Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. It’s getting weird out there, but we are in this together! If you want to know more about what your fellow Puck subscribers are thinking right now, be sure to check out founding partner Baratunde Thurston’s illuminating report on The Puck Private Conversation: Election Edition, featuring true confessions from 1,143 of you and conducted in collaboration with communications supergroup Orchestra.

It’s not like it takes a lot to get people to talk politics these days. At both the CFDA Fashion Awards on Monday and the WSJ. Innovator Awards on Tuesday, those with a sliver of courage said their piece (most notably, Willy Chavarria and Aubrey Plaza). More on those to-dos below (I went to most of the things I said I would), plus a moment of Zen with Steven Meisel. (We can talk about Miu Miu’s crazy-but-really-not-that-crazy sales jump and the relaunch of L’eggs tomorrow. Congrats to everyone involved.)

The main event, of course, is Rachel Strugatz’s latest piece on the Estée Lauder succession saga. The company did the right thing and sent a memo to employees letting them know that Stéphane de La Faverie is indeed getting the C.E.O. job. Rachel alerted Line Sheet subscribers to de La Faverie’s likely ascension three weeks ago, and her work today features intel that no one else has come close to gathering. (Ignore pretty much anything in caps that says “EXCLUSIVE” or “BREAKING” from the commoner outlets. I know it’s driving them nuts how effectively she’s creaming them.) Anyway, you gotta subscribe to get the real story.

By the time this email lands in your inbox, I’ll be pouring drinks at the latest Puck private dinner, this time co-hosted by Value Retail, proprietors of Belmont Park Village, a personal obsession of mine (more tomorrow on that). Before we get started, I want to congratulate Rati Sahi Levesque, the new C.E.O. of The RealReal. Rati was The RealReal’s first employee, and while she undeniably has a hard road ahead of her—the business model remains fraught, in my opinion (and the opinion of many investors, too)—the good news is that people (including me) love shopping the site. I hope she figures it out.

Mentioned in this issue: Marc Jacobs, Hamish Bowles, Leah Chernikoff, Todd Oldham, Tim Cook, Blake Lively, Ariana Grande, A’ja Wilson, Stéphane de La Faverie, LVMH, the Arnault offspring, Jane Lauder, Tom Ford Beauty, Fabrizio Freda, Sephora, Ulta Beauty, John Demsey, Le Labo, Michelle Freyre, Estée’s Profit Recovery and Growth Plan, and much, much more…

• All the parties… and the inevitable comparisons: It’s gala season in New York, an opportunity to check a lot of people off your I-need-to-see-them-but-don’t-want-to-schedule-a-lunch list. It’s also a chance to gossip and to watch industry dynamics play out in real time. First stop on Monday night was the CFDA Fashion Awards, once again held at the Natural History Museum. (I recapped the whole thing with Harper’s Bazaar executive editor Leah Chernikoff on Fashion People.) Marc Jacobs honored Hamish Bowles (a beautifully written homage), Annie Leibovitz reflected on her relationship to fashion and her unique collaboration with Grace Coddington, and Willy Chavarria addressed the upcoming election in a constructive way. The appearance of ’90s fashion icon Todd Oldham, who honored Stephen Burrows alongside Donna Karan, was a highlight for me. (I’m a fan of Todd’s nephew Presley’s pearl-forward jewelry line, too.)

  Podcaster Alix Earle was seated across from me, and I just kept thinking about how fractured our idea of celebrity has become. She was arguably the most famous person there in terms of reach, but has yet to penetrate the fashion industry’s innermost circles, and she may never do so. Best dressed of the night: Blake Lively in all-white Michael Kors (shoes were wrong, but that’s fine), Molly Gordon in Proenza Schouler (what a waist), Cynthia Erivo in Zac Posen, and Marc Jacobs in Saint Laurent.

  One way to get people to show up to your event is to give them an award… or a free ticket. At the CFDAs, there’s a price. At the WSJ. magazine Innovator Awards on Tuesday night at MoMA, the only thing you needed to be was cool, or an advertiser. (All my favorite P.R.s were there.) This year’s honorees included: Apple C.E.O. Tim Cook (he needs the good press, to be honest, and Reese Witherspoon, who presented the award, owes him forever for renewing The Morning Show yet again); Wicked director Jon M. Chu (his stars, Erivo and Ariana Grande, presented); Marc Jacobs (Sarah Paulson gave a sweet speech in one of his doll looks; Sofia Coppola and Thomas Mars were there at the table to support); and the WNBA, whose star A’ja Wilson accepted the award after fan (and natural point guard) Aubrey Plaza gave a big, figurative middle finger to that guy at the Trump rally who made fun of Puerto Ricans. Of course, Salma Hayek Pinault’s rambling speech about ChatGPT and enjoying the money-gathering part of philanthropy was the most entertaining. Best dressed: Paulson in Marc, Hayek in Balenciaga, WSJ.’s fashion director Rory Satran in Alaïa, and the paper’s editor-in-chief, Emma Tucker, in silver Saint Laurent slingbacks.

• Speaking of… this night was a real test for Sarah Ball, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, whom Tucker famously appointed just a few months after her own arrival at the Journal in 2023. Ball was around for last year’s awards, but the whole thing had already been conceived, and the issue nearly shipped, when former editor-in-chief Kristina O’Neill was ousted. This event was very much O’Neill’s baby, and as I was heading up there, I was texting with a friend in Europe, who said, “Curious how Sarah shows up in the mix of an event she didn’t really author…” I never went to Innovators in the before era, but my understanding is that the big difference is that this feels a little more Hollywood, a lot more camp. (Ball invited the New York Liberty’s mascot, Ellie the Elephant, to roam about during cocktail hour. Yes.)

  I was nervous for Ball when she went to speak—this new generation of editors somehow feels less authoritative than the last, which has a lot to do with their diminished remits but also because they’re relatively young. (Ball is only 38.) She handled it exceptionally well, making impromptu jokes. You could see in that moment why Tucker chose her to succeed O’Neill: Sarah is nowhere near as insider-y as Kristina, but she commands respect and knows how to use the weight of the Journal to ensure the right people from art, Hollywood, and yes, fashion, were in that room. I did think it was funny that they sat Saturday Night Live alum Kate McKinnon next to Dow Jones C.E.O. Almar Latour.

  O’Neill, whose book with Laura Brown about getting fired is coming out sooner than you think, hosted her own dinner at the design studio and gallery Casa Valle, in Tribeca, in conjunction with her current employer, Sotheby’s, and the increasingly compelling Lafayette 148, in celebration of the label’s surprising-but-beautiful collaboration with the art organization Save Venice. (I was happy to meet the brand’s creative director, Emily Smith, who started working there as an intern 22 years ago.) Kristina’s friends—including Lauren Santo Domingo, Natalie Massenet, Erik Torstensson, Derek Blasberg, and Dasha Zhukova were all there—even though many, if not each and every one, were certainly invited to MoMA as well.

  Rather than harping on the past, I will leave you with something to look forward to. I started the evening off at the Perelman Performing Arts Center’s first-annual gala, co-hosted by a bunch of guys with a lot of money, including Ron Perelman, Mike Bloomberg, and Michael Douglas. I stopped by to see my friend Mary Fontamillas, who is working with Printemps on the opening of their New York store in the Financial District next year, and to say hi to Printemps C.E.O. Jean-Marc Bellaiche and his U.S. deputy Laura Lendrum. They sponsored the event, which felt like a savvy way to embed with the executives and patrons who work—and increasingly live—in and around the vicinity of Trinity Church. Anyway, it’s set to open in the spring. The world will be very different by then.

• Lanvin levels up: One of the most anticipated shows of the Fall/Winter 2025 fashion season will be Peter Copping’s debut at Lanvin, a brand that’s been without a creative director since Bruno Sialelli left in April 2023. (And honestly, the writing was on the wall before then.) Anyway, when former Theory and Saint Laurent exec Siddhartha Shukla took over in 2022, he commissioned M/M Paris to develop a new visual identity in the marketing materials that could serve as a starting point for whoever ended up in that C.D. role—all while making sure the outside world didn’t forget about Lanvin as they figured things out behind the scenes.

• The series, called Character Studies, launches today. Steven Meisel shot it; Guido Palau and Pat McGrath did the hair and makeup; Piergiorgio took care of the casting (Raquel Zimmermann is my favorite); and Ludivine Poiblanc styled. And while Lanvin is in a particularly tough position (its China-owned parent company is currently trading at well under $2 a share), the heavyweights-only series has managed to send a positive message to the other market, a.k.a. the fashion industry.

The Lauder Companies also accelerated the succession timeline: Stéphane de La Faverie, who I’d previously reported would be taking over from outgoing C.E.O. Fabrizio Freda, will begin his new job on January 1, a full six months earlier than expected. That was probably always the plan: While it was publicly communicated that Freda would remain through a transition––or until June 30, 2025––according to a document I viewed, the Italian executive could leave the U.S. as early as December. It’s unclear where he’s decided to take up residence as he winds down his 15-year tenure, but I’m told the U.K. is an option.

Either way, this was probably the most eventful week that ELC has seen in decades. Lauder hasn’t had new leadership in 15 years, and Jane was the last remaining family member in a key operational role. Of the five-person list of internal candidates for C.E.O., Jane and de La Faverie were the only serious contenders (the external search seemed designed for appearances only). Many believed Jane would be Lauder’s next C.E.O, until of course, it became clear that she wouldn’t be. I’m told speculation about Freda’s successor died down long before Jane’s departure was leaked to WWD.

De La Faverie has been referred to as the “next C.E.O” around the GM building for some time, limiting some of the shock that a non-family member had beat out a Lauder heir to helm the beauty giant. “A lot of people like working for him. The sentiment is that he’s thoughtful about the business and decisive––not reactive. I think he’s built a loyal following he can pick [his deputies] from,” said a former executive. Insiders insist he’s not a proxy for the family, but that the board sees him as a middle-of-the-road, “safe choice.”

As for Jane, I’m told that she was sensitive to the conflict of being a senior operator while also sitting on the board. “It’s hard to have company responsibility and then also be a board member who has to push back on things––and she has the added baggage of being a family member with so many shares,” said a person close to the family. Jane also expressed apprehension about aspects of the Profit Recovery and Growth Plan, or PRGP—an internal blueprint that calls for meaningful layoffs, among other tactics to restore the company’s margins.

According to the person close to the family, Jane was one of few executives at the company who “spoke truth to power” and challenged Freda on the PRGP. “Every time Jane was aggressive, she paid the price. Fabrizio basically cut her out,” this person said. The tension, said another person with knowledge of the matter, stemmed from their divergent approaches. Jane wanted organizational change to “transform the way they do things,” and for the recovery plan to be about more than just cost-cutting. “She was pushing him to move faster on execution,” this person added. “The pace was too slow.”

I’ve heard murmurs that Michelle Freyre, global brand president of Clinique and Origins, and Sandra Main, the global president of Bobbi Brown and La Mer, are possible contenders. Sources told me that Freyre is a rising star with “fresh ideas” who “likes to shake shit up.” She could get more responsibility in the coming months as the company figures out how to divvy up de La Faverie’s portfolio, which includes Estée Lauder, Jo Malone London, Le Labo, The Ordinary parentco Deciem, and Too Faced. The promotion would elevate Freyre to Jane Hudis’s level, allowing her to oversee some of the brightest spots in all of Lauder—The Ordinary and Le Labo.

And what’s next for Hudis, an executive group president who was a onetime internal C.E.O. candidate, herself? Before becoming his peer, Hudis was de La Faverie’s boss, dating back to his time as general manager of Origins, among other labels. Several employees have suggested the role reversal could get interesting.

Exactly how many people it will take to run de La Faverie’s former fiefdom is also a topic of conversation among senior employees. Tara Simon and Amber English are replacing Mark Loomis, the group president of North America who’s retiring at the end of fiscal 2025. Simon, who worked at Sephora and Ulta Beauty before joining Lauder to head up its West Coast brands, is an expert in retail and is widely believed to be the person who could fix Lauder’s troubled North American businesses. Some employees have taken issue with the two-for-one swap. “Everybody is talking about that internally, because we’re like, ‘Really? This is a women’s industry, and it takes two women to replace one man?’” said a current senior-level employee. “Is it going to take three women to replace Stephane? The company needs to be really mindful.”

This drama may be largely settled, but de La Faverie’s appointment also allows him to handle the cleanup on behalf of the family. New leadership almost always leads to an exodus of existing talent, and there are still plenty of those PRGP layoffs to come. “The first round of layoffs was not as big,” an insider said. “The next round will be in January and February as part of a larger restructuring plan.” And, of course, it won’t just be the rank and file. While Jane might have harbored doubts about the benefits of cost-cutting qua cost-cutting, de La Faverie’s mandate will mean paring headcount at the vice president and senior vice president level, too, throughout both the North American and global divisions.

Until tomorrow,
Lauren

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