THIS & THAT May 2025 | dear Hervé Legér...
bus! club! 'nother club!
My dear readers,
Happy Monday! I am coming to you live (and late) from Chicago with another apology for my disappearing act. As an anti-social socialite, the past two weeks have been (& continue to be) ones to behold: sample sale to birthday party to company retreat (in Newport) to bachelorette to welcome party to wedding to aperitivo (in New York) to brunch (in Chicago) etc…
Exhaustion aside — between Amtrak rides, karaoke performances, who knows best trivia questions, scavenger hunts, drag shows, and cocktail hours — I have reveled in the fact that places to be = reasons to get dressed. And if we are being honest, I have been cranking out looks like its my job.
If you’d like to weigh in, most have been catalogued across Instagram & Tik Tok (yes, I am back on TT; yes, my last video has 27k views; no I will not be signing autographs at this time).
With these excuses outings afoot, I must confess: I was not dutifully tracking and compiling last month’s headlines. Instead of my usual roundup, comprehensive & grouped by topic, I am going to tell you my ten favorite moments of May. And, for consistency’s sake (+ because I love ‘em), we will close with the month’s campaigns and cover stars.
Nylon is launching a free, invite-only club for “young tastemakers.” Conceptually, it’s a compelling model — especially from the brand POV amidst the private members’ club boom and ongoing fixation on community-building. Rather than charging exorbitant admittance and initiation fees (à la San Vicente or Chez Margaux), membership is free and brands foot the bill, with the goal of turning one-off IRL activations into a sustained (& sexy) ecosystem.
Bustle Digital Group CEO, Bryan Goldberg says demand is already proven, as major advertisers currently pay top dollar to attend Nylon events / host branded dinners, trips, and pop-ups of their own. That said, it’s not entirely clear how this differs from a traditional brand event, where the presence of said tastemakers can be secured (or at the very least, planned) through RSVPs. I’m not sure who’s lingering around a not-yet-socially-validated club all day hoping to bump into the influencer manager of whatever brand happens to be in the room? Maybe I’m just not fully grasping how this actually works.
According to House of CB, bandage is back and better than ever. The now fifteen-year-old UK brand relaunched its signature club dress silhouette, reviving an aesthetic they abandoned in favor of puff sleeve tops and drop-waist, full skirt maxi dresses. Newly ‘cleaned up’ PTL is probably pissed.
P.S. To the team at Hervé Legér,
Cassie was right back in April: there’s no reason you can’t reclaim your seat at the It Girl table. Modernize the silhouettes, then capture the Pucci/Missoni summer crowd and get them on board for a Hervé fall (i.e., seed a ton of product). And if absolutely necessary, take a page from Zara’s 50th (see below) and bring in some splashy front-row faces.
And to my TRR/Outnet girls, start shopping now while the prices (and demand) are still relatively low.The big dogs are officially circling AI commerce, with Google debuting new tools to streamline the path from search to checkout. Following ChatGPT’s April debut of ad-free product recs and direct checkout links; Google’s suite is equipped with full-body virtual try-ons, conversational styling prompts, and “agentic checkout” via Google Pay.
Of all the AI-led commerce concepts, I think the strongest value prop lies in super smart search — something like plush.shop, that can handle niche asks (and return actual good product) while surfacing guided recs from trending behavior feels useful. There is zero utility in virtually trying on clothes from the comfort of your home… ain’t no thing like the real thing.The Devil Wears Prada 2 will be released on May 1 of next year. I, like many of you, am a devoted TDWP fan, but I’m not sure it would hit the same if it came out today. The allure of the mega fashion mag has faded, and neither mean-girl office culture nor corporate girlbossery feel especially suited to a 2026 release.
Nostalgia alone will probably carry it at the box office, but there’s something uncanny about TikToking and Instagram content creation in film and TV, so I am a tad fearful of how the context gets modernized.
Revolve has reportedly picked up Dion Lee’s IP for ~$1 million, following the brand’s bankruptcy last May. The deal isn’t confirmed yet, but if it is, and Dion stays on as creative director, I don’t hate it. The core codes of the brand (corsets, blazers, “elevated basics,” etc.) feel pretty well suited to the FWRD shoppers’ sensibilities.
Dion Lee | Spring 2023 Ready-to-Wear Frasers Group is plotting a Matches comeback — pitching the relaunched entity as the “Soho House of retail,” ft. personalized shopping, early product access, luxury gifts, and in-store events at its former London flagships. Yet another bite of the members’ club pie, but luxury community-building off the back of unpaid invoices feels even more unserious than Nylon’s model.
Zara somehow booked fifty iconic models (Christy Turlington, Twiggy, Linda Evangelista, Paloma Elsesser, Naomi Campbell, Amelia Gray, Irina Shayk, etc. etc.) to celebrate its 50th year. The Steven Meisel-shot campaign dropped alongside a revamp of Zara’s first A Coruña store and a 128-piece collection priced up to $459. Mass continues to go luxury, indeed (cc ).
Chanel is holding off on March/September price increases this year after reporting its first sales dip since 2020 (down 4.3% to $18.7B). Growing sales across ready-to-wear, beauty, and jewelry suggest the decline in overall revenue is due to one in leather goods — and despite recent It Boy sightings, don’t expect menswear to fill the gap: global CEO Leena Nair confirmed, Matthieu Blazy will not be foraying into mens.
Madison Avenue Couture unveiled a custom Birkin for Jazz Chisholm Jr. The one-of-one Bleu Lin Togo leather HAC 40 with Palladium hardware is covered in pinstripe Swarovski crystals debuted at his foundation’s NYC fashion event and took months to create.
Hedi Slimane launched a publishing house called Bright Young Things, focusing on publishing his own photography. I saw a LinkedIn post at some point this month about how photographers and artists should be embracing various means of monetization and personal brand-building, rather than seeing it as selling out. Slimane — of Dior Homme, Saint Laurent, and Celine fame — is hardly a starving artist, but the move still feels timely and perhaps emblematic of a changing ethos.
In other news,
called me an “analytical fashion journalist” this month… I will not be answering to anything else all month.
INCOMING: Nicole Kidman giving us Miranda Hobbs realness, Courrèges models with iPhones, Ayo Edibri excellence, and to Justin’s (redacted) dismay, Hailey Bieber for American Vogue.
I’ve really loved sharing my outfits lately — partly because the comment sections have been lovely, but mostly because it’s affirmed my love of VOLUME & SHAPE. My favorite looks from the past month have featured a peplum and/or something oversized. Unsurprisingly, I remain a devout believer in outfit cataloguing — not for the content (though that’s a bonus), but for the clarity. Personal style is really just pattern recognition.
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That’s all for today folks.
LOVE YOU, MEAN IT
BECCA
Actually Cool Wedding Guest Dresses to Check Out!! 💌https://open.substack.com/pub/morganebensadoun/p/soft-spot-01-wedding-guest-edit?r=1838dy&utm_medium=ios