Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. Happy 50th birthday to Zara.
What a week! It’s Mother’s Day in the United States this Sunday. If you celebrate, I hope you enjoy the day. If you don’t, I also hope you enjoy the day.
One of Line Sheet’s very own supermoms, Sarah Shapiro, took her daughter to see Beyoncé this past weekend at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. For today’s shopping dispatch, Sarah takes you on a tour of the city’s outdoor malls, from the teenage dream that is The Grove (a Rick Caruso special, of course) to a post-gentrification Abbot Kinney Boulevard. Sarah also has some thoughts on the flood of branded Substacks, and a brain-space-saving consolidation of the week’s store openings and collaborations. Up top, I have an update on one of the most prolific investors and influential P.R.s in consumer. If you don’t know him, you know his work.
🛍️ For those of you with the Shoppies: I’m declaring this the summer of the pink shirt. Last week in New York, when Harper’s Bazaar executive editor Leah Chernikoff met me for dinner at Eel Bar, we were both wearing ours. Mine was Charvet, hers was With Nothing Underneath. There are so many good ones out there, though. Mexico City–based shirting brand Chava has a version made from deadstock European linen and designed in collaboration with The Love List’s Jess Graves—it’s sold out, but you can join the waitlist or opt for the line’s twill alternative. I like Aflalo’s semi-sheer version so much that I might buy it even though I already have a pink shirt. Alex Mill’s cotton poplin is made for men but great for anyone. (Button-down collars are underrated.) Loewe made several iterations, but I like the plaid one best. Buy a pink shirt. You’ll look pretty. Or handsome. Or both!
Mentioned in this issue: Beyoncé, the Cowboy Carter Tour, Sarah Harrelson, Left on Friday, Rick Caruso, The Grove, Gap, Dôen, The RealReal, Giorgio Armani, Coach, Tory Burch, Staud, American Eagle, Casey Lewis, Rothy’s, and many, many more…
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Three Things You Should Know…
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- The latest consumer P.R. moves: Jesse Derris, founder of the influential P.R. agency Derris, has moved into a broader role at Orchestra, the private equity–backed umbrella agency previously known as BerlinRosen. Derris (the person and the agency) threatened traditional fashion comms in the early 2010s by blending strategic comms with consumer comms. Before Derris, a fashion P.R. agency could get away with trafficking samples and managing backstage interviews with designers, but as the media climate diversified, those skills became less valuable. What brands needed were P.R.s with a broader range of contacts.Jesse, a former Sunshine Sachs crisis comms type, saw an opportunity in being able to place stories in Fast Company and Vogue. As the Derris practice developed, I watched fashion P.R.s attempt to mimic its approach—some successful, some not. The big difference, I’d say, is that Derris was unafraid of pushing back on the client and giving strategy advice. Jesse also took equity stakes in some of the businesses he represented, which was unheard of at the time. Derris, the firm, was behind the launches of Glossier, Everlane, Harry’s, Outdoor Voices, and Warby Parker, among others. (At one point, Derris also raised a $50 million fund, Amity Supply, and has invested in 140 companies.)Derris was acquired by BerlinRosen after just nine years, an exit rivaled only by the likes of Lucien Pages and Karla Otto in traditional fashion P.R. Now, as Orchestra’s new president, he’ll be working alongside C.E.O. Jonathan Rosen to apply the Derris method across the portfolio, which includes Small Girls PR, as well as BerlinRosen and InkHouse. (Disclosure: Puck has partnered with Orchestra on the Private Conversation polling series.)
Anyway, Orchestra is funded by the private equity firm O2—founded by Rob Orley, father of my guys and former fashion brand owners Matt and Alex Orley. And while O2 is sort of a family office at heart, with a long-term investment horizon, I assume part of Jesse’s mandate will include prepping the business for an eventual exit of some sort. That probably means more agency acquisitions. So if you want to sell (and I know you do), be more strategic and call Jesse!
- Sarah on the brand-blogging trend: Fashion and beauty brands continue flocking to Substack. So far, a mix of founders (Hill House’s Nell Diamond, Loeffler Randall’s Jessie Randall, founder and Real Housewife Rebecca Minkoff…), brands (Tory Burch, Madewell, Rare Beauty, The RealReal…), and even founder-brand-influencer hybrid types, like Molly Sims from YSE Beauty, have all set up shop on the platform.On one level, the strategy here seems obvious. Over the past decade, a growing number of businesses have opted to reduce their reliance on traditional P.R. Instead of racking up magazine credits that are hard to track or waiting patiently for that golden goose Styles section profile, they’ve invested more in their own editorial, marketed directly to consumers via owned and operated channels. (Netflix, a16z, and even the White House all have their own digital newsrooms now.) It’s no surprise that fashion brands are meeting customers where they are—in this case, Substack, home to many style and shopping newsletters.Of course, there’s a right and wrong way to get into blogging. American Eagle is taking a particularly thoughtful approach, launching a Substack with teen-culture impresario Casey Lewis. But there’s a risk of brand dilution, too, for those who launch without channel-specific strategies or simply recycle content across platforms. American Eagle aside, most brands are not hiring a Substack-specific author, or even outsourcing the task. (Of the ones that have launched so far, Jessie Randall’s is the most convincing because she writes about brand-adjacent topics like design and home decor and isn’t pushing the Loeffler Randall product in an overt way.) It’s one thing if there’s a plan to build a community and convert it into a meaningful revenue stream, but if a Substack just becomes a marketing box to check, it may not be worth the pixels it’s printed on. —Sarah Shapiro
- Sarah’s openings and collabs tipsheet: Next week in L.A., Tory Burch has an opening party for her newly renovated Rodeo location, which carries the latest jacquard styles, jewelry, sportswear, shoes, fragrances, etcetera. The space, designed in partnership with Curiosity’s Gwenaël Nicolas—who also designed the flagship Mercer Street location—features curved walls by Art Groove.
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Tory Burch’s flagship on Rodeo Drive. Photo: Courtesy of Tory Burch
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- Back East, Carhartt Work in Progress just opened their largest store in North America, staking out 4,000 square feet in Brooklyn after outgrowing their SoHo location. (Carhartt, a family-owned company founded in Detroit in the 1800s, has only three U.S. stores. It is on fire.)Meanwhile, the Upper East Side keeps adding to its roster of stores from a newer generation as freshly funded Staud opens at 78th and Madison (with an exclusive beaded “I ♥️ NY” Tommy bag to celebrate), and new locations are also coming soon in Georgetown and on Melrose in L.A. Out on Long Island, Elyse Walker will have her first pop-up in Southampton this summer, after hosting private events in town. The fires tragically destroyed her Palisades location, so this gives her an alternative spot to play for the summer.As for collabs, Armani is breathing new life into archival fabrics by partnering with Our Legacy Work Shop, following up on their 2023 collab, but this time with womenswear. Alasdair McLellan photographed the campaign, which combines Swedish design sensibility and Italian traditionalism, on Giorgio Armani’s personal island retreat on Pantelleria, southwest of Sicily. (A reminder: The Stockholm-based Our Legacy joined the LVMH Luxury Ventures portfolio late last year.) Elsewhere, the Fair Harbor x Rothy’s link-up is pretty clear-cut: Both brands make their products from recycled plastic bottles, the designs are complementary, and, as usual with collabs, each brand is leveraging the other’s following to expand their own name recognition. —Sarah Shapiro
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News and notes on the festival of denim at Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter tour, the ’90s nostalgia at The Grove via Gap and Coach, and why the latest beauty pop-ups are having so much success.
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My tween daughter and I moseyed down to SoCal last weekend to catch Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour, where denim reigned supreme. We found ourselves in a sea of jeans and statement-fitted vests worn as tops, along with a mix of denim skirts and sundresses that revealed (of course) cowboy boots. Naturally, we worked some retail exploration into our adventure.
Mom-and-daughter shopping opportunities abound in West L.A., where we were staying for the weekend. Abbot Kinney, in particular, offered a convenient tour of the D.T.C. retail mix: Left on Friday, the swimwear-heavy brand co-founded by two former Lululemon executives, has a store on the street featuring their full assortment, including plenty of workout wear beyond nylon leggings (though they have those, too). We also liked stationery store Burro and Scandinavian design outpost Huset, which also sold candy—which feels like the new cupcake/treat du jour. In any case, being able to see brands IRL that aren’t carried everywhere is both an opportunity and a reason to shop. Meanwhile, at Rick Caruso’s outdoor mall The Grove, we found a mix of accessible price points, brands that people associate with childhood in the ’90s (Gap, Coach, Nike, etcetera), and some new and interactive spaces, including Edikted and a Laneige pop-up. Of course, for Mom, there’s Melrose.
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When we hit the Gap, customers seemed to be carrying armfuls of Gap x Dôen items into the dressing rooms to try on. One shopper even wore her oversize denim trousers from the last Gap x Dôen collab to try with new tops, suggesting that Gap may have achieved the impressive feat of nailing a repeatable, revenue-generating collab that builds on customers’ existing wardrobes. Looking at how Gap x Dôen was received online, it seems like it has resonated most strongly with returning, 30-plus customers, rather than new, younger ones. My on-site observations confirmed this. Teens seem to prefer the spaghetti-strap babydoll styles available across the mall at Edikted.
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Still, I had a fun nostalgic moment with my daughter in the Coach store, where I was drawn to the Curve Zip Bag, a reissue of the Ergo bag I bought in 1998. (Check out Lauren’s Fashion People episode with its designer, Reed Krakoff.) The only update from the late ’90s is that it now has a hook to hang your charms from, which perhaps says something about the timeless, commercial appeal of this particular silhouette. (The Row’s half-moon shoulder bag has a similar style.) The brand is leaning into the “basket-building” concept by displaying dozens of charms, keychains, and mini-wallets beside the bag to drive A.U.R. (average unit retail). These embellishments do achieve several things at once: They help drive first purchases, increase retail, market the brand through logo display, and give the customer a reason to keep coming back.
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Apparently, L.A.’s pop-ups are still getting shoppers to line up, and most of the (busy) ones we saw while in town were for beauty brands. The Grove’s Laneige pop-up was just extended from three months to a year, and a source tells me they’re considering making it permanent. The space is small and off the main walkway, but its placement next to Cha Cha Matcha ensures plenty of foot traffic.
The Abbot Kinney branch of the café was hosting a Too Faced pop-up, where you can decorate your new lip gloss with a silicone cap and charms. This was, I can tell you, a hit with my 12-year-old companions, who are always in the market for a new lip gloss. There was also the Patrick Ta pop-up on Melrose, which had a massive line. The event was not at a Sephora, even though the signage took pains to remind everyone that Patrick Ta is “only at Sephora.” Go figure.
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Of course, my personal favorite place to wander is Melrose, due to its elevated mix of stores and shops—although by the time we got there, I had a tuckered-out tween on my hands, so I had to be efficient with my time. At Jacquemus, while my daughter flopped on the sunny plush yellow couches, I studied the handbag display, which transformed clutches into art installations. Just steps away, Staud was preparing for an imminent opening—one of several planned for the coasts—putting two brands with the same playful D.N.A. (albeit at different price points) right next to each other, both with colorful palettes, unexpected silhouettes, and never-stuffy statement pieces that lean toward resortwear year-round.
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Both of these brands target shoppers who prize novelty but appreciate a well-cut blazer and easy dress. That overlapping appeal could, perhaps counterintuitively, generate more foot traffic for both stores rather than cannibalize one another. I’ve heard that sister brands Maje and Sandro decided to open side by side because their stores perform better when they’re close together, so maybe this will be a similarly synergistic pairing.
Meanwhile, The RealReal on Melrose has perfected the modern consignment model. I overheard one shopper mention that they found an item online and came into the shop to try it on in person. The store’s rotating, always-changing themed collections (Bohemian, Collected Treasures, Modern Classics, etcetera) create constant discovery through one-off pieces. This strategy transforms what could otherwise be a chaotic secondhand experience into something cohesive, which makes every channel check feel like an opportunity for discovery. This is especially crucial as the threat of tariffs could make secondhand a more attractive alternative.
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On the ascendance of Cultured: “Most niche magazines have no point. [Editor-in-chief] Sarah Harrelson can get V.I.C. client prospects to events because it has a purpose: connecting the art world with the greater, uh, culture. It makes it easy to allocate a chunk of my budget to her.” —A luxury marketer
On how to make the multibrand store model work: “Charge an entrance fee. Museum of Ice Cream model. No one can afford the clothes, but imagine if you charged hordes of wannabe influencers $45 a head for a 30-minute spin around the old The Line penthouse, where they could take selfies in different outfits. You’d ‘redecorate’ it every month to keep the concept fresh. Add some kind of cultural/art component for plausible deniability of how silly the whole thing is. V.I.P.s who actually shopped would get private events at night and a separate entrance for personal shopping services in the back room. It’s both intriguing and horrifying.” —A marketing consultant
On the Riccardo Tisci situation: “If it happened, it’s awful. If it didn’t, it’s awful.” —A stylist
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Have a great weekend,
Lauren
P.S.: We are using affiliate links because we are a business. We may make a couple bucks off them.
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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.
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An essential, insider-friendly Hollywood tip sheet from Matthew Belloni, who spent 14 years in the trenches at The Hollywood Reporter and five before that practicing entertainment law. What I’m Hearing also features veteran Hollywood journalist Kim Masters, as well as a special companion email from Eriq Gardner, focused on entertainment law, and weekly box office analysis from Scott Mendelson.
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