Hi, and welcome back to Line Sheet. Today is Met Gala day, so I’ve landed in your inbox a bit earlier than usual with something to read while you’re getting your makeup done. Feel free to use my words and ideas as social lubrication during the cocktail hour. If you happen to be staying in, I’ll be live-tweeting red-carpet arrivals from @PuckNews starting at 6 p.m. ET. Then The Wall Street Journal’s Jacob Gallagher and I are recording a very special episode of my podcast, Fashion People, which will drop Tuesday morning. (Listen here.)

Along with Met news and notes, I’ve got the latest on the Condé Nast union’s agreement (!) with management—congrats to everyone involved, it’s been quite the journey—plus, a guest appearance by [email protected] on the celebrity facialist boom (no, you are not the only one who booked the Beauty Sandwich), and last but not least, I’m (finally) sharing my firsthand impression of Phoebe Philo at Bergdorf Goodman.

P.S., thanks for all the kind words this week—especially to those who actually read Puck, and especially, especially to those who proudly shared stories of their Ozempic journey with me. As for the rest of you… you don’t think I know the truth? Redeem yourself by subscribing: Not only do you get me, but you also get access to the entire Puck cinematic universe.

Mentioned in this issue: The Met Gala, Anna Wintour, Vogue, Kristin Patrick, Fabiola Torres, Phoebe Philo, Shani Darden, Iván Pol, The Beauty Sandwich, Derek Blasberg, Mark Guiducci, Chloe Malle, Jonathan Anderson, Loewe, Dua Lipa, Jahleel Weaver, The Row, Stella McCartney, Nick Vogelson, Jean’s, Thakoon Panichgul, Karlie Kloss, Glenn Martens, Karla Welch, Tremaine Emory, Will Welch, Marc Jacobs, Lauren Sánchez, Pier Paolo Piccioli, TikTok, John Galliano, and many more…

• In C.M.O. news: I hear that Kristin Patrick, current chief marketing officer of Claire’s (the purple piercing spot at your local mall) is headed to Marc Jacobs, while Gap’s new C.M.O. is Fabiola Torres, a Pepsi executive who spent a couple of short years at Apple and 18 long ones at Nike before that. Interesting time for both of these brands to hire new marketers. Last week, Bloomberg reported that Marc Jacobs was maybe for sale—remember, LVMH denied it, and I outlined why it seemed far-fetched—and we all know that Gap Inc. is undergoing quite the reinvention under C.E.O. Richard Dickson. Neither company responded to a request for comment.
• More real estate whispers about The Row: Yes, a Paris store is definitely happening, but the fresh rumor is that the brand is opening in the old Tiina space in Amagansett. No news on whether it’s a permanent location or a summer pop-up. For anyone who admired the Tiina ethos and mourned the store’s departure, this is a best-case scenario. We are all pulling for multibrand stores, though; they’re often more fun and interesting. I also hear that La Garçonne, the Tribeca retailer that carries The Row, is opening in Amagansett Square.
• We Anna did it!: On the first Monday in May, just a little after 3 a.m., Condé Nast H.R. boss Stan Duncan sent an email to staff, notifying them that the long, drawn-out, discouraging battle between management and the union had been tentatively resolved. Union members would receive eight weeks of guaranteed paid severance, an increase in parental leave, three months of COBRA for the folks on the layoff list, and a layoff moratorium through July 31, 2024, plus a bunch of other decent upgrades.

  As of Friday morning, the union had been worried that they may not even get two guaranteed weeks of severance in the package, and had been prepared to strike. Then, presumably, Anna Wintour got involved. While the Condé Nast chief content officer was not officially dealing with the union—that was Duncan’s job—she was also not going to run the risk of allowing picketers to potter around outside her Met Gala. (They can’t control the Gaza protests, but the union… there was something to do about that.) Wintour, an efficiency machine, must have been frustrated with the way things were being handled in general. The union got a pretty good deal for a company in decline, everyone can work tonight (and enjoy the fruits of their labor at the Ssense afterparty), and the kids in the content pit will finally be set free.

  Union members’ reaction to the news has been divided—maybe unsurprisingly given their pattern of behavior. Those not being laid off are “Slack happy” right now, while those on the layoff list are pretty angry… at the union leaders. “All the veteran folks are realizing they would have gotten a way better deal in November,” one person said, noting that those not in the union who were laid off at the beginning of this saga received two weeks severance for every year they worked. So, if you have been at Condé for 10 years, you would have received 20 weeks of severance. Now, everyone will receive eight.

  Looking back on these torturous six months, I’d argue that both sides behaved badly, reflecting the state of the company, itself. The building is no longer brimming with A-list talent, and that’s reflected in the subprime comprehension of the business, and what it can offer them. Lynch and Duncan, uninspiring and frustrating at once, could have made more of an effort to at least feign taking care of these employees. In the end, it’s only Wintour who managed to hold their respect. This morning at the Met exhibition preview, neither Wintour nor Lynch (who looked exhausted) gave remarks, probably the best path forward. Danielle Carrig, the company’s head of comms, was nowhere to be seen.

  It’s funny, earlier this morning while pulling up another file, I stumbled upon a recording of a 2020 Zoom call between Lynch, Carrig, Duncan, and former C.M.O. Deirdre Findlay that someone had sent to me. They were training Lynch to answer questions related to the New York Times article interrogating Wintour’s behavior around hiring and collaborating with Black talent.

  “I think it would be helpful to everyone if you can speak to why Anna is at the company,” Carrig said on the call. “She’s been here for so long, she has quite a history. Why do you think it’s important that Anna is here with us and still at the company today?”

  Lynch’s response: “I think she can be a very positive force for change. … There are very few people in the world who can have the influence on change, on culture … than Anna.”

• I finally went to the Phoebe Philo pop-up at Bergdorf Goodman: I tried on several pairs of pants, two blazers, two tops—across several sizes—and a pair of strappy sandals. I didn’t buy anything, although I liked the “classic trousers in light khaki pinstripe wool” a lot. The pants were unlined and the wool was very light, stiff, and dry; it felt like linen. Alas, the fit of the trousers wasn’t exact enough to justify the $1,300 price tag. Another observation: In person, the clothes reminded me of Peter Do, the former Old Céline designer. I am not suggesting anyone is copying anyone, just that these designs are definitely in dialogue with Do’s designs.

  More than anything, though, the fluidity of Philo’s deliveries, with one “edit” running into another, seems to encourage us to think less linearly about fashion. For instance, the wide-shoulder and nipped-waist silhouette doesn’t feel particularly new to me, but it doesn’t feel old, either. What does it say about where fashion is headed? Maybe that everything is messy, and muddy, reflecting the reality of life. The fashion industry wanted Philo to clean the slate. Instead, she mucked it up even more.

• Rachel on the facialists making serious bank off the Met: Everyone will be talking about the clothes tonight, but I want to talk about the faces. More specifically, who is sculpting, lifting, and contouring tonight’s Met Gala guests. It seems like every top esthetician is in New York right now—Shani Darden, Iván Pol, etcetera—and it’s not just me who noticed this: Joanna Czech, facialist to stars like Hailey Bieber and Kim Kardashian, confirmed my suspicions. The traveling circus apparently kicks off with the Oscars before moving to New York every May. “The last five years—it’s on steroids,” said Czech, who will perform her signature “slapping” massage for 27 attendees, among them Uma Thurman, Cynthia Erivo, Gracie Abrams, Camila Morrone, and Sabrina Carpenter.

  Publicist Federica Parruccini told me she started noticing something similar, in 2021, when she worked with facialist Mimi Luzon. Now, Parruccini’s clients include SB Skin, a.k.a. Shamara Bondaroff, the queen of microcurrent who helps Vogue editors get their faces Met-ready, and Cynthia Rivas, who’s hosting a five-day Met Gala facial suite at the Carlyle through Tuesday with skin care brand iS Clinical. Darden also has a multiday pop-up downtown at the Greenwich Hotel’s Shibui Spa, where she saw eight clients, including Lea Michele, Janelle Monáe, Riley Keough, and Pedro Pascal. I was told that appointments are “exclusively offered to celebrities” and not open for the public to book.

  I messaged Pol, better known as The Beauty Sandwich, who is currently holding court at the Carlyle’s Chanel suite, because I was curious whom he was seeing. “I’m doing everyone lol,” he replied. “My lineup is insane.” J.Lo, Kylie and Kris Jenner, Jennifer Lawrence, and Penélope Cruz are among the 20 attendees he’s seeing pre-event, which might explain why his radiofrequency facials now allegedly cost $3,000 (not that any of the above are paying). When I interviewed him late last year, the price was $1,800.

  Of course, it’s still Czech who preps the most important face at the Met Gala: Anna Wintour, herself. She’s been seeing Czech for over two decades. —Rachel Strugatz

As always, the best parties were off the proverbial calendar—starting with Vogue’s annual get-together on Friday night, hosted by Mark Guiducci, Chloe Malle, Chioma Nnadi, and Sam Sussman at the Dutch Flower Line, on 28th Street, with everyone dressed in unironic spring florals. (They were gently teasing the absurdity of this year’s um, simplified, Met Gala theme, “The Garden of Time.”) Everyone at the Vogue party—mostly designers and staffers—was super loose. After all, it was one final opportunity to blow off steam before they entered the war room on Monday. Malle, the Vogue.com editor, was imploring departing guests to take home bouquets of tulips as if they were Tupperware containers full of leftovers.

On Sunday, Stella McCartney co-hosted her own dinner with Saks at L’Avenue—Jeff Koons and Serena Williams showed, and there was a mariachi band, in honor of Cinco de Mayo. Nick Vogelson celebrated the new issue of Document Journal by filling up Jean’s with Michèle Lamy, Ludovic de Saint Sernin, Erykah Badu, and dozens of others. (All seems good?) I spied plenty of fashion people at UTA’s party at the Ritz-Carlton down in Nomad. (I still can’t believe there is a Ritz in Nomad.) Pierre Rougier was going around with UTA’s Blair Kohan, while Christopher John Rogers and Brandon Maxwell held court in a booth.

In fashion, we’re thrown into so many circumstances that give off a first-day-of-school feeling, which is fitting given that the industry is adult high school. And the most in-demand pre-Met Gala invite might’ve been the Prada sample sale, which commenced on Saturday morning, and gathered the whole in-crowd. I secured a 10 a.m. slot, where I knew pretty much every person queued up—mostly other writers and editors, including HommeGirls’ Thakoon Panichgul. The likes of Karlie Kloss and Wendi Deng Murdoch—daughter in tow—were there over the weekend, along with E.I.C. types like Nina Garcia. (Murdoch’s haul was particularly fruitful, onlookers said. Even billionaire adjacents cannot resist 90 percent off double-faced cashmere coats.)

I caught up with C.E.O.s, investors, entrepreneurs, and designers all weekend, and even made time to visit the Tom Sachs Bodega on Center Street to buy my son a Swiss “passport.” Sachs was there, as was Tremaine Emory, late of Supreme, whose exhibition with Cactus Plant Flea Market is on display in the space for a spell. (He was hanging out front with GQ editor-in-chief Will Welch.) Then, my friends Chris and Alix stopped by before heading to the new store from Stoffa, the brand that is a sort of downtown New York version of Brunello Cucinelli. (I waited outside; too much cream fabric for a sticky-fingered toddler.) There is nowhere like New York for these sorts of productive run-ins.

Other than fantasizing about Marc Jacobs going to Chanel, many of the people with whom I interacted beyond a double air kiss wanted to talk Met Gala, of course, both the good and the drag. Was Lauren Sánchez really wearing Oscar de la Renta? (If she doesn’t, I’ll pay you a dollar.) Isn’t it interesting that ex-Valentino designer Pier Paolo Piccioli is attending? He posed for photo ops with Thom Browne at the exhibition preview this morning. Is he headed to Fendi? That’s the pure, pure gossip going around.

Regardless of who actually paid for seats, it’s messy with TikTok as a sponsor, the optics around an election year, and the utter extravagance of it all. Instead of the traditional two tables for the lead sponsor, TikTok has one long table. It’s a matter of debate whether that is a practical seating matter, or if Vogue had difficulty finding enough A-list talent willing to be associated with the Chinese-owned, maybe-soon-to-be-banned social platform. After all, it was only two years ago that the Supreme Court was overturning Roe v. Wade as celebrities climbed the Met’s steps, and my Twitter feed volleyed between the life-changing news and images of Gilded Age-inspired dresses. This year, along with what’s happening across the park at Columbia, there is the threat of several varieties of protests on Fifth Avenue.

In any case, the corporate gods at Amazon, TikTok, and Instagram remain believers, scooping up tables and lead sponsorships. Chantal Fernandez, my longtime colleague and co-author of our forthcoming book about Victoria’s Secret, published a fabulous piece this past week on the state of the gala, digging into the tensions between the Met, the Costume Institute—long viewed as a frivolous stepsibling within the greater institution—and the ambitions of Wintour, the gala’s chair and principal fundraiser.

Chantal expanded on reporting by the Paris-based journalist Dana Thomas, who wrote last summer that Wintour and the Costume Institute’s head curator, Andrew Bolton, were keen on staging a John Galliano exhibition as part of his long-term character rehabilitation, but that those plans were halted by the museum. Meanwhile, there is still speculation regarding who Galliano will dress in his lauded Margiela Artisanal collection tonight. I was told outright that it will not be Kim Kardashian, but that the looks were taken almost as soon as they stepped off the runway.

The reality is that a Galliano exhibition would be controversial, but it would also be a big hit, one that would likely come with additional support from whichever fashion company currently employs him, be it Renzo Rosso and OTB or… in a future scenario, LVMH. All that said, I was pleasantly surprised by the dynamism of the exhibit, Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion, one of the best shows Bolton has put on in years. Everyone will be talking about the OpenAI chatbot installation and other goofy tech stunts, but the garments—all from the Met’s own archive—are something to behold. (The red Dior ball gown, gathered at the neckline to form one single rosette, is worth the visit alone.) This is an exhibit about fashion, full stop, and will receive rave reviews from critics craving something beautiful.

Museum cronies can complain about what Wintour has built, and brands can say that the formula she and Bolton have perfected is growing stale, but all you have to do is follow the money—$22 raised million in 2022—to see that it will only grow more commercially viable as the years go on, even after Wintour says her inevitable goodbyes. This year, I’ve heard, the gala is set to hit a new fundraising record.

Only $375,000 for a Cattelan panel? Sold! [Puck]

Law Roach told Vanessa he wants to design Ungaro. [New York Times]

Tapestry’s earnings are this week, which means it will have a platform to defend the Capri merger against the F.T.C. bullies. [BoF]

A big win for Zendaya and the Galliano rehabilitation tour. [Marie Claire]

I can’t look away! [Instagram]

And finally… These hats are a personality type.