Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet.

We’re really in it now. Everyone in Europe is rushing to get stuff done before they go on holiday (“It feels like the end of the world,” one executive told me). Here in the U.S., they’re plotting trips “out east” (I hate that expression, which was contrived into being about 15 years ago, when Manhattan became overrun with new money). Others are watching the Tour de France.

Over here at Puck, my partner in beauty, Rachel “rachel@puck.news” Strugatz, is interrupting collective quiet time by checking in on leading Line Sheet cinematic universe characters Gwyneth Paltrow and Pat McGrath. I’ve got a few cute things up top for you, too, involving two of the world’s greatest luxury brands, and one of the world’s last remaining magazine editors.

P.S., it’s Q3, which means it’s time to reallocate your personal media budget to Puck instead of just reading this intro and then telling me, You’re the only person I read. Look, let’s fight our industry’s reputation for superficiality and illiteracy—and let’s do it together! I know how hard it is to read, especially now that we all have phone-induced ADHD, but if this is the only thing you’re reading, you have bigger problems than the nominal cost of a subscription to our fair publication. Enlighten yourself by signing up here.

Mentioned in this issue: Gwyneth Paltrow, Goop, Pat McGrath, Thierry Maman, Gucci, Grégory Boutté, Sephora, Ulta Beauty, James Harden, Marc Jacobs, Hedi Slimane, Chanel, The Devil Wears Prada, Will Welch, Adam Driver, Hermès, and many more.

• A minor addendum to the Gucci organizational changes: Official word from Gucci is that Grégory Boutté’s title is chief digital business officer, and he starts September 2.
• The guy with the cool jacket at the white party: James Harden in Louis Vuitton.
• Another Chanel theory: Everyone is pretty exhausted by all the vacant creative director positions at the big luxury houses, on top of the will-they-or-won’t-they-change-things-up vibe at several others. But people care most about what’s going to happen at Chanel. (Or is it Chanele?)

  While Hedi still makes the most sense to me, Marc Jacobs is gaining heat after that whizzy show last week, and there’s a real argument for him. Chanel may well follow the trending model of Hermès, Dior, and Louis Vuitton, among others, by installing individual creative directors for different divisions—likely mirroring how it operates, to some degree, behind the scenes. Chanel, for instance, could be divided into ready-to-wear and couture, accessories, fine jewelry, and beauty.

  This sort of structure would enable Jacobs (or someone like him) to focus on the runway, and let others manage the rest of the business. This has worked at Hermès, which is not an ego-driven brand, and Louis Vuitton, where everyone works in the spirit of the heritage. But these are leather goods houses. At a couture house, however, ego is a necessary evil, even if it’s a challenge to cohesion. (Dior has been talking about a One Dior strategy for years, dating back to when current LV C.E.O. Pietro Beccari was still the C.E.O. And yet, the house still seems fractured.)

  Anyway, Chanel should do what’s right for Chanel, since they have the legacy to think long-term. What’s right? Well, again, I think they should hire Hedi, let him do his thing, and get the house in order. But hiring Marc and putting a great team around him is more inspired. What I hope they don’t do is hire a newbie or unknown, Hermès-style. Chanel is not Hermès!

• Will it to happen: On Tuesday’s episode of Fashion People, Marisa Meltzer and I got way ahead of ourselves and started secondary casting for the sequel to The Devil Wears Prada. I envisioned a plotline where a character based on GQ editor Will Welch is in cahoots with Emily Blunt’s fashion exec character, all scheming against Anna Miranda Priestly, but that’s in my mind only. So who would play Will? We solicited suggestions on the show and I promised to share them.

  The response—and I’m not being facetious—was overwhelming. I’ve compressed them here to include those with multiple votes, and those that I believe to be valid.

  At dinner on Monday night, the consensus determined that it had to be Adam Driver—a top suggestion among other industry insiders. Upon reflection, my personal feeling is that Driver is far too overwhelming and chaotic of a presence to play Welch, who is nothing if not genteel.

  Other (select) reader submissions: Austin Butler (multiple votes); Michiel Huisman (my pick, right disposition, won’t be too expensive to cast); Morgan Spector (chaotic, but inspired); Lee Pace (multiple votes, understands the fashion industry, is tall, seems Southern); John Mulaney (multiple votes, my new fave); Matthew Macfadyen (funny); Jacob Elordi (multiple votes, not bad, actually); Chris Pine (with glasses); Ben Affleck (too distressed-looking and too muscle-bound); Stephen Merchant (a French person suggested this); Joshua Jackson (yes). An addition from Marisa: “Can we bring back the Adrien Grenier chef character but have him played by Jeremy Allen White?” As for who will take on Sam Hine, GQ’s intrepid fashion reporter? There’s only one correct answer, and that’s Timothée Chalamet.

Offering beauty services is obviously a smart play for Goop, whose retail footprint now includes six stores. Gwyneth Paltrow’s self-care and treatments have always been part of her personal brand, so it makes sense to bring in higher-tier facialists and other practitioners not readily accessible to plebes. (Perhaps the Marin location could one day even offer the same treatments Paltrow herself gets.) Goop could probably charge whatever premium it wants for a Paltrow-approved facial or lymphatic massage, which is also a decent excuse to promote Goop Beauty’s skin and body care along the way. Of course, a few expensive facials won’t move the needle for Goop, revenue-wise. Mostly, this new “concept” is just another marketing vehicle for Paltrow’s lifestyle brand, and Goop already has brand awareness in spades. What it needs is a proper C.E.O.

Following my last dispatch on America’s favorite actress-turned-entrepreneur, people familiar with the company reached out and implored me to note that Goop’s beauty revenue (which includes only Goop Beauty and not diffusion line Good.clean.goop) was up 41.8 percent in 2023, which seems impressive but is hard to quantify because we don’t know the sales volume. The brand wouldn’t share revenue figures, but it’s safe to assume that the business is still pretty small. Interested parties also clarified that Sephora does not comprise the majority of Goop Beauty’s wholesale revenue. Other retailers include Niche in Germany; Mecca in Australia; Nordstrom; Revolve; Oh My Cream in France and the U.K.; and Credo, which recently ended a multiyear partnership with Ulta Beauty.

Paltrow still holds the C.E.O. title, but there’s been a concerted effort to build out a C-suite. This year, Goop hired a new C.O.O., Aaron Hoag, and brought on Lauren Johnston, a marketing executive from Google, as C.M.O. (The two roles had been vacant for some time.) The brand is clearly trying to professionalize the operation, and I’ve heard that streamlining Goop’s owned and operated labels is a priority.

My understanding is that Paltrow has been open to selling the business for a few years—and perhaps these latest brick-and-mortar brand-building gestures and the C-suite upgrade are tactics to get the company to market one day. But she’s also an A-list celebrity who has founded a genuinely successful, and oft copied, concept. Traditional industry multiples may not appropriately convey the value she has created. Meanwhile, it’s fun to hypothesize about the buyers for Goop. There’s definitely a world in which it becomes part of a midsize group or a licensing firm, because it’s not going to a L’Oréal or an Estée Lauder.

Maman’s work was complicated by the fact that, early in his tenure, the company’s biggest investor, Eurazeo, quietly sold its $60 million stake in the business. His departure also feels like the first step in a much-needed turnaround for a company that has yet to live up to its potential. The business needs to install a leader with the operational chops to commercialize McGrath’s enormous talents and hopefully make single eyeshadows, so people don’t have to shell out almost $130 for a palette.

Until tomorrow,
Lauren