I have a guest essay in the New York Times today about the trend of wealthy people investing in plastic surgery, and the trickle down effect this has had on aspirational consumption habits. From the piece: ”A ‘rich face’ is stretched taut, often incapable of varied expressions and plumped with filler or implants or a person’s own grafted fat. Once, this face belonged to a villainous class of elites in sci-fi depictions of a dystopian future. In ‘The Hunger Games,’ residents of the capital city who revel in luxury and excess at the expense of other impoverished districts often wear sculpted, altered faces.” Read the rest at this gift link.

Let’s address that Chanel cruise footwear that has gone massively viral. Are we calling these shoes? I think they’re more like heel rests.

The fashion press is praising them. Footwear News wrote, “it worked because the reduction still read Chanel in context: not quite barefoot, not quite a sandal, and somehow, not far from the two-tone code Blazy had already started inverting.” Harper’s Bazaar said, “Coming from the guy who ignited a fresh It shoe craze in recent months, the gesture and the audacious little half shoe—sheel!?—was a giggle in itself.” (I don’t hate “sheel.”)The Cut offered “kudos to Blazy for innovating footwear in ways previously unthinkable and for leaving Chanel fans agog.” Do we think people are going to be fighting over these in a big line outside the NYC boutique on 57th street come November, when this collection lands in stores? I think that iteration will have soles and I think people will go bananas for them.

Meryl Streep’s stylist Micaela Erlanger explained how she thought about Streep’s Devil Wears Prada 2 press tour fashion: “I’ve been leaning into a term I call ‘meta dressing.’ It’s about fashion referencing fiction that’s referencing real fashion history — all while still keeping the wearer’s real life and career in mind as well. While audiences love the ‘Easter eggs,’ I find it’s more exciting to layer those nods into looks that still feel authentic to the person.”

RHOBH watchers! The Cut has a great piece about Amanda Frances and her coaching business, which women pay thousands for to learn how to manifest wealth.

King Charles and Queen Camilla wrapped up their U.S. visit at a fundraiser at Christie’s in NYC, attended by Anna Wintour, Donatella Versace, Edward Enninful, Mark Guiducce, and the like. According to the New York Times, they “sipp[ed] on champagne and gin martinis with lemon twists that were shaped into fascinators.”