Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. The tariffs came for me this week: I was forced to pay $62 on a $288 order shipped from France via DHL. (The de minimis exemption on orders $800 or less doesn’t end until August 29, so not sure how this happened, if anyone wants to explain it to me.) Needless to say, I feel very lucky that I travel to Europe several times a year and can avoid this from now on. I did not get billed extra for this hat shipped from the U.K., though. They knew better.

In today’s issue, Sarah “SShapiro@puck.news” Shapiro shops Nashville, where an influx of price-insensitive coastal elites has created fertile ground for luxury brands that are still underpenetrated (Big Retail’s word, not mine) in the middle of the U.S. I’ve also got one more Vogue job update, and Sarah explains why Vuori’s poaching of top Nike trainer Kirsty Godso (I love her, Pyro 4eva) is a big deal—maybe even bigger than swiping tennis player Jack Draper. Sarah also analyzes the LuisaViaRoma vendor-payment disaster (it’s too bad, but this is the way of the world), and Rachel briefly explains the meaning of the Target-Ulta breakup.

Programming note: Today on Fashion People, my guest is Marie-Louise Sciò, C.E.O. of Pelicano, the incredibly influential Italian hotel group. Marie-Louise is beloved by many, and it was a pleasure to chat with her about vacation in the Instagram age, how she merged the fashion and hospitality worlds, and more. Listen here and here. I’m also on The Powers That Be with number one Dave Matthews Band fan (unconfirmed, I just have a feeling) Peter Hamby to talk about the September issue cover wars. Listen here and here.

Mentioned in this issue: Hermès, La Ligne, Libby Callaway, Elon Musk, the Green Hills Mall, Warby Parker, Reese Witherspoon, Todd Snyder, Anna Wintour, Vogue, Sara Moonves, Target, Ulta, Olivia Rodrigo, Hailey Bieber, Cindy Crawford, and many more…

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Four Things You Should Know…

What Anna wants: I’ve got some more insight into this Vogue head of editorial content job from people familiar with the process. Yes, this is a big job; it’s going to be a lot of work; and Anna Wintour is actually going to give this person space to lead, make real decisions, and build a new team. After all, Wintour has a lot to take care of abroad with other, struggling editions of Vogue, and she needs a formidable person to manage the flagship. Most importantly, she needs someone to protect the business, which is to become increasingly events-focused. In sum, she is interested in hiring an opinionated, dynamic journalist who can throw a great party and make a Louis Vuitton–only editorial spread interesting.

I know that there were some final-ish interviews this past week, and that they want to make an announcement before Wintour leaves for the shows in Europe in September. It’s most likely down to two or three people now.

I’ve rattled off this list more often than I’m proud to admit, but we know that Chioma Nnadi is out, and it sounds like Chloe Malle is still in the race. (I hope so, and I bet Wintour does, too.) Stella Bugbee, the New York Times Styles editor, is out. One name I mentioned in passing on Monday, Financial Times editor Jo Ellison, gained some traction later this week. Ellison was recently spotted in New York—in August!—and also curiously regrammed a New Yorker grid post that featured a Reductress-like Shouts & Murmurs with the headline “Cover Letter for a Job I Don’t Want But Will Be Offended Not to Get.” Alas, I heard from a source with firsthand knowledge that she’s not in the running. But good on her for getting everybody talking.

Nicole Phelps is a fan favorite. I still believe Sara Moonves makes the most sense long-term, but sorting that out before the end of August seems unlikely, and Wintour likes to solve problems, not create them.

Rachel Strugatz

The Target-Ulta breakup: Ulta and Target are officially ending their partnership as of August 2026, five years after they announced ambitious plans to open about 800 Ulta shop-in-shops at select locations of the big box retailer. There had been rumblings for a while now that the marriage wasn’t panning out as either party expected, which I initially reported back in January, around when David Kimbell announced his “retirement” as Ulta C.E.O.

At the time, I noted that a clause in the original deal regarding Target’s proximity to stand-alone Ulta doors––a result of Ulta’s concerns about cannibalization in its existing stores––presented challenges to scaling the concept. Ultimately, Ulta had only opened about 500 shop-in-shops as of January, several hundred short of the initial plan, and less than half the number of Sephora’s far more robust shop-in-shops at Kohl’s, which are projected to hit around 1,200 doors by the end of this year. One high-level source bluntly noted that “Ulta brought nothing to Target,” and that Ulta’s shopping experience isn’t that much more elevated than Target’s. Personally, I’d argue that it’s even less elevated than Target. So what was the point of all this?

Sarah Shapiro

LuisaViaRoma tremors: LuisaViaRoma, the Florence-based luxury multibrand retailer, has filed for court protection in Italy, the equivalent of Chapter 11. As Lauren reported in May, the company was having trouble paying vendors, even though the Italian private-equity firm Style Capital invested €130 million for a 40 percent stake back in 2021.

In a lengthy LinkedIn post, C.E.O. Tommaso Maria Andorlini acknowledged this “challenging moment,” while positioning it as an opportunity for reinvention. He criticized the industry’s “distorted price/value positioning,” particularly regarding luxury, arguing that fashion lost its way by focusing on top-down trends that quickly vanish while shoppers move elsewhere. He outlined plans to “realign price to true value” and return to LuisaViaRoma’s roots as a place to explore and discover. A worthwhile epiphany, although perhaps too late.

In any case, the restructuring reflects broader pressures hitting retail. Brands are doubling down on direct-to-consumer strategies because they simply can’t afford to be completely dependent on wholesale partners who might not pay up. Just ask vendors who had a deal with Saks.
Vuori scores again: Vuori’s talent-acquisition strategy must be starting to piss off Nike: They’ve just poached personal trainer Kirsty Godso shortly after landing British tennis player Jack Draper, who defected from Nike just in time for an announcement at the upcoming U.S. Open. I hear Godso’s multiyear partnership probably wasn’t that crazy, money-wise—Vuori often pays on the lower side of six figures, for a year—but it likely included equity, too, following Vuori’s most recent funding round, led by General Atlantic and Stripes, which valued the brand at $5.5 billion. Nike and Vuori declined to comment.

In any case, Godso is a major get. The former lead global trainer at Nike has major high-profile clients, including Olivia Rodrigo, Hailey Bieber, and Kaia Gerber—whose family is also a Vuori spokesperson. Hopefully, someday we’ll see Godso x Kaia Gerber workout content reminiscent of Cindy Crawford’s 1992 Shape Your Body tape. (Crawford, of course, is Gerber’s mother.)

Clearly, though, something bigger is afoot in sports partnerships. Tennis is becoming a battleground where heritage sportswear brands like Wilson, Lacoste, and Prince are fighting for market share with Lululemon, Rhone, Varley, Tory Burch Sport, and Spence. But if talent isn’t getting the deals they want from established players, Vuori is happy to step in—and why not bet on a growing brand to potentially share in the upside? It’s also telling that Quince has an eye on Vuori. They’re always looking for the top items in any given category, and the fact they’re selling so many Vuori-comparable items shows the products are resonating.

And now, the main event…

The Week in Shopping: Grand Ole Shopry

Serious shoppers used to skip Nashville and drive four hours to Atlanta without a second thought—but these days, there are multiple shopping districts worth exploring.

Sarah Shapiro

Has Nashville’s retail scene become… glamorous? In recent months, Sid & Ann Mashburn, La Ligne, and Hermès have all opened or announced new stores. The Green Hills Mall got a facelift with a Rothy’s and Christian Louboutin (and a Skims is opening soon, too). Sure, Nashville has always had a decent fashion scene because of its connection to music—but serious shoppers used to drive four hours to Atlanta without a second thought. Today, though, the city boasts multiple shopping districts worth exploring.

The transformation is being driven, at least in part, by rising incomes across the metropolitan area and an influx of residents from California (especially Hollywood and music folks). Belle Meade, Nashville’s version of Greenwich, has a per capita income exceeding $160,000, which is actually slightly higher than the capital of Northeastern WASP splendor. The city has become a secondary corporate hub for tech and business, including Lyft, Warby Parker, Amazon, and numerous healthcare companies. The corresponding influx of high-net-worth workers is fueling the robust retail growth.

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An early turning point came in 2009, when Imogene + Willie opened their premium denim and t-shirt shop. The brand “had to teach people how to shop,” Libby Callaway, a former fashion editor turned creative services director, told me. Imogene + Willie, after all, introduced $300 jeans to Nashville. The shop’s success, paired with Nashville’s growing cultural profile, helped redefine the city beyond the Grand Ole Opry and the Honky Tonk Highway.

The pandemic accelerated Nashville’s growth—my own neighbors made the move there from the Bay Area during Covid—with U.S. Census Bureau numbers suggesting it grew at a much faster rate than other metropolitan cities in the U.S. While the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce cited 96 new residents per day in 2022, locals have insisted it felt like double. Perhaps more importantly, some of the newcomers brought coastal sensibilities and spending power. This week, Elon Musk’s Boring Company began drilling a Tesla-only tunnel from the Nashville Airport to downtown to help ease traffic congestion.

A Nashville Neighborhood Shopping Guide

For those of us who like to compare every city to New York, the Nashville shopping journey likely begins in 12 South, a SoHo/NoHo-esque district filled with trendy, D.T.C.-adjacent stores. Sézane opened a pop-up there in May that’s set to run through January 2026, and Reese Witherspoon’s Draper James also has a location. (Just beware the terrible parking and bachelorette pedal pubs.) You might also pop over to Green Hills, which is anchored by a mall and a growing outdoor shopping area featuring a Kirna Zabête boutique. It’s basically the Upper East Side, but for people with cars.

Then there’s Wedgewood-Houston, which is Nashville’s answer to the Meatpacking District. Transformed by real estate company AJ Capital, the neighborhood now features a Soho House and its very own Pastis which, not unlike its Manhattan counterpart, is nearly impossible to book. An Hermès and a Brunello Cucinelli are on the way. As for the best of the rest, East Nashville is more like Brooklyn—artsy and laid-back—while The Gulch, with its high-end boutiques and Rivian dealership, evokes FiDi.

Generally speaking, Nashville boutiques can secure desirable labels more easily than those in crowded retail hubs because they face less competition and fewer restrictions. (Often, brands will only want one point of distribution in a city, but that’s less of an issue in a less developed market.) Meanwhile, according to one source, the city’s charity gala circuit rivals that of Palm Beach, driving demand for formalwear and luxury trunk shows. Day-to-day dressing, meanwhile, trends more formal than in New York or L.A.—“People still get dressed for dinner; no sweats or jeans,” one boutique owner told me.

As a result of all this, some of the stores here are even outperforming their other locations. Tecovas, for instance, operates two stores in the city, both of which “significantly overindex our fleet average sales and footsteps,” according to an insider. The downtown location, though small, posts the highest sales per square foot of the company’s 30+ locations, serving tourists seeking authentic cowboy boots. When Todd Snyder opened in Nashville, the store exceeded sales estimates by almost 50 percent and now ranks in the top third of their fleet of more than 20 stores, according to an inside source. La Ligne expanded here after data showed strong online sales and trunk show success. Beth Buccini of Kirna Zabête told me that Nashville’s bestsellers include TWP, Khaite, La DoubleJ, and Adam Lippes. For casual wear, customers gravitate toward Sacai and Maria McManus.

After years of feeling underserved, Nashville shoppers are eager to buy locally. For brands looking beyond the major fashion capitals to territory including Charleston, San Diego, and Dallas, the Music City is proving there’s money here for more than just impulse-buy BOGO cowboy boots from Broadway.

Have a great weekend,
Lauren

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