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LOOSE THREADS
Condé Nast paid three journalists $400,000 following a dispute over their firing last fall. They were let go after a video made the rounds of them confronting an HR executive about layoffs and Teen Vogue essentially being killed. Another employee, Mike Lahut, who had worked at Wired as a political writer before being fired as part of this incident, said on social media he had declined an offer of four months of back pay and “I’m looking forward to my day in court.”
Today in “stars don’t go to fashion shows for no reason”: Jacob Elordi’s new campaign for Bleu de Chanel L’Exclusif (fragrance) is out, and Sarah Pidgeon appears in a New York-themed campaign for Balenciaga.
Lanvin’s new CEO Barbara Werschine says her mission is to “sustainably rebuild the house’s desirability.”
When I turned 40, I started acquiring sun-protective clothing. If you are hiking or beaching or tennising or pickle balling and want great protection, these shirts from North Face look nice, are well-reviewed, and are not hot.
On collabed with Erewhon on a small collection of sneakers and tight workout stuff and Kendall Roy-esque baseball hats that you can wear to sprint around your favorite overpriced grocery store.
And now, today’s big story…
Behind the paywall today:
How luxury markups really work.
Why Dolce & Gabbana isn’t technically “luxury.”
Thoughts on: Gwyneth’s arugula meatballs and The Row’s new $1,100 flip-flop.
How Could That Dior Cruise Dress Cost $140,000?
In this newsletter’s early days, the terrible but perhaps simpler time of March 2022, I wrote about the fringed skirts from Matthieu Blazy’s first Bottega Veneta collection that came in vivid purple and citrine and cost $29,000 each. You remember the skirts. The ones with the kicky fringe swishing out from the hemline like it was about to wash your windshield. Styled with simple sweaters, they had people fainting in their seats over the casual glamour — the alleged effortlessness of wearing such a statement piece with a blah top. (Mind you — and I say this as someone who'd love to wear one — they looked heavy and full of effort.) The $29,000 figure was crazy enough at the time to warrant, I believed, an entire newsletter.
But now, what is $29,000? Well, around $34,000 adjusted for inflation. It’s also just about the full-time yearly salary of a minimum wage worker in New York. And it’s just about one-fifth the price of the $140,000 embellished dress from Dior’s recent cruise show — or one-fourth, adjusted for inflation (you’re welcome, Dior).
How can this dress cost the same as four New New Bottega skirts, four years of college tuition at a state school, or this boat billed as “the pinnacle of pontoon luxury”? And perhaps more importantly, what is this brand thinking selling this dress for the price of something you can mortgage, particularly when Dior CEO Delphine Arnault recently said the brand had been “very cautious” about prices? And when even a fully embellished Oscar de la Renta evening gown will run you the low, low price of $23,000?
Although there is technically a way to get to $140,000, even experts told me it’s as out-of-touch as you’d expect someone born to a man worth $160 billion to be.
Keanan Duffty, fashion designer and professor at USC Iovine and Young Academy, told me the most simple luxury pricing math he uses when teaching students is a markup of…
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