For some reason, Diane Rovel (Carole Bouquet, decidedly not giving Delphine Arnault vibes) seeks “revenge” against Ledu. I guess we’ll find out why.

  Oh, and just remember, this was produced by the people who made Le Bureau des Légendes, probably the best show ever made in France. You have to watch it. And you should also watch La Maison and tell me what you think. As we’ve discussed before, it’s extremely hard to get fashion right in film and television, but maybe in the hands of the French it’ll be okay, and maybe even great? The 10-episode series debuts on Friday, September 20… just in time for Paris Fashion Week.

• Victoria’s Secret’s actual problem: The company, which posted better-than-expected second-quarter results yesterday, also recently announced that its runway show would return to New York on October 15. Sounds like that whatever happens, it will air (somewhere) that same day, whereas in the past the show was filmed in front of a live audience but aired on television weeks or months later.

  Anyway, Victoria’s Secret made the announcement via a spot starring Tyra Banks and Gigi Hadid, two of the most important models in the history of the company. It was a cute concept, but like much of the marketing coming out of Columbus at the moment, it lacked sophistication, wit, and visual appeal. One former executive recently sent me a VS Instagram post featuring a store (A.I. generated?) covered in pink clouds. As the door of the store opens, cloud-covered hangers float out, carrying pink lace bras. The caption reads, Cloudy with a chance of shopping. No, really, please go look at it. As the executive said, “Who is making these horrible decisions?” Well, it’s up to Hillary Super, the new C.E.O., to unwind some of them. One thing she can’t unwind is that runway show, though. She has a month and a half to make it good.

• You thought I wouldn’t figure it out?: Are you still wondering what was in Adam Sandler’s Khaite bag? According to my spies, his wife purchased some clothes on a recent trip to the store, including the $3,400 Bellow coat. This is a beautiful piece. It’s chocolate brown “soft” viscose with black satin lapels, single-breasted, and features a lovely seamed waist. Maybe you should buy it.

But the 30-year company veteran’s abrupt exit in June did not occur as expected, with the ejection occurring mid-afternoon on a Wednesday and the news dripping out mere hours later. As one person close to the company put it to me, succession had been discussed at length, and Viard was going to be extended a graceful departure befitting a longtime, loyal employee. Alas, for some reason—presumably Viard’s frustration, people being petty, etcetera—the news came out fast and furious and far more abruptly than planned.

The botched handling of the timeline may be the most plausible explanation to date for why, nearly three months later, Chanel has yet to replace Viard. Instead, rumors have abounded in her absence. There were the people who believed Hedi Slimane was already hard at work in the atelier. (We could dream.) Gabriella Hearst? (Would love to know where that one came from…) Others suggested that they would take their time—that Chanel didn’t really need a creative director, at least for a while, and that the eventual occupant didn’t really matter since the position would inevitably be reduced in scope compared to what was expected of the late Karl Lagerfeld.

Plus, there was other mishegas in the business that could change the nature of the role. Leena Nair, Chanel’s still-new global C.E.O., was looking to restructure. And Bruno Pavlovsky, the head of fashion, was the subject of his own set of rumors: Was his tension with Nair as real as with her predecessor, Maureen Chiquet? Was his own succession planning underway, with an exit in the next two years?

Whatever the case, Chanel is actively recruiting for the creative director job, with the Swiss executive search firm Egon Zehnder leading the charge. And what do you know, a frontrunner has emerged. The name Simon Porte Jacquemus—proprietor of his own business, maker of magical fashion moments—was floated early in the process, but I was told that Pavlovsky, who was rooting for Jacquemus, was “strong-armed” into going another route for one reason or another. But it seems that Pavlovsky got his way after all. Jacquemus, who has already presented to Pavlovsky and Nair, is presenting to proprietor Alain Wertheimer in London during the first week of September. Jacquemus hired an eight-person team to work on the project. (Reps for Chanel and Jacquemus did not comment.)

Jacquemus, on many levels, is a practical choice. He is not only young, but also recognizable to young people, and most importantly, as one person with knowledge of the situation told me, he has a “sense of the zeitgeist.” For years, Jacquemus has claimed he has little desire to design for another house, that he wanted to continue building his own.

Chanel is different, though. Forty-two years ago, Lagerfeld and the Wertheimers transformed the luxury category by single-handedly creating the model on which most brands are still based: He made the runway, once a simple trading post, into a piece of pop culture, using it to sell fragrance and makeup and later, handbags and accessories. Today, it’s far harder to make a runway show memorable, especially on a limited budget, and yet that is exactly what Jacquemus has done season after season, from the lavender fields of Provence to the Maeght Foundation in Nice. The clothes, sure, he can do that part, too. But don’t act like it was about the clothes with Karl.

As for what might happen to Jacquemus, the label, if the man were to accept the Chanel appointment? He’s built enough brand equity that I assume he’d find no reason not to continue. (And the Wertheimers may very well be inclined to financially support his namesake brand endeavors.) Lagerfeld, after all, designed multiple lines at once—Chanel, Fendi, his own label, and, for a time, Chloé. That way of doing things has proven impossible for most people. Lagerfeld was remarkable. Perhaps Jacquemus is, too.

Gap Inc. had a good second quarter, but a weird thing happened. After releasing their earnings statement earlier than planned, they halted trading for a minute. My understanding after talking with people in the know is that this was an admin error, and that the company notified the NYSE as soon as they realized. By the time you read this, the earnings call will be happening or will already be over. [NBC]

Abercrombie shares nosedived after the C.E.O. explained that they can’t have insane, crazy growth forever. Shocking! What comes up must come down, etcetera. [CNBC]

I don’t like hotels so I never wear the merch anyway, but I pretty much agree with this Sundberg take. [Feedme]

If you want me to figure out how Sqirl and Zara ended up collaborating, I definitely can. Let me know. [Zara]

OMG I love Demi. [Interview]

This Taylor Russell press run! [Vogue Runway]

The costume designer for Oppenheimer and Bridgerton explains why movie stars look great in white t-shirts. (Other people… well… that’s a longer conversation.) [NYT]

Farewell, Cutter Brooks shop. Sad I never got to go! [Instagram]

Fashion Nova founder Richard Saghian just bought an office building in Beverly Hills for $118 million. Should we go deep on Fashion Nova? Feels very 2018. [WWD]

After losing his beauty sponsor, Christian Siriano’s runway show is now being backed by Revlon. [WWD]

Chloé Spring 1999: A formative collection for many of us. [Neverworns]

I loved this piece on how John Demsey’s mom decorated her one-bedroom apartment in a senior living facility. Also loved learning that she recently binged Presumed Innocent, and that John’s sister is a pilates instructor living in western Mass. [NYT]

What Not to Wear’s Stacy and Clinton are back, slightly ashamed of how mean they were on that makeover show, and ready to redeem themselves with a new series where they tell everyone, Wear Whatever the F You Want. [Variety]

Have a great weekend,
Lauren