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Loose Threads
Inae Oh wrote about the Victoriaās Secret Fashion Show for Mother Jones: āā¦for all the scantily clad models and overwrought musical performances, my mind kept returning to Kris Jenner and TimothĆ©e Chalamet [on the front row]. It was from their vantage point of momager and boyfriend that two essential elements of the Victoriaās Secret brand, commerce and the male gaze, seemed to braid perfectly.āĀ
EBay plans to lay off 1,000 workers in order to āsimplify operations,ā after cutting 800 employees in February.
My fav shoe brand Margaux has a new flat, all-weather, lug sole boot for under $500. White jazz shoes have been sold out all over the place, but Margaux has a bunch of sizes in stock (they come in black as well).
As previously stated in this newsletter, one of my favorite luxury fashion items that I own is a vintage Chanel watch, obtained secondhand because the stores wouldnāt give my husband or me the time (pun intended) of day. Now, with Chanelmania, they REALLY wouldnāt give me the time of day, but Bezel has a simple black one in stock and could source you a chainlink one (hereās the diamond version in silver, but it also comes without jewels).
Alexander SkarsgƄrd wore a custom top and kilt by Chopova Lowena to promote Wicker. The top includes a framed photo of Olivia Colman, who stars alongside SkarsgƄrd in the film. Love him.
(Photo: Stewart Cook/Black Bear Pictures via Getty Images)
Ahead, todayās big storyā¦
Retail Confessions: Goop and Barneys
Take yourself back to 2010. The second Sex and the City movie is coming out. Alexander Wangās Rocco bag is the hottest purse in New York City. Bryant Park hosted New York Fashion Week for the last time ā and whatās more, everyone thought it was cool.Ā
Barneys was the hottest shopping destination in the city. Fashion enthusiasts werenāt online shopping as much, and people flocked to the store and spent tons of money. People all over the world dreamed of the fifth-floor shoe department.
In todayās āRetail Confessionsā column, in which luxury retail workers reveal what itās really like to sell to the worldās wealthiest and most demanding buyers, we hear from someone who worked at Barneys in the 2010s, partly in the shoe department, helping celebrities including Sarah Jessica Parker, Diana Ross, and Donatella Versace.
After Gwyneth Paltrow opened a brick-and-mortar store in Amagansett to sell her controversial, not-medically advised yoni eggs, this sales associate made the move to Goop, where rich people and yet more celebrities spending $30,000 a month on a summer house came by in a pinch to pick up a $250 beach towel for their kid. āWe were in the Hamptons in the summertime. People are demanding,ā this person said. āThey want things now and they want it fast.ā After the paywall, find out what Julianna Moore came in to buy.
Letās start with Barneys. Who were the most challenging clients?
The men.Ā
When they were coming in to pick up something for their wife or their girlfriend, it was not their world. I think they felt a bit insecure and tried to compensate for that insecurity.
One time this guy came in and wanted to get his girlfriend a pair of Golden Goose sneakers, which are made to look dirty. I gift wrapped them and messengered them to where they needed to be. He came back later in the day and started screaming at me, āYou mean to fucking tell me that youāre selling shit thatās used?āĀ And I was like, āNo, sir, theyāre not used.ā
Theyād experience sticker shock, too, especially if their wives and daughters were shopping together. We would get to the register, and these men would be likeā¦Ā
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