Loose Threads
What did we think of Michael Rider’s debut at Celine? Rider, who succeeds Hedi Slimane as creative director, previously served as women’s design director at Ralph Lauren. I couldn’t tell if the collection’s vibe was supposed to be cool or quirky or ladylike, and thought it might have benefitted from committing more thoroughly to a lane versus kitchen sink-ing it. I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts in comments.
Oh how great it would have been if a guest to the Lauren Sánchez-Jeff Bezos wedding had worn these caviar and champagne pajamas instead of whatever lingerie couture they likely chose. (This brand, Printfresh, has a whole range of food-themed PJs.)
The bejeweled beating heart and back nipples from the Schiaparelli couture show didn’t exactly do it for me, but man did that look get a lot of online attention.
Iris Van Herpen’s couture show was mesmerizing, including a glowing dress imbued with bioluminescent algae.
Lauren Sánchez is following the Kim Kardashian fashion trajectory — after that Vogue cover, the industry will come fully around. Evidence: she attended Demna’s final couture show for Balenciaga.
New York magazine has a feature about the Milk Guy, who peddles raw milk to customers in NYC. Julia Shanker writes, “This was my entrance into the world of interstate raw-milk smuggling. Before RFK Jr., before Gwyneth Paltrow became known more as a wellness influencer than an actress, there was the Milk Guy, slipping into the city quietly to deliver his wares to enthusiasts who believe raw milk is an ancient healing elixir, rich with immune-boosting enzymes and uncorrupted by government intervention.” I address Gwyneth’s love of raw milk (experts advise strongly against both consuming it and keeping it in your house, particularly if you have kids) in Gwyneth: The Biography.
And now, on to today’s big story…
The Anna Wintour Tapes: Revisiting Her Early Career
The most spectacular editorship in magazine history ends with a LinkedIn job posting: “Condé Nast is hiring a Head of Editorial Content for U.S Vogue.”
As I wrote in the New York Times, Anna Wintour stepping back from her position at the magazine heralds the end of the once all-powerful “editor-in-chief” title, which she’s held at Vogue since 1988. Her career is hardly over — she’s sticking around in a less glamorous-sounding corporate capacity as Condé’s chief content officer and the global editorial director of all international Vogues — but it’s still a significant moment for her career and for fashion media generally.
After the announcement, I started revisiting the transcripts from the three years I spent interviewing more than 250 sources to write Anna: The Biography. I’m sharing some highlights in a new Back Row series: “The Anna Tapes.”
In this first installment, recollections from those who worked with her when she was a young fashion editor, tasked with flying around the world to style and oversee photo shoots, a job that’s nearly extinct in media’s digital age.
Anna started her career as the well-connected daughter of Charles Wintour, respected editor of London’s Evening Standard newspaper. Her first staff editor job was at the society-oriented magazine Harpers & Queen in the early seventies. Though she started as an assistant, she quickly took on the responsibility of organizing her own fashion shoots.
Willie Landels, the Harpers & Queen’s editor-in-chief who hired Anna: She wanted to come to work at Harpers & Queen. I knew her father, the very well known editor of Evening Standard. When she [started], she was really young, sweet, and extremely determined about what she was doing and where she was going. She was very, very talented in fashion, a bit quiet. She didn't speak much. When she started choosing clothes to photograph and all that, she could never explain why she chose those clothes. It irritated very much the writers, who [would] say, “Why do you choose these rather than something else?”
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