“Great writing, analysis and insight. Very generous free content.” — Paid subscriber Donna
Welcome to Back Row’s first-ever monthly recap! I hope this feature helps resurface stories you may have missed in Back Row and helps you find more good stuff to read and consume across the internet and beyond.
September was a MAJOR month for fashion — Anna Wintour abdicated her editor-in-chief title, and a historic fashion month that will give us 15 (!) creative director debuts began.
I’ll be back in your inbox once more this week with a review of Jonathan Anderson’s Dior debut. In the meantime, catch up on Back Row’s recent stories.
Here’s what paid Back Row subscribers got this month:
Dario Vitale’s Versace show may end up being the most polarizing of the season — Back Row recapped everything people are saying about both that and Louise Trotter’s highly anticipated Bottega Veneta debut.
As for the show with the most riding on it? I’d argue that’s Demna’s debut for Gucci, which is trying to reverse particularly steep losses. What Demna may have lacked in innovative design he made up for in highly effective online marketing.
Loro Piana is synonymous with quiet luxury billionaires — what’s it really like to sell $22,000 coats to them? September’s “Retail Confessions” reveals how this elite group really shops.
There still seems to be lots of confusion around Gwyneth Paltrow’s new clothing line GWYN, which replaces her other highly similar clothing line G. Label in the Goop suite of lifestyle products. Before her New York Fashion Week show I published my analysis, drawing on exclusive reporting conducted for Gwyneth: The Biography.
It seems like FOREVER ago, but Anna Wintour kicked off September by shimmying away from her editor-in-chief title, handing day-to-day Vogue operations off to former web editor Chloe Malle. She gave her one interview on this subject to her buddy David Remnick, (still) editor-in-chief of The New Yorker. Back Row read between the lines of their chat.
And when Anna announced the news, I took a look at why Malle was the right choice for the moment.
Here’s what paid and free Back Row subscribers got this month:
Leggings are out, big workout pants are in, apparently. Here’s my review of the big workout pants life along with some of my favorite pairs.
I ventured into the wilds of New York Fashion Week where the stealth wealth brands don’t seem to know what to do with themselves in these tacky times.
In Back Row’s no-holds-barred interview, Gene Pressman assessed the broken state of the fashion industry: “I think fashion is so unaffordable and so over-priced. It’s insulting. Ready-to-wear can be expensive — we sold a lot of expensive things — but it shouldn’t be priced like couture. It’s not worth it. It’s crazy. Customers are not stupid.” (Pressman’s book, They All Came to Barneys, was published earlier this month.)
The Best stuff Back Row read this month…
Book pick: I finally read Keith McNally’s I Regret Almost Everything, which was one of the best memoirs I’ve picked up in a while. McNally is unafraid to lay bare his own faults and struggles as both a New York City restaurateur and human being. He also writes engagingly about his parents, his poor upbringing, and his early career as an actor. I picked up the book thinking I would find out how he became a successful New York restaurant owner and scenester whose friends include Anna Wintour, but found myself unable to put the book down as McNally chronicled his stroke and struggles to recover from it.
Elsewhere on Substack: Do you have a corporate job? You may enjoy Alex McCann’s “The death of the corporate job”: “I keep meeting people who describe their jobs using words they’d never use in normal conversation. They attend meetings about meetings. They create PowerPoints that no one reads, which get shared in emails no one opens, which generate tasks that don’t need doing.”
Fashion person quote of the month:
And Back Row’s binge-watch pick…
I was ready to write off Hunting Wives as the type of show that held no interest to me given the title and Netflix thumbnail art alone.
Since I kept hearing good things from people I trust, I tried it and found it extremely addictive. The story is told through the point of view of Brittany Snow’s character, who tries to fit into a small Texas town after moving there from Cambridge, Massachusetts for her husband’s job. It was fun to see the tacky, sexy Texas clothes on Malin Akerman and the other rich housewives Snow’s character falls in with. Are you guys watching it and do you want to hear from the costume designer?
The best stuff Back Row tried in October…
This month I spent a while literally running around in big workout pants. My favorite pair were these retro rider pants from Free People Movement. Since I am but one person in the vast sweatpants electorate, here are other big workout pants that Back Row commenters swear by:
Sporty & Rich (I know it won’t be for everyone but I do like this Yankees collab stuff, though on the pricey side at $250)
Mate the Label organic fleece straight-leg sweats, $128 (their organic cotton stuff is great for people who have sensitive skin — I have a hoodie from Mate that I wear constantly)
I recently tried a few pieces from Nation Los Angeles that I find myself wearing all the time. I love an asymmetrical neckline, and enjoy this twisty neck T-shirt and this asymmetrical tank.
Not asymmetrical, but these cotton tops and skirt by Natalie Martin, whose pieces are sourced and handmade in Bali, are also in my rotation of items I’ll be wearing all the time until New York actually gets cold.
I keep finding new beauty staples from Merit. This foundation/concealer stick promises to act as both foundation and concealer — I sort of randomly draw it over my face in areas I want to smooth out and then blend it with a beauty blender and find it does effectively replace both.
What are you guys loving these days? I always enjoy hearing what you’re reading/watching/wearing.
