My new book Gwyneth: The Biography is out now! If you have not yet purchased Gwyneth yet and want to support my work as a journalist, the best thing you can do is buy one:
If you can, pop down to your local independent book store to grab a copy there.
And if you read and liked the book, I would be grateful for your five-star Amazon reviews!
A housekeeping note: I am sorry that I missed sending a recap of the ninth episode of And Just Like That. Between parenting duties and launching Gwyneth this week, I was unable to complete it, but am combining episodes nine and ten in today’s newsletter. I will be back to Back Row’s regular publishing schedule next week.
Loose Threads
The fallout from the American Eagle ad campaign with Sydney Sweeney has become so utterly insane that J.D. Vance even weighed in. Vulture had a great take on it all, in what felt like a bottomless vat of takes.
LVMH’s second-quarter fashion and leather goods sales declined 9 percent. CFO Cécile Cabanis told the Financial Times that Louis Vuitton outperformed the division’s average but that Dior came in “a little below.” No pressure, Jonathan Anderson!
Hermès’s second-quarter sales increased 9 percent overall. However, while leather goods sales were strong, growth was weaker in fashion and silks and sales contracted in perfume and beauty, which investors don’t love.
Thank you to for doing a Q&A with me about Gwyneth: The Biography! Heather and Jessica highlighted one of my favorite moments from the book, which is when Gwyneth is flying coach as a child and says, “You mean we’re not flying first class — we’re flying no class?!”
Dibs Beauty makes just about the only color cosmetics I wear. (I love the eyeshadow palettes, lip gloss, and this blush/bronzer stick.) The brand just launched mascara that I’ve been wearing since I got a sample a few weeks ago and it is SO good — easy to apply and doesn’t transfer. Dibs is offering 15 percent off to Back Row readers with the code AMYODELL in honor of the launch. Enjoy!
If you have August trips planned and need tiny travel hair stuff, R+Co is having a 20 percent off summer sale and has mini versions of just about everything, including volume spray, anti-humidity spray, and dry texture spray in this oddly enchanting purple bottle.
'And Just Like That' Season 3 Episodes 9 and 10 Recap: Aidan: Fin?
Showrunner Michael Patrick King just released a statement that this is the last season of And Just Like That, which will end with a two-part series finale. Apparently the season is a gratuitous 12 episodes instead of 10 because they’re wrapping all this up. Packing up their bags. Breaking up the band.
Serious question: Do we believe him? We thought the show had ended, then we got a movie. We thought that was the end, then got another movie. We thought THAT was the end, then got And Just Like That, which was renewed twice. It all kind of smells like Anna Wintour stepping back from American Vogue to hire a head of editorial content — leaving, but not, like, LEAVING leaving.
Whatever happens with this show, I’m glad Carrie has moved on from Aidan, whose drunken masturbation, family drama, and bad attitude feel like something we all survived this season.
Ahead, your character-by-character recap.
Carrie
Carrie opens episode nine wearing a high-fashion trad wife getup that was sort of giving “Disney character milking cows before she marries a prince.”
Aidan fears that prince is not him, but rather Duncan Reeves. Thus begins a dramatic mating ritual in which he competes with Duncan for Carrie’s attention.
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