🎙️This week on the Back Row podcast: I interviewed Kate Storey, author of White House By the Sea: A Century of the Kennedys at Hyannis Port, about what Love Story gets right and wrong about JFK Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, focusing on her relationship with his family and their life on Cape Cod. Listen/watch in Apple, Spotify, and YouTube.
Upgrade your subscription to paid to hear part two (available in Apple and Spotify) about how events really unfolded after their plane vanished near Martha’s Vineyard in 1999. The finale of Love Story will presumably depict a version of this when it airs Thursday.
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Loose Threads
Today’s “Loose Threads” is brought to you by Burga. I did not realize how much I hated my boring, clear iPhone case until I upgraded to the “Nectar” case from Burga a couple of weeks ago and even my kids were impressed with how sleek and fancy it is (the cases are also extra protective thanks to raised bezels for shock absorption). Just the way the buttons press on the side is a big upgrade — their cordless magnetic chargers and big cups are fantastic, too. Get 15 percent off all products with the code AMYOX15.
Nicolas Di Felice is leaving Courrèges after five years as artistic director (I loved what he did there) to “focus on personal projects.” Wonder what those could be! His successor will be announced “as soon as next week,” per The Business of Fashion.
Those of you in NYC: I’m seeing lots of accounts post about a Saint Laurent sample sale beginning this Friday, March 27. Gird your loins and all.
One of the most popular stories Back Row ever published was about how brands would target us during the “Great Exhaustion” of 2026. Now that we’re living through it, I’m seeing it all over the place — I got a PR notice from skincare brand Noble Panacea which offers an “Exceptional Repair Reset Face Cream” that promises to “rebalanc[e] the skin from periods of acute or chronic stress.” Rhode also launched a “caffeine reset sculpting cream mask” that describes itself as “a cup of coffee for your face.” In fact, the caffeine skincare market is booming and some of these creams may be temporarily effective, according to the BBC.
The Wall Street Journal reports on people who spend $1,000 a month on supplements, which are now a $70 billion industry. The story helpfully points out that supplements are not regulated by the FDA and that some of these products “can actually introduce or exacerbate health issues.” Celebrity nutritionist Mona Sharma said, “It’s a new addiction that people have.”
And now, today’s big story…
Anna Wintour’s Version of ‘Stepping Back’
At the Armani show in September. (Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)
Around the internet, people will get mad at you for “comparing women” or “pitting women against each other.” Sure, there are times when say, as one of Ryan Murphy’s plot devices, that sort of thing has an ick factor. But there are times in the real world where comparison is as unavoidable as a viral cabbage recipe in 2026. Say, when the media frames one woman as “stepping back” in a professional capacity to make way for the leadership of another. And then say, when that first woman then ends up presenting two Oscars alongside Anne Hathaway, and her successor is nowhere in sight, but one can easily imagine her doing the thankless work of making decisions about a mood board or congratulating a hardworking young person on a particularly clever social media post.
A second fashion month has just concluded since Anna Wintour stopped serving as editor-in-chief of American Vogue in September (she announced the move in June). In her stead, of course, she placed former digital editor Chloe Malle, whose scope of work now includes sending the most excellently named newsletter, Malle Wear.
Look — this all had to happen at some point. It’s just not happening the way the media thought it would.
Pull up a seat.
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Headlines from the BBC, Axios, and People told us in June that Anna was “stepping back.” CNN, the New York Post, and the Wall Street Journal went with the edgier phrase “stepping down.” This was a heated moment — the SEO and algorithmic gods (who now get Prada tickets) force us all to rush our angles. But perhaps many of us media folk could have zeroed in more on Vogue’s (Anna-approved) framing of the situation. The site reported she was “shift[ing] focus” to things like the Met Gala and Vogue World and global Condé Nast happenings. Since we’re two fashion months into Vogue’s New Order, which is basically like several dog years in fashion time, I thought it would be a good time to review what Anna’s “step back” or “step down” or “shift in focus” has looked like, in rough chronological order.
She sat for a video pod interview about her focus shift with her friend and colleague, The New Yorker editor-in-chief David Remnick. (Has she ever done Vogue’s video pod?)
She sat next to Gigi Hadid at Monsieur in NYC to celebrate her and Kendall Jenner’s “horsing around” cover, written by Malle, which makes good use of the word “astride.”
She walked the brown carpet at Demna’s debut Gucci fashion show, then sat in a brown-upholstered seat looking like she was about to have to watch 30-minute promotional YouTube content.
She starred in viral content involving her and Meryl Streep — in costume as Miranda Priestly to film The Devil Wears Prada 2 — posing for photos at the Dolce & Gabbana show.
She called Lauren Sánchez to ask her to pay for the Met Gala, sparking backlash neither of them will speak of. Sánchez recently said on the Today show, “It has been such a fun and meaningful experience, and when Anna called me and said, ‘Do you want to co-chair and also be the sponsors of the Met?’ I was so honored.” According to one of my Vogue sources, one of Anna’s assistant was heard speaking of a “list” Sánchez had sent over. (Of her favorite Kardashians, ranked?)
She made headlines once more when CNN asked her about backlash to the Bezoses paying for the Met Gala, and she answered by saying basically nothing: “I think Lauren is going be a wonderful asset to the museum and to the event, and I’m very grateful for her incredible generosity, and she is a great lover of costume and obviously of fashion. So, we're thrilled she is part of the night. Thank you.”
She positively beamed when, seated in her front row seat, tennis player Nick Kyrgios talked to her during his match at Madison Square Garden.
She went to the Marty Supreme premiere in New York alongside longtime collaborator Annie Leibovitz. If you missed it, don’t beat yourself up — we were all getting so orange-pilled by Timothée Chalamet at the time, and then there was the whole “Apple Martin in Gwyneth’s old Calvin” thing.
She remembered Valentino Garavani in Vogue after he died, stating, “Delight is a word I associate so completely with Valentino.” She was quoted under her updated title, “Global Chief Content Officer and Artistic Director at Condé Nast and Global Editorial Director of Vogue.” (Snappy.)
She shared a car with Lauren Sánchez at the couture shows in January, causing the pearls of many a fashion person to be clutched around the globe.
She sat for a joint New York Times interview with Malle, in which she went viral for her cold, sunglasses-wearing, “I’m too busy for this” vibe — a stark contrast to Malle’s soft-edged earnestness. A hall of fame power move from the woman whose historic career has been one big power move. Anna told the Times people should “get over comparisons”… while sitting next to each other in an interview that invited just those.
Here are pairs of celebrities/notable people she sat between at fashion shows: Julia Garner and Delphine Arnault; Tilda Swinton and Nicole Kidman; Baz Luhrmann and Gavin Newsom (at Vogue World, if we’re calling that a fashion show and I think we can).
Vogue World. (Photo: Stefanie Keenan/Getty Images for Vogue)
Here are pairs of celebrities/notables she stood between on red carpets: Bradley Cooper and Hugh Jackman; Jessica Chastain and Julianne Moore; Steve Newhouse and Misty Copeland.
Other celebrities/notables she appeared next to at fashion shows and tennis matches and the CFDA Awards: Pharrell Williams, Baz Luhrmann (lots of times), John Elkann, Pamela Anderson, Robin Wright, Diego Della Valle, Bruce Springsteen, Helen Mirren, Grigor Dimitrov, A$AP Rocky.
Anna and Baz at the Balenciaga show in October. Get them a video podcast already. (Photo: Swan Gallet/WWD via Getty Images)
She visited with Queen Consort Camilla the same day Prince Andrew was arrested on charges relating to his Epstein ties. The Royal Family Instagram told us they met to discuss The Queen’s Reading Room, “a charity dedicated to promoting and celebrating the benefits of reading.” Anna is a voracious reader, so it makes sense. But are we truly to believe that’s all they talked about on that historic day? READING?
She presented two Oscars alongside Anne Hathaway in a bit many thought was the best of the night. Note that Anna showing up at the Oscars is not a normal event. She previously attended in 2015 and sat next to Harvey Weinstein (the Daily Mail's headline: "Vogue's Anna Wintour wears sunglasses INSIDE during the Academy Awards... and viewers react with awe on Twitter."). For the ceremony, she wore custom Dior seemingly derived from the runway show Jonathan Anderson debuted just days earlier.
She then changed out of that custom Dior dress and into another custom Dior dress and coat (couture, this time) for the Vanity Fair Oscar party, where she gamely endured the very same “light-mare” and Domino’s pizza as guests like Nicole Kidman and Demi Moore. (Crucially, this is not the only time she’s been exposed to fast food. When I was reporting ANNA: The Biography, a source told me that a comedian once sent a box of chicken wings to the office as a joke. Anna said something to the effect of, “Ha ha, give it to the Vogue team.” The Vogue team then ate them.) Again, she seems to have last attended this event in 2015 — a simpler time when Harvey Weinstein's transgressions weren't widely known, she could just wear the same look she wore to the Oscars, and no one's complaints about looking like a Diane Arbus subject in their red carpet photos went public.
Honestly, I know people think she should move on and enjoy her life and money and Mastic estate — maybe launch a video podcast with Baz Luhrmann — but I’m impressed by her energy, particular as a 76-year-old. Will she ever get tired of all this?
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Amy Odell is the New York Times bestselling author of Gwyneth: The Biography; Anna: The Biography; and the essay collection Tales from the Back Row: An Outsider’s View from Inside the Fashion Industry. Write her at amy (at) amyodell (dot) com. Submit a tip or story request anonymously here.
