A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

The Maison is delighted to present the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival, returning to New York for the second time from February 19 to March 21, 2026. Discover some twenty performances at this contemporary dance event presented in collaboration with prestigious institutions.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

The Maison is delighted to present the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival, returning to New York for the second time from February 19 to March 21, 2026. Discover some twenty performances at this contemporary dance event presented in collaboration with prestigious institutions.

And now, the main event...

On Friday afternoon, while driving up Coldwater Canyon on my way to lunch in Beverly Hills, traffic slowed just enough for me to clock a couple giant S.U.V.s parked on the soft shoulder of the winding road. I noticed a young man with a shaved head wearing drawstring shorts, floppy sandals, and a black, possibly airbrushed t-shirt walking up to the driver of one of the cars. Was that… Justin Bieber? He looked at me looking at him, then I kept moving; there was no time to take a photo, if only to prove to myself that it happened.

I’ll probably never find out whether it was actually him, not far from the home he shares with his wife. But I know that Bieber is in moneymaking mode. As Puck’s own Matt Belloni reported, Bieber owed his former manager, Scooter Braun, about $30 million until last year, when they settled for an undisclosed sum. His performance at the Grammys will likely preface a live tour to promote his 2025 album, Swag, despite the fact that he has publicly called the idea of touring again “daunting.” But it also showcased another endeavor: Onstage, he wore nothing but a pair of light blue silk (?) boxers from his own apparel line, Skylrk, which launched in the middle of last year to relatively little fanfare. The brand is a growing fascination of mine, if only because the undertaking itself seems quixotic. Why is he bothering with fashion?

Of course, celebrities are practically required to have some sort of branded product these days. But it’s difficult to make these things successful, no matter how famous or beloved the star. Even if the product hits, popularity is finite, and any financial windfall depends on timing. No one knows this better than Bieber’s wife, Hailey: Rhode, her beauty brand, sold to E.l.f. for $1 billion last year. The timing was right, and both she and Justin benefited from its success. (Justin Bieber owned less than 10 percent of the brand, according to sources familiar with Rhode’s presale equity breakdown, but that was surely enough to pay off said debts. A rep for Rhode did not respond to a request for comment.)

Bieber has yet to create a similarly powerful product—few do—but Skylrk may be his attempt at a significant exit. Perhaps the quiet rollout was intentional: Bieber has done minimal press to promote the collection, which includes jeans, wrap-around sunglasses, the aforementioned boxer shorts, and the water slides that I saw him shuffling around in (I think) on the side of the road.

If Skylrk looks like Yeezy to you, it’s not just because of the manosphere audience. The team actually shares much of the same DNA, including former Yeezy C.E.O. Matt George, a sort of undercover Zelig type, as well as several designers. (A rep for Skylrk declined to comment on the matter.)

Despite the lack of traditional hype, Skylrk is plenty successful. Each 10,000-unit drop—released twice per month—is generating in the vicinity of $2 million in sales. That’s not bad, given the run size, but also not life-changing.

I can’t help but compare Skylrk to Syrn, Sydney Sweeney’s lingerie venture backed by Ben Schwerin and Coatue. Not because both names are missing vowels, or because Sweeney’s current boyfriend is Braun, who became famous for once managing Bieber before he incurred the wrath of Taylor Swift. Rather, both projects feel woefully outdated.

Sweeney’s underwear line actually looks pretty nice (remember, I wrote a book on the subject), but the messaging is off—and anyway, it takes a tremendous amount of capital, market knowledge, and targeted advertising to make a business work in the incredibly crowded underpinnings category. At best, she’ll sell it for a meager profit a couple of years from now. (This isn’t the next Victoria’s Secret or even the next Savage x Fenty, especially with a name like that.) Bieber, of course, is a bigger celebrity, and certainly more beloved, but he’s also making something that was popular five or 10 years ago. Even Demna, the designer from whom this look originated, has moved on for the time being. At Gucci, he’s designing pencil skirts.

Of course, Skylrk doesn’t ever have to be Bieber’s profit center—unlike many influencers who index on ubiquity over talent, he’s a 31-year-old performer who can still make hundreds of millions of dollars via touring and music publishing over the coming decades. He’s not an aging actor or pro athlete at the twilight of his career, or a lesser Kardashian. As a result, his low-key marketing is probably the best way to grow a derivative revenue stream while maintaining his own brand credibility and keeping a bit of distance between the two. It’s increasingly clear that the real money is still in traditional licensing deals—and investing in other people’s better ideas. But when you’re used to being at the center of the universe, even when you’re inexplicably parked on a soft curb off of Coldwater Canyon, that’s easier said than done.

Condé Nast is suing a woman who self-publishes a cheesy magazine called Dogue, citing trademark infringement. I mean, they are not wrong, and Vogue’s Dogue is Chloe Malle’s greatest work to date. [Air Mail]

Best dressed at the Directors Guild Awards: Chloé Zhao in Gabriela Hearst, The Ringer’s Amanda Dobbins in my Loewe dress (this one), and actress Rhea Seehorn in another Loewe dress that I also own (so random!) and showed to Amanda, but we decided the sleeves were too big for such an occasion. (You decide.)

Thierry Conrad Reutenauer is now Loewe’s C.M.O. He’s so nice! [WWD]

Until tomorrow,
Lauren

P.S.: We use affiliate links because we are a business. We may make a couple bucks off them.

Need help? Review our FAQ page or contact us for assistance. For brand partnerships, email ads@puck.news.

You received this email because you signed up to receive emails from Puck, or as part of your Puck account associated with {{customer.email}}. To stop receiving this newsletter and/or manage all your email preferences, click here.

Puck is published by Heat Media LLC. 107 Greenwich St., New York, NY 10006