🎙️New on the Back Row podcast: Tech journalist Taylor Lorenz and I collaborated on an episode about how Meta turned smart glasses into “hot surveillance summer.” Check it out in Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.
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LOOSE THREADS
In the new podcast We Call Her Emma, reporter Chloe Hadjimatheou investigates Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad’s wife Asma al-Assad. The first episode opens with the story of the PR firm who helped Asma get a Vogue spread and puff piece that praised Syria’s liberal and democratic values. The resulting backlash, I’d argue, was the worst of Anna Wintour’s long career. Check out the series here.
More AI smart glasses: Samsung’s “intelligent eyewear” is made in collaboration with Warby Parker, Gentle Monster, and Google. A Gizmodo reporter was recently allowed to touch but not wear them. He decided they felt “cheap.”
Quick partner message: Banana Republic is offering 30 percent off everything for three days. Check out these cotton Tencel wide-leg every day pants that people love; this kind of perfect midi denim shift; and this excellent midi black summer day dress.
Reformation is now a public company, trading for around $15 per share after the IPO raised $211 million. I’m a sucker for Anja Rubik and this photo shoot Reformation did of her in the NYSE is pretty great.
Glitz reports that Chloé designer Chemena Kamali “has informed management of her intention to leave.” If this manifests, who would you pick to replace her? Dario Vitale??
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The Birkin Is Embarrassing. But What About Chanel Bags?
Chanel has been nipping at Hermès’s Oran sandals at least since Bloomberg declared, in 2021, that it was “Aiming for Hermès Status with Price Hikes.”
This year, it seemed to come even closer to that most untouchable of luxury brands. Hermès hasn’t crashed, by any means (in fact, its most recent earnings report showed a 6.7 percent increase from the same period a year earlier). But 2026 has unquestionably belonged to Chanel. New artistic director Matthieu Blazy’s designs went up for sale at the beginning of the year, kicking off a so-called “mania” that hasn’t quit.
It feels like the excitement that emerged around Birkins when Samantha Jones tried to buy one on Sex and the City for the now-lol price of $4,000. Hermès has enjoyed a low-hum mania ever since — shoppers always want the bags. People have filed lawsuits over Hermès not selling them said bags.
But, as I recently reported here in Back Row, they’ve become an embarrassment for many longtime owners. Luxury buyers who can afford them, along with other stuff at Hermès in order to qualify for a Birkin as part of the Hermès “game,” are letting them collect dust in their closets rather than participate in consumption that feels just too conspicuous in this most unequal of times.
Given the hype and the prices (the classic maxi flap is up to $13,200, while a Birkin 35 starts at $13,700), I wondered if Chanel’s bags were also starting to feel embarrassing. The response to an informal survey I posted Wednesday to Instagram asking if people felt wary to carry their bags received around 65 impassioned responses — and offered an overwhelming answer.
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