On this episode we speak with Julie Zerbo, the founder of the Fashion Law, a fashion media outlet dedicated to fashion, law, business, and industry analysis. Her being a lawyer by education, we find Julie’s perspective on fashion both original and pertinent. We talk about Julie’s professional journey, the obstacles she faces running an independent publication, and her views on the current state of fashion.
We are back with the journalist and critic Philippe Pourhashemi to discuss the recently finished Spring/Summer 2024 fashion season.
“Fashion brands are like toothpaste brands now,” the fashion journalist Lauren Sherman told me in a recent conversation on our podcast. I understood what she meant even before she launched into a car market analogy, that many brands today offer similar products, with the logo being the primary differentiator. What the luxury consumer has to decide today is not what garment to buy, but what brand to buy into, because their wares are increasingly interchangeable.
On this hot-take episode with Philippe Pourhashemi we discuss the recent firings of Ludovic de Saint Sernin from Ann Demeulemeester and Rhuigi Villasenor from Bally and their implications. We speak about hype versus talent, what makes the right fit between a creative director and a brand, the relationship between management and creative, brand building and reputational risk, and much more.
Our guest is Lauren Sherman, former senior correspondent at the Business of Fashion, a top-notch reporter whose no-nonsense writing cuts through much of the industry noise. We discuss why fashion journalism used to be a much richer field, why honest reporting is beneficial to fashion, why it’s imperative for a brand to develop a core audience, why LVMH excels at retaining talent, why brick and mortar retail matters, and talk about her new and exciting role at Puck News.
We speak with the casting director James Scully about his trajectory of working in fashion, from his days at the iconic New York boutique Charivari in the ‘80s to his days at Harper’s Bazaar and the changes he witnessed while being there, to becoming one of the best casting agents in the fashion industry; his whistle blowing on the rampant abuse of models and the changes it engendered. James’s is a brilliant story of working his way up in fashion through sheer love of it and his talent. It is also an important one because it provides a rare glimpse of what goes on under the hood of the fashion industry.
We are back with Philippe to review this past Fall / Winter 2023 Women’s fashion show season. We dive into many shows, concentrating on the many debuts, of Daniel Lee at Burberry, Ludovic de Saint-Sernin at Ann Demeulemeester, and Harris Reed at Nina Ricci.
We would like to present to you the HYKE Fall / Winter 2023 Women’s collection.
Photography by Jun Okada
We would like to present to you the Y/Project Fall / Winter 2023 Women’s collection.
Photography by Ruediger Glatz
We would like to present to you the Sacai Fall / Winter 2023 Women’s collection.
Photography by Ruediger Glatz