As always, feel free to send tips and ideas my way and I will address them soon. Reply to this email, send me a voice memo, whatever. Puck subscribers will receive preferential treatment, obviously.

Mentioned in this issue: Tory Burch, Sublime, Kendall Jenner, Estée Lauder Companies, Fabrizio Freda, Saks Global, Marc Metrick, Richard Baker, HBC, Condé Nast, Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, Roger Lynch, Sara Blakely, Sneex, D.N.C. fashion, Shiseido, Rodrigo Flores-Roux, Christine Hassan, and many more.

• Rachel on Fabrizio’s exit: Well, that was quicker than we thought. Today, ahead of earnings, The Estée Lauder Companies announced that C.E.O Fabrizio Freda is retiring at the end of next year. The news comes just two months after former C.F.O. Tracey Thomas Travis’s retirement was leaked, and follows months of company officials insisting that Freda was staying put.The Estée Lauder stock didn’t react much to the news, which was tempered by the company offering a disappointing 2025 outlook. Also, no successor has been announced just yet, seeing as Freda will remain in his role through the end of 2025, and as an advisor through 2026. But rest assured: William Lauder, grandson of Estée Lauder and son of chairman emeritus Leonard Lauder, told staff in an internal memo that succession planning is in full swing. I’m already hearing from sources that Jane Lauder, ELC’s vice president and chief data officer, and Stéphane De La Faverie, an executive group president, will be named co-C.E.O.s, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see Jane elevated into a much-needed C.O.O. role.I’ll have much, much more on Wednesday, including news of additional executive departures, but until then, please send tips my way. —Rachel Strugatz
• The Future of Saks Global is… here: On Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET, Marc Metrick, future C.E.O. of Saks Global—the new company that will include Neiman Marcus and Saks Fifth Avenue—will host a Zoom call alongside chairman Richard Baker and Jennifer Bewley, C.F.O. of Baker’s Hudson’s Bay Company, to discuss some “positive developments at HBC,” according to an invite sent to partner brands. Speculation is that there will be an update on whether the Saks-Neiman merger is going to be approved by the Federal Trade Commission. Brands are also hoping the company addresses late payments. My guess is that the deal goes through with flying colors.
• Condé Nast named a new chief revenue officer: As my Puck partner Dylan Byers reported, the new C.R.O. is Elizabeth Herbst-Brady, who appears to have never worked at Condé Nast before and is known by very few in the building. Maybe that’s a good thing? I’m only surprised that Herbst-Brady was locked in so quickly, after C.E.O. Roger Lynch told the team that he’d name a successor to Pam Drucker Mann by the end of this quarter. (Conspiracy theorists wonder whether Lynch moved up the announcement after I linked to his party time in Montauk. Come on, everyone deserves a vacation!) Anyway, it’s good that both consumer revenue and advertising sales will be overseen by one person since there is definitely a paywall vs. digital display ads battle at the company. But this new structure also probably means consolidation, and more reductions.
• The founder of Spanx launched a “comfortable” shoe line that is grossing out the internet: I can’t even count how many people sent me links about Sara Blakely’s new sneaker-heel hybrid, Sneex, which she says she’s been developing for the past nine years… which helps to explain why Sneex looks like something that would have been popular nine years ago. (Really, 15 or 20.) But people have terrible taste, so maybe this’ll take off, especially if it’s as comfortable as Blakely claims.
• Who wore it better, Democrats or Republicans?: Friend-of-Line Sheet Jacob Gallagher will be covering what’s happening on the ground of the Democratic National Convention, fashion- and merch-wise, for The Wall Street Journal, so be sure to follow his dispatches. One interesting bit of intel I gathered myself: Apparently, most delegations have a dress code. One state, for instance, is directing its delegate members to wear blue on Monday; red, white, and blue on Tuesday; whatever they want on Wednesday; and white on Thursday for women, navy and white for men. Also on Wednesday, there is a “pink out” organized by the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, encouraging all delegates to wear pink. My prediction: We’re going to see a lot more Issey Miyake in Chicago than we did at the R.N.C.

I’ve always been intrigued and liked fragrance. Some of my earliest memories are mixing my dad’s Vetiver by Guerlain with five of my mom’s fragrances that sat on her vanity, then having to be thrown in a bath. It was sort of a joke in our family, because I grew up with three brothers.

It’s just a personal love of mine. It wasn’t about what other companies do and what is appropriate. The other thing that I think is essential is finding the right partner. This little project took two years, so it was not little at all. It was a tedious, very wonderful but painstakingly detailed process. I kid you not when I say that we probably met every week, close to every working week, for two years—and sometimes twice. So it’s amazing how much effort this exceptional team has done. It makes sense, no pun intended.

Why did it take so much work?

Getting the juice right is a long process. The packaging alone, the bottle [designed by Malin Ericson] took a long time. It’s a beautiful object. Everything that we do now, I want to have longevity.

Over the past 10 years, we’ve seen the rise of niche and indie scents. You’re not only competing with designer and celebrity fragrances, but this whole other crop of names that have forced fashion brands to change their approach to fragrance. Were you thinking about that at all while you were developing Sublime—that your product was going to sit on shelves with this newer category?

It didn’t cross my mind, not once. I have a very specific point of view on things, and we have a level of trust with our customer. Listen, I hope it resonates. You never know, and we’ve put in a lot of effort. I guess one thing that I don’t do is focus on what else is happening when we’re doing something ourselves. That’s not where I find my inspiration. And you know, even though I think it’s wonderful that these new indie brands are around, I have to tell you, I don’t know much about them, just to be completely transparent. For me, this was about working on the absolute most interesting, wonderful juice we could and ensuring it would feel like it fit naturally with everything else we do. It wasn’t about worrying about what other brands are doing. I never look at it like that.

That’s a big reason you’ve been so successful—you’re not comparing, not constantly trying to chase others.

I barely look at other fashion shows. I don’t really love inspiration that’s current. We want to be relevant to what’s happening in the zeitgeist and the world, but we need to have a unique point of view. That has to happen in everything we do, or why bother? For me, it’s not interesting otherwise.

For people who watched the runway shows post-Covid, it could feel like the transformation happened overnight.

I actually grew over time, and really learned how to be a designer over time. In the beginning, I was hesitant to even call myself a designer because I didn’t know anything, and I was starting from scratch. There were so many different perspectives on me. I was the hardest on myself. I didn’t need to hear what others had to say because I didn’t believe in myself. I learned, over time, to believe in myself from a creative standpoint.

That confidence really shows in everything, from the runway to the retail to the campaigns, all of it. Do you plan to take beauty further than fragrance? Makeup has become such a big thing for fashion brands.

We’re with Shiseido because I love their products. I’ve always worn them. And, in fact, before we did the deal with them, we did a collaboration on sunscreen because I’ve always worn their sunscreen. We’re not in a rush, but I do love skincare and makeup, and at some point maybe that would be interesting. We have no plans in the works. I always take the long view, and think of us as a bit of a patient company, where we’re not rushing into things and we’re taking our time.

What’s the best and worst thing about being in this business right now?

I don’t want to sound contrived, but I really love this business. I feel humbled by being in such a creative industry surrounded by such extraordinary people. So let’s start with that. The hardest thing is the macro environment and what’s happening in the world—the Whac-A-Mole of it all. You work on one problem and then another pops up. You can never plan, but you can do your best, and you can work on your business and keep refining it and do better and better. But you never know what’s coming ahead.