Hi, and welcome to Line Sheet. Over the past few weeks, there have been Puck merch sightings in the Hamptons, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, Palm Beach, and Big Sur. If you’d like some Puck gear of your own, remember that it’s accessible as soon as you trade up to Inner Circle.

I’m hoping that, by the end of summer, I receive a few pap shots of totes and caps from Europe, too, but at least I will be able to check Santa Barbara County off the list of elite regions where y’all holiday. That’s because I am… going on vacation myself.

Sarah Shapiro and Rachel Strugatz will be holding down the fort while I’m away. We also have a very special, truly legendary guest columnist joining Line Sheet this week, and I cannot wait for the big reveal.

In the meantime, if you need something, call or text. If you don’t, I’ll see you on the other side. Before I head out, my gift is this issue, which features a late-summer mailbag packed with your smart questions and a scoop-filled top that reveals plenty about the state of the industry, including: a blockbuster brand deal for Nicole Kidman, the identity of the new Proenza Schouler designer, and what the Sydney Sweeney/American Eagle and E.L.F. controversies have in common.

Programming note: Today on Fashion People, my guest is Aurora James, founder of Brother Vellies and the Fifteen Percent Pledge, Substack author, book author, and plenty more. We are discussing nostalgia bias, tariffs, Taylor & Travis, magazine covers, and lots of other stuff from the past week. Listen here and here.

Mentioned in this issue: Adanola, Josh and Hyrum Cook, Prada, L’Oréal, Emma Corrin, H&M, Becky Malinsky, Leandra Medine, Laura Reilly, Danielle Frankel, Nicole Kidman, Matthieu Blazy, Chanel, Dior, Jonathan Anderson, Proenza Schouler, Rachel Scott, American Eagle, E.L.F., Sofia Coppola, Dua Lipa, and many, many more…

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

The refined BMW 7 Series is all luxury. With the ability to define your design, the ultimate glamour is yet to be. Learn more at

BMWUSA.com.

Three Things You Should Know…

Nicole Kidman is a Chanel girl… again?: Now that this round of designer musical chairs is over, it was only a matter of time before celebrity ambassadors started making big moves, too. The first hint was at the Dior men’s show, where former Loewe guys Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, and Dan Levy appeared in the front row to support their buddy Jonathan Anderson. Now, Balenciaga ambassador Nicole Kidman is on the precipice of a major advertising deal with Chanel in the lead-up to Matthieu Blazy’s October debut at Paris Fashion Week.

The deal is yet to be signed, I’m told, but Kidman is negotiating a significant payday that would be fitting for talent of her caliber—something in the vicinity of $15 million over three years, although some actors are receiving up to $20 million for one year of brand work. A rep for Chanel did not respond to a request for comment. A rep for Kidman declined to comment.

Some might be surprised if Kidman doesn’t follow Demna to Gucci, since they seemed to have a nice relationship at Balenciaga. But for Kidman and her team, this is a business decision, and Chanel is undeniably better resourced. As I wrote a few weeks back, brands are willing to pay a lot of money for a top star who people care about at this moment. And Chanel operates a robust ambassadorship program, mixing perennial A-listers (Penélope Cruz, Sofia Coppola), current-era superstars (Dua Lipa, Margaret Qualley, Gracie Abrams), and up-and-comers (Romy Mars). Just today, they launched a new fragrance campaign with Timothée Chalamet. Kidman, who famously repped Chanel No. 5 in a commercial directed by Baz Luhrmann, is arguably more compelling today than ever.

It’ll be interesting to see whether any celebrities from Blazy’s Bottega, like Julianne Moore, follow him over to Chanel, or if they plan to start anew. One thing is for sure: Blazy’s influence will be felt. Qualley’s recent press tour looks, styled by Danielle Goldberg—especially that spaghetti-strap dress in a fuzzy silk knit—have been far more streamlined than what we’ve come to expect from Chanel on the red carpet. That may be due to Goldberg’s collaboration with Chanel’s V.I.P. design team, but no matter how much or little Blazy was involved, they were certainly thinking of him.
And the next designer of Proenza Schouler is…: It sounds like Proenza Schouler C.E.O. Shira Suveyke Snyder and the company’s board—which includes founders and former designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez—have found the person to succeed the duo now that they have taken over at LVMH-owned Loewe. Rachel Scott, the founder of Diotima, is the pick, I’m told. (I reached out to everyone involved to get their take. A rep for the company declined to comment. Scott did not return a request for comment.)

Scott was named the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s womenswear designer of the year in 2024—just three years after founding Diotima—and is beloved by editors and buyers alike. Her crochet knits are a signature, and her work is certainly in conversation with Proenza Schouler’s: They’re both obsessed with form and how clothes interact with the body. However, I am sure Scott’s seven years at Rachel Comey, where she led footwear and ready-to-wear design under the founder, helped, too. Suveyke Snyder, who joined the company just as McCollough and Hernandez started negotiating with LVMH, needs to maintain certain legitimacy in the fashion industry… but also sell clothes.

After all, Proenza Schouler’s investors would like to sell the business sooner rather than later, and the previous team—McCollough, Hernandez, and turnaround executive Kay Hong—did a ton of work to make the brand a go-to for women looking for unfussy garments that aren’t frumpy or dangerously expensive. Scott’s first Diotima runway show, which takes place this fashion week, would have been well-attended no matter what, but this news ups the ante.
What do the recent, controversial American Eagle and E.L.F. campaigns have in common, other than being a disaster?: They’re both handled by Shadow, the communications and marketing agency founded by Lisette Sand-Freedman and Brad Zeifman in 2007, at the end of the peak Bungalow 8 era. My only recollection of meeting the two of them in person was at a dinner they invited me to at the old sushi restaurant at Hotel Gansevoort—Ono?—also attended by Shawn Sachs of Sunshine Sachs fame. Unfortunately, I did not take notes.

Some of Shadow’s old clients are still with them—along with American Eagle and E.L.F., they’ve also represented Tatcha, Aerie, and plenty of others—but they’re now less focused on traditional P.R. and more on campaign ideation and strategy. As for whether they were behind the “ideation” of these two campaigns specifically? They were certainly involved. I’m sure they were also involved with the crisis P.R. afterward.

And now, on to the main event…

Line Sheet’s Late Summer Mailbag Spectacular

Our annual reader Q&A session answers all of your most burning questions: the problem with Prada Beauty, Adanola’s economics, the future of magazines, who’s sitting front row at fashion shows, and how not to regret your wedding dress.

Lauren Sherman

Fashion is in a perpetual state of change, but this year has been especially volatile, between Trump’s ping-ponging tariffs, luxury’s post-consolidation slowdown, and the influence of the dominant media platforms, like TikTok, which can truly make or break a brand’s reputation and even impact sales. Taking stock as we head into another busy fall, it’s clear that Line Sheet readers are feeling the turmoil. Herewith, I answer your questions about a rising star in the activewear space, the fate of Prada Beauty, and plenty on the changing dynamics in fashion media, the front row, collaborations, and more. Plus, some wedding dress advice.

Is Adanola profitable?

Adanola, for those not familiar, is a British-based activewear brand that recently raised a round of funding valuing the business at over $500 million. (The lead investor is Story3, a Los Angeles–based firm led by Peter Comisar, late of Guggenheim Partners and Goldman Sachs.) It’s a sort of cheapish cross between Alo and Sporty & Rich (almost everything, including leggings, is under $70, while knits are under $120), with a nod to Parke and other college-sweatshirt brands that have been fueled by TikTok marketing in recent years.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR

The refined BMW 7 Series is all luxury. With the ability to define your design, the ultimate glamour is yet to be. Learn more at

BMWUSA.com.

According to a filing with Companies House, the British registrar, Adanola generated about £57 million in the fiscal year that ended in March 2024, double its revenue the year before. It’s likely that they nearly doubled that again in 2025, considering the valuation. In that 2024 fiscal year, they were actually profitable on an EBITDA basis—£14.2 million on £57 million—but ended the year cashflow negative (minus £1.2 million) because of spending on some “fixed tangible assets,” probably equipment or property of some sort. Last year, the company also hired a C.E.O. from Gymshark—an incredibly popular British activewear label—to ramp up international expansion. (Adanola’s founders, Manchester-based Josh and Hyrum Cook, read as modern garmento types who were on Dragons’ Den, the U.K. version of Shark Tank, for a previous business, and grew up around cut-and-sew experts. Their grandparents made manufactured bridesmaid dresses.)

Is Adanola still profitable? Possible, but they produce in China, so I am sure the tariff situation isn’t great. As for why Story3 chose Adanola: At this point, with all the activewear brands on the market, it’s sort of the luck of the draw as to which one will actually break through and I.P.O., or be bought by private equity or a strategic. This one seems to be run pretty well, and that’s something.

Why in the world does Prada Beauty not work as a business? The current version is so boring. I want to be wearing Prada makeup! Doesn’t everyone? Who can fix this?

Prada’s beauty deal is with L’Oréal, which means that the beauty conglomerate has the rights to create, develop, and distribute Prada skincare, makeup, and fragrance in collaboration with the Prada Group. Previously, Prada worked with Puig, and it was a big deal in 2019 when the company went to L’Oréal.

I’d argue that the packaging of Prada makeup and skincare is pretty good, but that L’Oréal has failed to create a product that captivates. What it comes down to is control. There’s a reason Kering has made an effort to move more of its beauty business in-house, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Prada does the same when this L’Oréal deal is up; fragrance may not be worth the bother, but if you look at how Hermès has managed the launch of its color range—with some misses, but also a lot of definite hits—it’s really the ideal scenario. Just today, actually, L’Oréal launched its first Miu Miu product, a fragrance fronted by Emma Corrin. Let’s see how that goes.

As luxury sales sink, why aren’t there more collaborations with big-box retailers? They’ve been successful in the past with D.V.F. and Target, Kate Spade and Target, Karl Lagerfeld and H&M, and Stella McCartney and H&M.

It’s not like Target is doing particularly well either. Nor is H&M. We’re going to cover the effect that fast fashion has had on luxury later this week, so I won’t dig into that here, but on the collabs front, here’s what I can tell you. Collaborations like this don’t generate very much upfront money for the designer or the brand—fees historically were in the million-dollar-or-less range, true chump change for a big luxury player—and they can also cause cannibalization if your price point is mid-range. Most importantly, the big fashion and luxury brands are so big that they are already as well known as the mass retailers. Luxury is mass now, and they don’t need anyone to help get the word out.

Is there still a place in the industry for online fashion magazines/platforms like Into the Gloss or Coveteur? They were so big back in the day.

Sure, but people need to stop thinking in terms of channel. It doesn’t matter anymore whether you’re reaching users on a web page, Instagram, or an email. The delivery system is simply a reflection of the times. Last week, in various conversations with many editors and advertisers, three names came up again and again: Leandra Medine, Becky Malinsky, and Laura Reilly. (Laurel Pantin and Jalil Johnson were also mentioned.) If you want to engage with the fashion consumer, if you are the fashion consumer, this is who you should be reading. They are the new magazines. The medium, at the moment, happens to be Substack.

How have the dynamics of the front row evolved since you started covering fashion shows?

There are far fewer editors and buyers invited overall, but especially from the West, as their commercial importance has shrunk. Their positioning at the shows has also changed. Today, celebrities and friends of the house—influencers, traditional and nontraditional—are prioritized at the major shows, followed by editors-in-chief, then critics, fashion directors, etcetera. I don’t believe in characterizing changes like this as good or bad, just the realities of doing business. As a reporter, fashion shows are still incredibly useful to me; not only is it important to see clothes in person, but the front row dynamics—from who the C.E.O. sits next to, to who sits behind the star—can also tell you a lot.

My fiancée is looking for wedding dresses and has impeccable taste, but doesn’t want to break five figures. Any suggestions of up and coming designers that aren’t going to set our home aspirations back to 2045?

Many elegant bridal designers sell dresses under $10,000. Danielle Frankel, this era’s go-to dressmaker, offers plenty of options under that price. It really depends on how much stuff your fiancée likes; if she’s looking for something with a lot of embroidery or beading, the costs will rise. One option is to find a seamstress, a pattern, and negotiate. Another is to buy a ready-to-wear piece that is not categorized as bridal. (Net-a-Porter is a good start; this is perfect.) If I could do it all over again, I would buy vintage. My biggest advice: Unless you are really rich, it’s better to choose something simple that you feel beautiful in and not worry about it too much. It’s almost guaranteed you will dislike the dress in 10 years no matter how hard you try to find something timeless.

What I’m Reading… and Looking At… and Listening To…

Robin Givhan, the longtime fashion critic at The Washington Post, who more recently expanded her purview to comment on broader cultural issues, took a buyout for obvious and good reasons. Her work at the Post was seminal, and not only because she won a Pulitzer Prize. It was because she wrote what she thought, and didn’t let outside forces cloud her judgment. I’m not a jealous person (I am too lucky to waste the energy), but I’d say one of the driving forces in my life as a writer has been the headline on Robin’s 2018 review of a Ralph Lauren show: “It’s 2018, Ralph Lauren. Why do you think this look is still cool?” I reviewed the show also, and had similar sentiments, but I was nowhere near as direct about it. The truth will set you free. [Instagram]

Brynn Wallner’s excellent Timex collaborations sold out. [Timex x Dimepiece]

Zoe Latta’s newsletter is worth a subscribe. [Rotting on the Vine]

Susan Orlean on alpha-gal syndrome (not a personality type, but an actual disease) and Birkenstocks. I can’t wait to read her memoir. [Wordy Bird]

Foot traffic at Rough Trade record stores is up, and they are crediting the Oasis reunion tour. [Retail Week]

Along with designing Marni, the Belgian wunderkind Meryll Rogge is launching a knitwear line with Sarah Allsopp. It’s called B.B. Wallace, and you’ll probably see it in a lot of specialty stores this autumn. [Instagram]

Wow, did I love this podcast with New Yorker writers Alexandra Schwartz and Lauren Collins about Americans living in Paris. (Lots of discussion about Undine Spragg.) [Critics at Large]

Happy 10-year anniversary to Sky Ting, whose co-founders Krissy Jones and Chloe Kernaghan made me like yoga. Also, Tommy at the front desk forever! [Instagram]

Until tomorrow,
Lauren

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

Puck founding partner Matt Belloni takes you inside the business of Hollywood, using exclusive reporting and insight to explain the backstories on everything from Marvel movies to the streaming wars.

Puck’s daily art market email, anchored by industry expert Marion Maneker, offers unparalleled access to the mega-auctions and galleries, elite buyers and sellers, and the power players who run this opaque world. Wall Power also features Julie Brener Davich, a veteran of Christie’s and Sotheby’s, who provides unique insights into how the business really works.

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

SEE THE ARCHIVES