Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. I made it to Paris in time for the Vogue World announcement this afternoon, but before we get into that, can I just say how much I love Milan? That was one of the least depressing fashion weeks I’ve ever attended.

I’ll be back in the city within the next couple of months, before it’s too hot—so let’s finally have that aperitivo. For those of you whom I did get to see, it was the best. To my friend who has been on Ozempic for 10 years (yes, it’s possible)... thank you for your service! The fashion industry is skinnier because of brave souls like yourself, those who are willing to participate in clinical trials. I’m also thrilled that I got to spend time with 10-week-old Luella, the only person in the city who does not have an opinion about Gucci.

I cannot believe it’s just Day 1 of the Paris shows, but glad we’re in this together. Send tips! And if you’re interested in partnering with Puck in some capacity or another (there are a lot of options), hit up Richie Grin (richie@puck.news) or Alex Bigler (alexandra@puck.news) to discuss.

This issue has got it all. But before we get going, though, let me remind you that if you are not subscribed to Puck, you are doing yourself a disservice and I am judging you.

Mentioned in this issue: Alessandro Michele, Fendi, Kanye West, Milan, Jenna Lyons, Coveteur, Eero Saarinen tulip tables, Anna Wintour, Vogue China, Margaret Zhang, Angelica Cheung, Christine Centenera, Karlie Kloss, Edward Enninful, Vogue World, Roger Lynch, the Simons-Mulier-Blazy triumvirate, Marni, Simone Bellotti & The Bell Hive, Phoebe Philo, Saint Laurent, Charlotte Collet, Peter Hawkings, Estée Lauder Companies, Sabato De Sarno, Francesco Risso, and more…

• Saint Laurent is doing a men’s show at the end of the women’s shows: It’s March 5. Why they did it that way, I don’t know, but they’re now closing out the season and practically opening it with their show on Tuesday night.
• Just glad we all went back to calling him Kanye: As you probably heard, West and his wife were at the Marni show on… Friday? (The days are all blurring together.) There were rumors that he planned to roll up to Bottega, too, but thankfully for everyone involved he didn’t. (Well, too bad for him actually. The show was great.)

  How is this allowed after the White Lives Matter fiasco, the antisemitic remarks, and the overall erratic behavior, you might ask? Well, remember that Italians tend to be most forgiving. Also, West has spent a lot of time in the country, so he has people here who feel they really know him. They’re also just not very online.

  Does this mean Fashion is going to give him a free pass? It won’t be as easy to bounce back as it was for Galliano, but my theory about West has always been that the industry will find a way to justify his presence if he can still make people money. Early indicators suggest that people will still buy Yeezy—if he ever actually produces anything. Also, people (read: marketers) are just over woke culture. I recently heard that a very canceled photographer just signed an exclusive with a very, very large luxury brand. (More on that soon if I can substantiate.)

  P.S., if you went to the Vultures 1 listening party in Paris last night, or hear of any shows he might be worming his way into, let me know. It is the number-one album in the world, by the way.

• An explanation of the head-scratching Jenna Lyons news: The former J.Crew designer and current (as far as we know) Real Housewife has signed on to be the editor-in-chief of Coveteur, a publication now owned by pseudo-superagency Great Bowery (a network of image-making talent agencies that include Camilla Lowther and Streeters). For such a small potatoes story, however, there is a lot to talk about. Lyons also has a part-time gig with the branding agency spinoff of private equity firm Blackstone, and a false-eyelash business; she is the face of another beauty brand, and was the breakout star of the most recent season of The Real Housewives of New York City. Why would she want to be editor-in-chief of Coveteur?

  My understanding is that Coveteur, once best known for its stylized depictions of wardrobes (e.g., a person’s Chanel bag would be artfully displayed on their Eero Saarinen tulip table next to a vase spilling over with flopping flowers), is in the middle of a relaunch. Currently, the site is less about depicting the inside of famous and fashion peoples’ closets and more about straight-up fashion and beauty news, tapping Great Bowery’s network of photographers, stylists, and makeup artists to do real editorial shoots. A recent article asked, “Would You Pay $100 to Get Your Cuticles Removed?” (Great question.)

  The closet concept, however, is the real appeal for advertisers. When co-founder Stephanie Mark sold Coveteur—then The Coveteur, actually—to Great Bowery for about $15 million in 2019, she had built up a nice little business that was appealing to brands because it hit a very specific, loyal, and growing audience. Namely, people are voyeurs and will always click on a picture of someone else’s private environs. As for why Lyons agreed-slash-wanted to do this, I’m sure all will be revealed in the coming weeks. It would make a great plotline for her second season on RHONY, if she is indeed returning.

• Another editor-in-chief bites the dust: The chatter around Margaret Zhang’s exit from Vogue China is that she was “controversial,” with WWD citing some challenges she’s reportedly had with getting covers sponsored (they are technically not for sale, but can fetch over $400,000) and some other nuanced stuff related to the Chinese market. Media in China is pay-to-play in the most straightforward way, and WWD writer (and my former colleague at BoF, much love) Tianwei Zhang points out that this is where having a global agenda at Vogue can get tricky.

  That being said, if Anna Wintour gets behind someone, she does her best to make it work, so I doubt this was simply about commercial challenges. I haven’t discussed this situation specifically with Zhang, but I know her fairly well and can extrapolate a few educated guesses: namely, this job was never the be-all, end-all for her. Also, she’s far too ambitious to stay in a position that has been so diminished by restructuring. As you well know, all the Vogue editors-in-chief are now local content factory line managers, making Wintour the Real One, and reducing their power and authority in their respective regions. (Just a caveat to say that there are some extremely talented people doing this grunt work.) Angelica Cheung, the former and founding editor-in-chief of Vogue China and a known badass, is now a partner at Sequoia Capital. She gracefully exited in 2020, 15 years in.

• Meanwhile: Someone said Zhang would be great at i-D. Thank you to everyone who pointed out that Karlie Kloss attended Edward Enninful’s “impromptu” birthday dinner the other night. I’m also hearing the name Christine Centenera. She is currently the editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia.
• Vogue World Order: An indie magazine editor recently asked me, “If Chanel is the biggest fashion brand in the world, what’s the second?” I answered Vogue, and he agreed.

  Anna Wintour and her power were on pretty clear display on Monday night in Marie-Louise salon at the Ritz, where she shared her plans for Vogue World Paris, set to take place on June 23, the day before the start of haute couture, which has been moved into June from July in anticipation of the Paris Olympics. From what Wintour said is planned, it sounds like this will be something of a precursor to the opening ceremonies taking place about a month later, with former French Vogue editor-in-chief and Off-White creative director Ib Kamara styling the show, set to take place on the Place Vendôme, which required the sign-off of basically everyone in France. Organizing this alone is a feat. “It will not rain,” she joked, with Pharrell Williams and Condé Nast heir Jonathan Newhouse seated to either side of her in the front row. But we all know she was serious. It won’t.

  Wintour’s speedy remarks were followed up by Williams, Simon Porte Jacquemus, and Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing, some French Olympians, and finally, Bruno Pavlovsky, Chanel’s president of fashion and the head of haute couture at the Federation, French fashion’s governing body.

  I can’t underscore enough how a room like that could only come together in Paris, the center of the fashion industry, and only be organized by Wintour, whose influence is greatest when she is rallying the industry. (She is the ultimate politician.) Everyone was there: designers, marketers, and even a few C.E.O.s. (I spotted Balenciaga’s Cédric Charbit, Alaïa’s Myriam Serrano, and Lanvin’s Siddhartha Shukla, to name a few.) Before the remarks began, John Galliano and his boyfriend, Alexis Roche, chatted warmly with Sidney Toledano, his old boss at Dior and the former head of the LVMH fashion group.

  Vogue World may be the most successful new concept launched by Condé Nast in recent years. I wasn’t at the London show, but the New York one was fabulous and really exactly what Vogue should be doing: a magazine brought to life in an age when people don’t read magazines.

  Last year, I was told that Vogue World made about $10 million on the top line and $3 million net. That’s a good chunk of change, although difficult to scale and replicate more than once a year. Vogue World won’t help C.E.O. Roger Lynch transform Condé Nast into a profit machine, but it’s a data point to help change the narrative at a company where everyone talks and no one knows anything about the financials. Last week, Lynch met with senior leaders ahead of the company’s quarterly board meeting to discuss the 2023 results. Sales were flat, if you remove print, which probably decreased by about 10 to 14 percent, the market standard.

  Of course, Magazine-Adjusted EBITDA is a bullshit metric, and it’s also not what Lynch told The New York Times last November, but it does align with what comms chief Danielle Carrig told me a month later. (Back then, global advertising sales were estimated to be down 3 percent including print.) Last week, though, Lynch didn’t share hard numbers. And there was no mention of whether bonuses would be paid out. Again, no one really knows anything, and Lynch is free to frame the numbers however he chooses internally and externally, too.

Today, I am an inch closer to understanding what’s going on with Alessandro Michele, late of Gucci, currently of nowhere. In the days after the Fendi show, the texts and talk were all about why he wasn’t going to Fendi after all. He was meant to go, they said, and may have even been working there in one of those shadow studios that the groups often set up when there is a designer changeover underway. But he wanted control over everything, and the family—namely, well-regarded Silvia Venturini Fendi, the current menswear and handbag designer—does not want to relinquish control. While LVMH could easily remove her from the equation—Marco de Vincenzo, co-head of handbags, is a real talent—she has made them a lot of money. And remember that Michael Burke, the new C.E.O. of the LVMH fashion group, was running Fendi when it first became successful in the 2000s, and there is the kind of intense loyalty there that only exists in old European companies.

A person close to Michele confirmed this scenario to me, which makes it feel more real. At the same time, people are crazy and seeing ghosts everywhere. To wit: After the sudden cancellation of the Shanghai leg of the Dior Men show, a.k.a. the other gig held by Fendi women’s designer Kim Jones, people started to wonder if he was on the move, thereby making room for Michele after all. I also heard from another person connected to Jones that he had expected September 2023 to be his last show.

You just never know, though. It was less than a month ago that I heard from two direct contacts that Michele does indeed have a job. Maybe he had one then and doesn’t now? Maybe he has one now, and we’ll all find out about it soon? Of course, Michele does not have to work. He was making in the vicinity of $30 million a year by the end of his Gucci tenure, I’m told. (That may sound like a lot, but think about all he did there and how profitable it was for so long. A representative for Gucci declined to comment.) And yet, it’s hard to believe he doesn’t have one act left in him.

In Milan, that sentiment helped to explain the freaky, googly-eyed nature of my love of the new Bally, shared with a certain set of writers and editors who own a disproportionate amount of navy clothing. (One person told me he may come to the women’s shows next season just to see it.) Designer Simone Bellotti surprised us all last season with his Swiss Alps wardrobe of boat shoes and ringing cowbell bags. For fall, Bellotti tugged on the string, sending out bell-hem coats, and the thigh-high boots of the season for people who don’t wear thigh-high boots. There was so much talk of straight-up sexiness this past week, but Bellotti is bringing kink, with his shearling-stuffed vests and deep-V-waist pencil skirts. I’m calling his fan club the Bell Hive; this season, even more models were jingling as they walked.

Now, to the real Gucci: I thought it was better. The clothes fit. The styling was stronger. The accessories were fabulous. (Note the sling-back platform.) Does it make you feel something? Not yet. The reaction to designer Sabato De Sarno reminds me of how people acted toward Anthony Vaccarello in his first years at Saint Laurent, except that, nearly a decade later, the internet is more insane. Vaccarello is now the toast, and perhaps De Sarno will be in a few seasons too. If it sells, the industry will fall at his feet.

One thing that I noticed was that none of these so-called sexy brands, like Versace and Dolce & Gabbana, were as sexy as Phoebe Philo’s debut, which hit a raw nerve. There was something base and unflinching about what she presented that I hope will inspire others. I’m increasingly convinced that she should be doing shows: So many of the younger designers are still pulling from her Céline archives for inspiration, and they need to be fed. As Vogue Runway writer José Criales-Unzueta noted on his Instagram, one draped, shirred-waist jersey dress with a cape collar in particular—from the Spring/Summer 2017 collection—remains an inspiration to many. I loved the version at Maximilian Davis’s latest Ferragamo show.

At both Loro Piana and Giorgio Armani, two brands with seemingly very little in common, I thought of my friend Leandra Medine, whose personal style is so evident in the collections these days. Leandra isn’t as present at the shows as she once was, but I saw her so much in both of these collections—at Loro Piana, in the carpet-bag tapestry pieces; at Armani, in the silk swimming caps and velvet trousers. I doubt she was on either of these mood boards (I would guess Armani doesn’t even have a mood board), but she will be referenced directly, and indirectly, for decades to come.

On to Blazy, whose show both Simons and Mulier attended. He has the ability, too, to take fear and apprehension and whip it into something propulsive. This season he talked a lot about stripping away, and the clothes certainly felt lighter, even those made of leather. (You could also construe that as more commercial.) What I love, other than his aerodynamic silhouettes, is Blazy’s way with texture. I saw so many paper references: the graph-paper leather trench, the shreds of leather on the bags and coats, the silky material that looked like it was covered in scrunched pieces of paper ready to be thrown into the bin. He said he was thinking of fire, so maybe the idea with these items is that fashion is so fleeting that it can all go up in flames with the strike of one match. I’m not sure, but I know it made you feel something.

Chris Burch’s family office has acquired Rowing Blazers. To the writer who was working on a big, juicy piece on Rowing Blazers but got scared off: do it! [BoF]

The two things you need to look at on Claude Montana, who died last week, are this video and this piece. [Instagram and The Style Files]

Love Laura Kim and her food diary. [Grub Street]

Major League Baseball is denying that the new pants, which players are claiming to be see-through, are any different from last season except that, you know, they are made from a different material. [Wall Street Journal]

And finally… Can we talk about how much Emma Stone’s character in Poor Things looks like Hailey Gates?