#2 I think I’ve seen this film before

And I didn’t like the ending.

NYFW is done, and LFW is currently underway. Why are we talking about fashion week, I hear some cry. We thought this was about market trends, not fashion trends! Correct, amigos.

However, I fear some of you didn’t get the memo that the Devil Wears Prada is in fact a documentary and that the cerulean blue monologue should be mandatory to memorise.

The Dictionary of Color Combinations 🍎📘

This… “stuff”? Oh, okay. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you.

You go to your closet and you select that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back.

But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue. It's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean.

And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent who showed cerulean military jackets? And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner…where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin.

However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs.

And it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact…you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room…from a pile of "stuff."

tl;dr Even if you don’t want to care what happens in the world of fashion, the world of TikTok, or the world of crypto (in my case), a series of micro-events that qualify as a trend may trickle down to affect how society at large consumes, and lives. Better be informed than sorry.

Barbara Kruger

💸 What I’m divesting from

🧥 Class cosplay. I can’t seem to browse on my phone/email/shop windows without seeing barn jackets. If you’re confused, think waxed jackets, or a type of straight car coat/jacket with a contrasting collar, in corduroy or leather. Simply put, Barbour jackets and cheaper alternatives.

Classic Barbour on the left, a more sleeker and more current version on the right (click on the images to expand and un-crop)

Every single brand seems to have released one this autumn! From J. Crew to COS to Carhartt to Mango. I see it as the country cousin of the chore jacket, a rare (?) instance of a trend trickling down from menswear to womenswear. Alternatively, it’s the preppy pendant to the Western resurgence.

⇒ Why should you care? This isn’t about whether or not I’ll get one this season – I won’t – but about the timing of it all. Having lived in London for 6+ years, this type of jacket bears more significance there than in France or the US for example. The discussion re: quiet luxury and old money may have died down, but that type of jacket tends to imply a countryside estate, a “this old thing?” attitude even though the garment fetches hundreds of pounds.

This trend comes off the heels of the current financial climate of a looming recession. Does that mean that we must dress for our tax bracket? That “fake it until you make it” is void? It’s not. But I find it very dark that the current generation must feast on dupes instead of ever tasting the real thing (wealth).

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📈 Bullish news

• The Row is valued at $1B. The Wertheimer brothers (via their family office Mousse Partners), who own Chanel, and L’Oreal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers (via her investment vehicle Tethys Invest), have acquired a minority stake in the Olsen Twins’ beautifully unbranded label The Row in a deal valued at ~$1B. [Bloomberg]

• LVMH x F1. The French conglomerate is in late-stage talks about being a major sponsor of F1, right after sponsoring the Olympics. [Bloomberg]

• One luxury ecom to rule them all. After a disastrous year for Matches and Farfetch, Mytheresa seems to be doing well. 105k new customers in just the last quarter and 25.2% growth in the US alone. [Read the Investor Presentation]

• Fashion brands will better trace their supply chains. Retraced, a SaaS platform that allows fashion brands such as Victoria’s Secret, Desigual, and Calzedonia, to trace their supply chains, has raised a €15M Series A round led by Partech. [TechEU]

• Novak Djokovic’s new job. Luxury hotel chain Aman made the tennis star their first Global Wellness Advisor. [Aman]

• This:

  

📉 Bearish news

• Kourtney Kardashian launches her own Ozempic dupe. Her supplements brand, Lemme, is releasing GLP-1 Daily™ Capsules for $90 or $72 with a subscription. [WWD] Thin is in again :( No need for a prescription. A closer look shows that GLP in the name is misused, as it’s a herbal supplement. Is it a lawsuit I smell?

• Beauty slows down. Net-a-Porter’s beauty section is switching to an editorial-style affiliate model. Think NYMag’s The Strategist or NYT’s Wirecutter. Maximise profits and minimise risk. [Business Of Fashion]

• Another Adam Neumann flop. Flowcarbon, a climate company co-founded by WeWork's Adam Neumann, is refunding holders of its native crypto token, the "Goddess Nature Token," after it failed to launch. [Yahoo Finance]

• Brat-pitalism. LFW dispatch: instead of a Fashion Show, H&M Hosted a Charli XCX Concert. [The Cut]

• Billionaire or not really? Selena Gomez was named Hollywood’s newest billionaire, based on Rare Beauty’s $2 billion valuation. Axios now reports that the company isn’t worth that yet, despite spending the last six months trying to find a buyer at that price. [Axios]

• No apologies. “Mark Zuckerberg says he’s done apologizing” [TechCrunch]

• Red wine vs. climate change. [NPR]

• Unhinged. Not everyone is giving up on dating apps. [Wired]

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The Paris Market Report

🛁 The Los Angelification of Paris: I went to a “longevity meet-up” on Saturday morning, courtesy of Club Zero. Mobility workshop, Wim Hof-style breathing exercises, ice bath, longevity drink. French readers may catch a glimpse of yours truly, wearing my old company’s merch to keep warm, on M6.

👨 Dad jokes @ Wild & the Moon: