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Tomorrow on Fashion People, my guest is Recho Omondi, host of The Cutting Room Floor. We’re discussing the Everlane-Shein blowback, the future of Marc Jacobs, the rest of the best dressed at Cannes, the Mango murder, and plenty more. Listen here and here.

Also mentioned in this issue: Delphine Arnault, Jonathan Anderson, Rei Kawakubo, Call Her Daddy, Ludivine Poiblanc, Marc Jacobs, Colin Walsh, Hedi Slimane, Demna, Cannes, Joanne Crevoiserat, Fabien Baron, Christopher John Rogers, Michael Rider, Dario Vitale, Shakespeare and Co., Cate Holstein, Pieter Mulier, Adrian Joffe, Olivier Rousteing, and more.

Everyone’s a critic, especially these days, as the overflow of information allows us to analyze every comment, incremental development, and micro-choice made by fashion founders, executives, and creatives. And yet, it’s hard to pin down how a brand or retailer is actually performing for that very reason—a dynamic that was evident in your questions for me this past week. Many of them boiled down to: What’s really going on? Fair!

Below, you’ll find answers to a few industry mysteries (who’s styling Zara?), existential questions (what happens to Marc Jacobs and Glossier?), and a bit of designer fantasy football. Let’s get into it…

Can you ask Puck’s legendary beauty correspondent, Rachel Strugatz, what’s going to happen with Glossier?

I feel like this question comes up every time we do a mailbag issue. After all, Glossier raised a ton of money, blew past an exit when it was possible, and has to chug along until performance picks up or the board gets sufficiently impatient and sells to the best ABG-style buyer possible. These are not the fantasies that power entrepreneurs.

Anyway, I asked Rachel for her informed hypothesis: “It’s only been about six months since C.E.O. Colin Walsh took the reins, and we probably won’t see the fruits of his labor until well into next year,” she messaged back. “His remit is robust, from an intense restructuring (significant layoffs, hiring a new leadership team, etcetera) and a complete product overhaul to repairing the Sephora business and giving the brand a much-needed messaging refresh.”

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Rachel continued: “Walsh also put a pause on almost every launch this year (releases conceived before his time), and I expect we’ll see more of an emphasis on hero products and building out those franchises. It’s incredibly difficult to restore the cool factor, but Walsh is an extremely talented and well-liked operator, and if anyone can turn it around, he has a good chance.”

Why don’t people talk about Balmain as much as they should?

This is a case of an already small brand changing creative directors in a quiet way. Olivier Rousteing, who has a gazillion Instagram followers and is reportedly headed to Rabanne at some point this year, had sort of fallen off the fashion map. The new creative director, Antonin Tron, is rebuilding with far fewer resources, within a far different organization.

Mayhoola overpaid for Balmain all those years ago when it still aspired to compete against LVMH and Kering. That strategy lost steam, and Mayhoola started to shop its properties. Kering bit on Valentino, taking a 30 percent stake; who knows if that two-step deal will ever be fully consummated. But the market is changing, and Mayhoola has a bit more leverage now. Perhaps the mini-conglomerate will recommit to both Balmain and Valentino, and buy some other stuff—or even deepen its strategic alliance with Kering or another group. Either way, Antonin is a great designer and people will start paying closer attention once he gets his footing.

What are your thoughts on the future of Marc Jacobs with WHP? Will his brand become one of those tragic outlet brands (we hope not!)?

As I wrote when the deal for WHP to acquire Marc Jacobs closed, Marc himself is the rare designer who could make a licensing model work—and could perhaps even usher in a new era in which he’s deeply involved in the creation of all the silly and campy products. The relaunch of Marc Jacobs Beauty is happening at just the right time. But the honest truth is that Marc Jacobs had already become one of those tragic outlet brands. Just don’t go and you won’t have to experience it in that way. As Marc would say, #GratefulNotHateful.

I want to know your thoughts on all these luxury summits.

I assume the impetus of this question was the Financial Times’s Business of Luxury Summit in Puglia, which sounded very nice and featured interviews with Saint Laurent C.E.O. Cédric Charbit as well as Delphine Arnault and Jonathan Anderson, Gildo Zegna, Victoria Beckham, Tapestry’s Joanne Crevoiserat, and lots of other interesting people. The attendees I spoke to really enjoyed it. Vogue Business also recently held a two-day event outside of Paris. And, of course, there is BoF Voices, which has been happening at Soho Farmhouse in early December for the past decade.

On the brand side, I totally get why speaking at one of these things is appealing: It’s a useful place to manage corporate messaging, and even high-level journalists, like Jo Ellison and Elizabeth Paton, and Nicole Phelps, are not going to ask the same tough business questions as Wall Street analysts who dominate earnings calls. In short, these confabs are largely safe-ish spaces for brand representatives to explain themselves, and in the case of Arnault and Anderson, their answers were still very revealing. Sometimes, they’re a good place to break news.

On the attendance side, the value depends on what you’re looking for. Top speakers very rarely stick around to hobnob with attendees, even if that is part of the promise. But if it’s a high-level group, the conferences can be worth it for networking and occasional dealmaking. I’ve only been to Voices because I worked at BoF for 10 years. (Standard disclosure alert: I still have equity in the business.) It’s really fun, although I would go to sleep before any of the real fun began.

Is it worth it for the media companies? Depends. Conferences are great for building brand awareness and, uh, community, but they are usually barely profitable and require a tremendous amount of work that can distract from the actual media creation, itself.

Some of the designer appointments are just so wrong from the outset. How can these big groups mess up so badly?

Honestly, I wonder about this all the time, but it’s also easy to judge harshly when you’re not in it. If it were up to me, Jonathan Anderson would be the sole designer of Louis Vuitton, Demna would have done Dior, Gucci would have gone to Simone Bellotti or Michael Rider, Pieter Mulier would be at Balenciaga… and so on. I could imagine Cate Holstein at Givenchy. (Hedi Slimane gets whatever he wants. So, Armani?)

Anyway, the reasons for designer appointments are manifold. Anderson is LVMH’s most prized talent, and Dior was the place they needed him. Same thing with Demna and Gucci. Mulier would be brilliant at Balenciaga, but he’ll also be brilliant at Versace. There is no way to bat a thousand. Mistakes will be made. LVMH makes fewer of them, because they have systems in place so that even when it doesn’t totally work, you can sort of make it work for a little while. OTB also does a good job with a far smaller budget.

The big issue, to me, is that these companies are now often afraid to take risks on younger or behind-the-scenes talent. After all, for every Sabato De Sarno, there’s a Dario Vitale. These choices come down to a mix of research, instinct, and taste. (Not good personal taste, per se, but an understanding of how a brand should fit into the culture.) It also requires a substantial budget to afford the designer you want. And, finally, executives need to know what they want the brand to stand for with the consumer. If they don’t, or they have it wrong, things can go south very fast, and cutting the cord after one season isn’t as easy as it sounds—especially when you’re a public company.

You often mention highly specialized multibrand retailers like A’maree’s and Hirshleifers in the U.S., but the global networks of Dover Street Markets are another great example of how smaller department stores can still generate buzz, profit, and cachet for all involved. D.S.M.’s hybrid model of shop-in-shops, their own C.D.G. lines, and exciting young or niche designers make for a unique shopping experience that still feels super relevant after 20 years. I would love your take on why it works, how the industry looks at Rei Kawakubo and Adrian Joffe’s empire, and what more traditional fashion executives could learn from their model.

Someday I’ll write a longer story on this, but here’s the short version: The merch sells, and is produced with long-term partners that allow for high-enough margins. The people behind D.S.M. and Comme des Garçons are not looking to get super rich, they’re looking to stay in business. Fashion businesses, as a C.E.O. said to me the other day, have a natural size where they are profitable and relatively stable. The problem, of course, is that most try to grow beyond their natural size because of investor pressure or sheer greediness and ego. I’m not saying C.D.G. doesn’t have tough years, but the relative diversity of their various businesses helps keep things balanced, too. As for what the fashion industry thinks? All the designers want to be Rei. All the retailers want to replicate Dover Street Market’s mix of novelty and reliability. Few have the talent or willingness to put in the work to do so.

Who is styling Zara? It looks great.

Usually, companies like Zara hire a range of stylists, but one of the big drivers of the Zara glow-up is Ludivine Poiblanc, the brand consultant who just joined A.P.C. as artistic director. Poiblanc has incredible taste and is the longtime partner of Fabien Baron, the art famous director who has been running creative on the Zara campaigns.

Why does Christopher John Rogers do so many collaborations? Is it good for business?

Collaborations often keep brands like Christopher’s afloat. (Especially a long-term sneaker collaboration, which can pay several salaries per year.) It also raises brand awareness. Are they all worth the hassle? Probably not. But most make sense.

Remind me, who is Alix Earle and who is Alex Cooper?

I know, it’s hard to remember for some reason, probably because they are also interconnected. Alex Cooper, who signed a $125 million deal with SiriusXM nearly two years ago, is the host of the podcast Call Her Daddy and founder of the media company Unwell. Alix Earle is also a creator, better known for “get ready with me” videos. Earle is also now the proprietor of a popular beauty brand that Rachel has written about. Why is it so easy to mix these two up? For one, they look alike. They are also both creators of a certain generation, and they also used to be best friends and business partners. (Here is a timeline of their feud.) We live in a world that is made up of a mass of niches, and famous people are famous only to a million-person sliver of the population.

On June 14, Andreas Murkudis (owner of one of the greatest stores in the world), will open a pop-up at 16 rue des Minimes in Paris with the Japanese shopping mall chain Lumine, featuring more than 30 Japanese brands. [Wardrobe]

Martin Margiela’s personal archive is going on the block on June 9 in Paris at a yet-to-be disclosed location. The auction is being held by Maurice Auction in partnership with Kerry Taylor Auctions. Items include his own Hermès knits, graffitied Tabi boots, plenty of fashion show ephemera, like lookbooks, as well as his own whitewashed telephone and “blouse blanche,” likely the most coveted piece in the lot. It’s going to be insane. [Financial Times]

At the launch party of the latest issue of Alphabet at Shakespeare and Co., I bought a copy of Patrick Radden Keefe’s new book. [London Falling]

Best dressed at the Cannes Film Festival, part deux: Ruth Negga in Prada, Taylor Russell in Schiaparelli, Charlotte Gainsbourg in Saint Laurent, and Tilda Swinton in Chanel.

Until tomorrow,
Lauren

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