LOOSE THREADS
What is a celebrity skincare line launch without a little backlash, really? Alix Earle’s followers have apparently pointed out that she used prescription products to heal her acne, not her wildly successful new skincare line Reale Actives. According to Puck, which called it “one of the most successful celebrity beauty launches in history,” the brand did $1 million in sales in under five minutes. The Daily Mail notes that followers have accused her of “cashing in” on her “skin journey.” Isn’t that how these things work?!
Apparently there is a moment in The Devil Wears Prada 2 trailer where Anne Hathaway crosses a New York street, and a random person can be seen holding her cell phone out of her taxi window to film it.
The Cut’s Charlotte Cowles interviewed a “financial astrologer,” which is apparently a thing! She said: “You can also use a company’s chart to look at your own astrological compatibility with it. For example, Costco has a great chart, and it’s very compatible with mine. If Costco were a human, we would be best friends. Same with Netflix. I’ve made a good amount of money on both of those. I’m not a huge risk-taker, but now that I have a track record of investing for 12 or 13 years, seeing what works and what doesn’t work, it helps me to feel more confident in my decisions.”
Recs from one of my favorite shoe brands, Margaux: these wrap-around sandals that are crazy comfortable (I walked Manhattan in them when I was running around promoting Gwyneth last year); this new flat style; and these loafers are wonderfully minimalist if you want a shoe that can take you from commuting to the office.
The Dior Men’s fall 2026 collection just dropped. Who’s ponying up for the $6,800 Blason Delft Bermuda Shorts (“revisiting House codes through an opulent coat of arms”)?
Brands smell big money in looksmaxxing, reports The Business of Fashion: “The psychological shift is the market signal: When young men start feeling bad about how they look, they start spending money to fix it. And they are spending.” Depressing!
On that note, I today’s “Loose Threads” with this Thread:
The Stylist Who Removes Tom Ford Logos for the Ultra-Rich
As a personal stylist, Hailey (not her real name) has an army of tailors ready to help with her wealthy clients’ requests. Including the ones who want all the logos removed from every item in their closet, right down to the pulls on a zipper. If this means replacing an entire Tom Ford zipper or every Prada button on a jacket, she handles it.
Hailey has been doing this for four years, and doubled her income each year. As the number of wealthy people grows and luxury stores make shopping less and less pleasant, the cottage industry of intermediaries like Hailey, who do everything from full makeovers to sourcing hard-to-find new or vintage items, is exploding.
“People want stylists. There's so much stuff out there and shopping online is hard. People don't want to bother,” she said.
Earlier in Back Row
Though she’s seen brands shut down stores for certain big spenders before or after business hours, the idea of going to a store to shop — or standing outside in a line to get into one, Chanelmania-style — is out of the question for many of her clients. “They want the convenience of everything being brought to them,” she said. “They would never wait in line.” If they want something in a pinch, they’ll send a personal assistant to stand on a line to buy a pair of shoes.
One of Hailey’s clients spends $300,000 to $500,000 refreshing their wardrobe each season. “Money is no option usually. We can do an online pull for over $100,000, no issue,” she said. This doesn’t include her fees — $5,500 for a full wardrobe edit, plus $300 an hour for additional work. If a client flies her across the country to work with them and puts her up in a guest house (Hailey’s clients have an average of three homes), she earns her hourly rate while she’s sleeping.
I chatted with Hailey about what her job as a private stylist to the ultra-rich is really like.
Luxury prices are obviously insane these days. Are your clients price-sensitive at all?
If they mark a product up too much, it might scare people away. But at the end of the day, that one percent — they're buying no matter what. They buy multiples in different colors sometimes.
Money is no option usually. We can do an online pull for over $100,000, no issue. That's when you know they're old money — they have no problem with that. They probably don't know they have a lot of money based on the people that they grew up with who all probably had money too.
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