Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. R.I.P. Martin Greenfield. He mattered more to you than you probably even know!

It’s party time over here at Puck as we prepare to host our second First Amendment soirée at the ambassador’s residence in Washington this evening. So I’m keeping things strictly business upfront. For your reading pleasure, Rachel Strugatz ([email protected]) has the real story behind the launch of Meghan Markle’s American Riviera Orchard, and some insights into why Selena Gomez’s Rare Beauty, valued at $2 billion, has engaged a banker. (What beauty brand isn’t for sale right now?) You’ll also find my take on the Dries Van Noten retirement, and my thoughts on Kering’s ominous trading warning. Oh, and a Condé union update, of course. Enjoy! And sign up here if you haven’t already.

Mentioned in this issue: Flamingo Estate, Meghan Markle, dried fruit, America Riviera Orchard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Condé Nast, Oprah, the Belgians, Roger Lynch, Kering, Sabato De Sarno, Alessandro Michele, Dries Van Noten, Luca Solca, Joseph Altuzarra, Glossier, Rare Beauty, Selena Gomez, Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian, Coco Chanel, and many more…

• But he said there were no more layoffs planned!: Jeez, what is going on over at Condé Nast? Yesterday in a bargaining session, management told the union that they were adding five names to the infamous layoff list. (Up to 99, from 94.) They didn’t share the names, and stormed out of the meeting, according to the union. In response, Vanity Fair social media manager Mark Alan Burger sent Anna Wintour, Roger Lynch, Stan Duncan, and several other executives an email, copying union members and reprimanding management. He also specifically called out Lynch for suggesting to Axios a couple of weeks ago that he didn’t anticipate any further “reductions.” Union members naturally replied-all to the thread, flooding the executives’ inboxes.

  In the meeting, union sources say that management also suggested there may be more layoffs to come. Then, Condé Nast announced it had taken legal action against the union, accusing them of “surface bargaining” (i.e., not making a good-faith attempt to reach a deal). Today, union members marched up to the executive suite to give Roger, Stan, & Co. a piece of their mind. This is all happening as Advance, the parent company, is set to make a lot of money (an estimated $2 billion) off a Reddit I.P.O.

  I asked the Condé Nast comms team why there will be more layoffs, even though Lynch said there wouldn’t be. They didn’t answer. My partner Dylan Byers will have more on this saga later today. (Sign up for his private email, In the Room, here.)

• It’s going to get worse before it gets better: Kering, the owner of Gucci, Saint Laurent, et al. issued a warning in the prelude to its first-quarter 2024 results, which won’t be released until April 23. Looks like sales are going to be down 10 percent year over year across the board, and almost 20 percent at Gucci. Yikes? The Kering party line was that sales in China are particularly soft—as they are for most companies—and that only select stores have received Sabato De Sarno’s first collection, often in limited quantities. My guy Luca Solca at Bernstein buys this, but says that he is “still on the fence” about whether De Sarno’s blood-red proposal for Gucci will work with Chinese consumers, who loved Alessandro Michele’s wacky-tacky take.

  People close to the company say that De Sarno’s stuff is selling very well in the U.S., but there just isn’t that much of it yet in stores. It’s not surprising that Americans like it. All people want right now in this country is to look chic, and they often think that means wearing black. (Ancora and ancora and ancora.) Remember, it took about a year for Michele to fully infiltrate retail. I also think Chinese consumers will likely take to the platforms and cute suiting: Tastes change fast. That being said, Kering has made some medium-term bets that won’t materialize for some time, and this period of transformation, as I am calling it, is far from over.

• A note on Dries Van Noten: The Belgian gardener did the right thing on Tuesday morning by announcing that he is stepping down from his namesake brand because he is ready to do so. I am sad, but also… it’s fine? I wish more designers had the strength of character and self-worth to say goodbye when they feel ready. (Interesting that Margiela, Raf, and Ann Demeulemeester were all able to free themselves, too. Must be the Belgian constitution.)

  By the time you read this, there will have been about 73,452 obits written for someone who is decidedly not dead, so I will spare you emotionality and aim for practicality. Van Noten is a designer’s designer: Joseph Altuzarra once told me he dreamed of building a true clothing business like Dries. And when Van Noten sold a majority stake in the company—which probably, at this point, still generates under $500 million a year in sales—he chose Puig. As he said in his parting note, the Spanish beauty group has pretty much left him alone—aside from developing a fragrance and beauty business in the most thoughtful, brand-burnishing way.

  But Van Noten is also a people’s designer. The clothes are pretty affordable in the grand scheme of fashion, and the lack of dog-in-heat fervor means it never feels burnt. It just simmers. I’ve been teased for collecting his T-shirts, but they are the best—fabric, cut, and color—and far from the most expensive, and I wear them almost every day. This is the essence of why Dries is great.

  As for what happens now, I suspect that Puig will know better than to go “young” and will instead choose someone, or some concept, that allows the fragrance business to expand while maintaining the momentum of the ready-to-wear and accessories sales. While Puig has stumbled with Nina Ricci time and again, its management of Rabanne and Jean Paul Gaultier show that the group, which may go public this year, is serious about fashion and unwilling to take shortcuts. Perhaps someone from the studio will take over Dries. The good news is that there is an incredible archive that could easily be rehashed for decades. Maybe Dries was actually the Coco Chanel of his time?

That said, beauty is in the eye of the capitalized beholder, and I can see why a strategic buyer eying Glossier might pass on Rare Beauty, or vice versa. Both companies appeal to younger consumers with approachable prices, but Rare is a younger company, and growing faster (it also has significant global sales), while Glossier has worked through its growing pains and emerged as a mature and stable business. Rare goes really deep in one category (makeup), while Glossier is more “multicategory” with makeup, skincare, body, and fragrance.

Gomez is not Kylie Jenner, but the brand’s rapid rise feels similar to a Kardashian-ian trajectory: Kylie Cosmetics saw early explosive momentum, Coty acquired a majority stake, and then the brand faltered because it was unable to evolve with the culture. If you’re worried about a rise and fall, Glossier is a significantly safer bet. —Rachel Strugatz

Inspiration is perhaps a generous term, since Markle appears to be all but trying to re-create Flamingo Estate herself after a potential partnership fell through. Indeed, the trademark applications she filed on March 9 mention candles, nut butters, dried fruits and vegetables, and “kits comprised of edible oils, fats, preserves, spreads and butters.” Also on the application are cosmetic brushes, yoga mats, and a number of other wellness-related items. Earlier this week, a friend said the brand looks like “what happens when you go to a dinner at Flamingo Estate and aren’t invited back.”

“It was a business she was trying to be a part of,” a source said of Markle, who supposedly visited the estate after being introduced to the property by another famous Montecito resident (not Oprah). There were multiple in-person meetings with the Flamingo Estate team in 2022, I’m told, and Markle expressed a desire to come on as an “active partner” in the business. Apparently, Markle and Prince Harry became such big fans that they displayed Flamingo Estate products in their home (a stack of green Flamingo Estate books is visible in the background of a 2022 clip of Prince Harry promoting a New Zealand eco-travel project from his study). “Ultimately, the estate realized they didn’t want to take the business in that direction,” this person added. Christiansen was indeed seeking investments at the time; he raised $7.5 million last year, and I hear he’s fundraising again.

The partnership never came to fruition, but by the time it fell through, I’m told, Markle had reviewed relevant company information that any potential investor would be privy to and had “intimate knowledge” of the business. Christiansen declined to comment, and a spokesperson for Markle didn’t respond.

It’s indisputable that Markle needs to rehab her image beyond hiring an actual stylist (Lauren recently wrote about that here), but I’m not convinced American Riviera Orchard is the way. Being a late-addition ambassador for an established brand seems sort of like a microcosm of the carpetbagging that Markle has already been accused of vis-à-vis the Windsors. And, ironically or not, the Sussexes have been in a process of gradual rebranding ever since they evacuated from Buckingham Palace a few years ago. Their various business endeavors haven’t been revolutionary, and their prowess as content creators has been unexpectedly shallow, even given the low expectations. Will Markle be able to prove that she has the taste and style to overcome the considerable obstacles to launching a lifestyle company in a turgid market, when a number of best-in-class options already exist? She’ll have her work cut out for her. And, for better or worse, everyone will be paying attention.

Until tomorrow,
Lauren