Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. For those of you who go to parties (it’s not for everybody), I hope you’re attending some fabulous ones this week. I had a great time at Burberry and Cultured’s dinner at La Dolce
Vita on Monday, and not only because I took a photo with Santa. Cultured E.I.C. Sarah Harrelson gathered a mix of artists, collectors, and just the right number of fashion people (including two of my favorite stylists, Jason Bolden and Thomas Christos Kikis) to dig into the limited-edition focaccia (they only allow one serving per table) and celebrate all the good vibes around Burberry at the moment. Burberry Americas president Laura Dubin-Wander was on hand,
too, wearing a fabulous suit.

Sarah is having another event tonight—this one at the Chateau, with Netflix, to celebrate their latest issue—and she also hosted a lunch at her home on Monday for jewelry designer Savannah Friedkin, whose family owns Auberge Resorts. Puck’s art guy, Marion Maneker, profiled Sarah a while back. I’m
consistently impressed that she’s able to bring together so many interesting people with such frequency and somehow manage to keep it feeling genuine. If I didn’t catch you last night at the Libertine party in their pop-up on Beverly Boulevard, maybe I’ll see you tonight at Dôen’s fundraiser at Genghis Cohen (also known as East Side Moms’ Night Out), or
the Suzie Kondi cocktails at Sunset Tower. I love dressing up!

Today, the full Line Sheet lineup is in action. Rachel Strugatz is back with a must-read on Rhode, Hailey Bieber’s astonishingly successful beauty operation, which is doing gangbusters despite not yet being sold at Sephora. Sarah “SShapiro@puck.news” Shapiro has the 411 on why every
sort-of famous person you know is wearing Sézane, and for those of you closely following all the front- and back-of-house changes in Europe, we look at what Dario Vitale’s exit from Miu Miu could mean for this latest round of designer musical chairs. (Plus, there’s a System magazine update.)

I’ll be back tomorrow with more on John Galliano’s departure from Maison Margiela (and Glenn Martens as his near-inevitable successor), but one observation for now: The
way information is disseminated in this industry is broken. We have known for months that Galliano’s contract was up in October and that he was not going to renew, and yet the official announcement only arrived just now. You don’t have to wear your whole heart on your sleeve, but being a little more transparent could muffle much of the rumor-mongering that’s become endemic to fashion. We’ll see if a Chanel announcement comes tomorrow, as people are currently speculating.

Remember, the best things in life actually aren’t free, so subscribe to Puck for intel, analysis, and funny jokes you won’t find anywhere else.

Re: clothes. A simple sweater is super nice. Stay away from weird necklines and split hems. For everyone: I have this men’s Charvet
cashmere-silk blend in a v-neck and wear it constantly. For people who like women’s clothing: Consider this tomato-colored wool
turtleneck from The Row. (The cost-per-wear will be low.) For those who want in on the return of cozy Aran and Fair Isle sweaters as a fashion statement: I’m a big Daughter and Old Stone Trade person. For everyone, but especially cis men: I wanted to recommend this “shaggy dog” crew, a collaboration between my buds at Buck Mason and J.Press. It’s made from Shetland wool and is just a little bit textured. Sadly, pretty much all of the very good, Celine-preppy-chic capsule is sold out. I hope they replenish. Someday Sarah will write about Buck
Mason’s remarkable business, but until then… buy this Donegal wool option.

On jewelry: I own very little fancy jewelry, but I do wear and always recommend Sophie Buhai silver and Sherman Field
gold. Irene Neuwirth is my wild card. I borrowed a pair of her diamond earrings for a Puck event recently and felt special. Tom Ford muse Lisa Eisner, whose kid is married to Ashley Olsen, has her jewelry on display this week at The Row in Manhattan. She’s the coolest.

And finally, with bags: Brave of you all to buy someone a bag as a gift without consulting
with them! I’m a big fan of top-handle bags like The Row’s Nina or the OG, the Hermès Bolide, which you can find second-hand in various colors and sizes. Also, Phoebe Philo’s “Gig” is great (do suede), but you may want to wait until next year when it
comes in a slightly smaller size. Finally, I saw someone carrying Loewe’s Flamenco bag in taupe last week and decided I will buy it some day.

Mentioned in this issue: Hailey Bieber, Rhode, Delphine Arnault, Benedetta Petruzzo, Dior, Jonathan Anderson, Dario Vitale, Bottega Veneta, Morgane Sézalory, Gucci, Matilda Djerf, the
butterfly haircut, Farrah Fawcett, Skims, Jens Grede, Estée Lauder, Kim Kardashian, flesh-colored North Face puffers, Nick Vlahos, and many more…

• Where is Dario going?: There’s lots of speculation regarding the future of Dario Vitale, the Miu Miu design director who is leaving the brand at the end of January, according to a
  report in WWD. As I said last week, people were speculating that he was headed to Bottega Veneta. (Miles Socha says there were whispers about
  Gucci, too.) Per usual, Miles’s piece is vague and forces the reader to connect the dots so WWD doesn’t get in trouble with the brands.

  But reading between the lines, the piece says that he’s not headed to an Italian brand (so, French!? I don’t know, there is still a narrative going around about Bottega, although Louise Trotter seemed like a shoo-in), and also reminds us that former Miu Miu C.E.O. Benedetta Petruzzo is now running Christian Dior
  Couture under divisional C.E.O. Delphine Arnault. (Dior basically needs C.E.O.s for each of its own divisions because it’s gotten so big.) Anyway, there are a few scenarios that could play out. One is that Vitale is headed to Dior to work under Maria Grazia Chiuri or another designer, should she be replaced. (Everyone is convinced Jonathan Anderson is going there. If I were a betting woman, which I’m not, I’d say the chances are about 80 percent. If I can confirm it,
  you’ll be the first to know.)

  The flaw in that theory is that Vitale seems ready to be a creative director, himself: Could he be headed to another LVMH house? Or elsewhere? Another theory: Vitale worked for a long time under Fabio Zambernardi, Miuccia Prada’s longtime right hand who left the company last year, so maybe they are reuniting. What’s your take? Email me at Lauren@puck.news
  or call me at +1 646-241-3902. Speculation welcome, real information preferred.

• System magazine is… back in the hands of its founders?: On December 6, a report surfaced on the British business register noting that a liquidator was assigned to Enlightened Publishers Limited, the company that owns System magazine, the insidery, high-touch print product that
  lost
  its three remaining co-founders earlier this year in the unsurprising situation wherein the new owner was at odds with the founders. (The appointment happened on December 4, when System’s most recent owner, Mike Obenson, met with officials to discuss the company’s unpaid debts.) According to a close source, Obenson won the auction bid for the publication (£800,000) but was unable to deliver the funds. Obenson told me via text that it wasn’t that he couldn’t get the money together,
  but that, “After some reflection, I ultimately decided not to re-invest that amount.”

  In a getting-the-band-back-together turn of events, it appears that co-founder Thomas Lenthal, the art director, has purchased the entity for a little less than that. (I was told £750,000.) I reached out to Lenthal to confirm, but he didn’t respond. I heard there would be an official announcement in another publication very soon—and wouldn’t you know,
  Business of Fashion posted the news very late in the evening London time. In the BoF report, which doesn’t contain any financial figures, it says that Lenthal and the two other remaining co-founders, Elizabeth von Guttman and Jonathan Wingfield, have collectively acquired the “intellectual property
  rights and full ownership” of the mag. For those of you owed money by System, I have no idea if you will get paid, but I expect that this whole ordeal will end up being a strange but memorable blip in the magazine’s history. Onward!

• A very French Girl Christmas: Why does it feel like every influencer who isn’t quite an influencer—Ghia’s Melanie
  Masarin, recipe queen Alison Roman, Aureum Collective’s Cass Dimicco—is constantly draped from head to high-heel Mary Jane toes in Sézane? In London last week, professional host and British broadcaster Laura Jackson threw an
  intimate-but-Instagrammed dinner at The Columbia attended by Anaïs Gallagher (model and daughter of Noel Gallagher) and actresses Jessica Plummer and Antonia Thomas, all four of whom were decked out in Sézane.

  Morgane Sézalory, who founded the company in 2013 and brought it to the U.S. four years later, has a très Américaine entrepreneurial spirit. She raised capital from General Atlantic, the blue chip growth equity firm, which also has
  investments in Vuori, Shein, and Tory Burch. (GA owns about 45 percent of the company. The Bettencourt family, the heirs to the L'Oréal fortune, also has a position.) Like other D.T.C. businesses, Sézane relied on heavy online distribution alongside a careful rollout of physical stores. Unlike others, however, its marketing strategy relies on influencers with actual jobs to seed the brand. Instead of simply bombarding very online people with free merch and hoping they’ll promote it
  to their followers, Sézalory actually pays her influencers—a rarity in this business—and stages events that have the appearance of authenticity. It’s less about generating social impressions than cultivating experiences—gathering and clothing chic women who benefit from each other’s company and networks and may become future brand partners… even if money is, in many cases, changing hands.

  Some of Sezane.com’s
  current bestsellers are the Emile cardigan (button-up cardigans are big right now, and this comes in a very festive red), the Patent tote, and their signature fragrance,
  which was only recently launched in the U.S. Fashion search engine Lyst reports that the Basile (an oversize deep v-neck cardigan) and the Betty (a sweater/shirt/jacket) are the top-searched products in their database. The recently launched (and Line Sheet-approved) kids
  collection also keeps selling out, and the spinoff men’s line—Octobre Éditions—is gaining traction in the U.S. after a successful rollout in Europe and the U.K.

  Not for nothing, the brand also ramped up affiliate marketing by adding more partners like ShopMy (the fast-growing and popular link affiliate all your favorite fashion influencers are using) in recent weeks. So even
  the influencers who aren’t paid to post can still earn commission for their sales. —Sarah Shapiro

If not for the strategically placed lip gloss, it could have been a Skims ad. In fact, the campaign felt so much like Skims creative that I wondered if the brand, founded by Hailey Bieber, had actually hired away Skims creative director Kim Schraub. As it turns out, this is a common observation in the beauty business. “Rhode is
Skims Beauty,” noted a well-known founder in the space. “If you squint, it’s Skims,” said Gen Z expert Casey Morrow Lewis, author of the After School Substack.

Anyway, all of the Skims comparisons are a compliment. The multibillion-dollar company is a best-in-class marketer that consistently capitalizes on culture at a speed that very few (except maybe e.l.f. Cosmetics) are able to match. Skims is also quite good at leveraging
outside talent to allow the brand to exist outside of Kim Kardashian, avoiding the over-reliance on founder personality—or key man risk, really—that has hampered Goop and truly doomed Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia. “Skims’ magic is the timing,” said a person close to Skims C.E.O.
Jens Grede. “He knows when to strike—his timing is impeccable. He’s a marketing unicorn.”

So far, Rhode’s success is all Bieber—she’s the founder, the line’s face, and its loudest promoter—but the company is slowly incorporating other celebrities into the mix, including Djerf, the first influencer to collaborate on product, and Claudia Schiffer, who was named a brand ambassador in October. Rhode’s current evolution reinforces the notion that the brand is
more than Bieber’s celebrity, while also never letting you forget that the brand is tied to that celebrity.

Kardashian, for her part, has helped Skims expand into a lifestyle brand that sells affordable underwear and flannel PJs
alongside pricier, leopard-forward Dolce & Gabbana collaborations and flesh-colored North Face puffers. Similarly, Bieber has managed to transition from skincare guru to makeup authority and seller of viral phone/lip gloss cases without cannibalizing her original business, which I hear is stronger than ever.

Still, it remains unclear if
two additional Scandinavian celebrities are enough to steer the focus away from Bieber, or keep Bieber’s customers interested once they’re 35 and can afford better options. “The customer is willing to accept Rhode across multiple categories,” an insider acknowledged, but they also posed a more existential question: Other than Hailey, what is Rhode really built on? The good news for the company, however, is that a lot of very smart and experienced people are already working to figure that
out.

Until tomorrow,
Lauren

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