Open to Buy: The Met Needed a Controversy Committee

Why the Met needed a controversy committee for John Galliano. Plus, what the teens want for back-to-school beauty, the rise of micro-influencers, and what influences a merchant to purchase.

For the OGs reading, I wrote my first Retail Diary newsletter 7 years ago this weekend. Whether you’ve been reading my work for 7 years or this is your first one, thank you! (Not sure what I’m talking about? See here.)

Open to Buy

• Costume Institute Announcement Questions

• Field Notes - Bi-coastal. From Marin, CA to Cape Cod, MA

• Back-to-School — Beauty Beat

• Influencer Stories — this week was filled with influencer reads

• I’ve Been Influenced

• Fashion Finds

• Beauty Finds — beauty selects for the adults

• In My Feed - fun stories and content I enjoyed reading this week.

In this send: The questions I have around the Met Costume Institute exhibit announcement of John Galliano: Horizons. Separately, to prepare for back to school (my kids go back in about a week) a look at the beauty items teens are using. Plus: High & Low, rage bait, Valesque, Hero Shop, Vanilla Waves, Cape Cod, PacSun, surprise pimples, Giftful, micro-influencers, ShopMy x Substack, Tincan, No Makeup Makeup, high vamp ballet flats, Lo Lo Shortie, and we’ve got a mix of everything this weekend!

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Costume Institute Questions

Fashion news broke on late Friday afternoon, perhaps timed perfectly for summer Fridays, on Vogue’s website and NYTimes style section written by Vanessa Friedman. [NYTimes gift link] that the 2027 Met Costume Exhibit and Gala will focus on the work of John Galliano. The NYTimes article mentions the controversy in the subhead and in an early paragraph, but the Vogue article mentions it much further down and reminds us that “it wasn’t always assured that Galliano would get the Costume Institute treatment”. In 2011 Galliano was fired from his Dior Creative Director role (that he had held since 1996) after he was filmed during an antisemitic and racist rant at a Paris café. He was later convicted and fined 6000 euros.

According to Vanessa Friedman's reporting in the NYTimes, and confirmed by the Met, Anna Wintour, Andrew Bolton, and John Galliano met with a group of rabbis and Jewish community leaders in New York. Were these meetings to make sure the majority of people would be comfortable with this choice? Or to make sure there would be no outcry? It isn’t clear. Was the decision already made and meeting with this committee to show that they pressure tested the theme and had support? The NYTimes article also shares support from many leaders that there was “sincerity” and Galliano has “worked through the issues”. (Authorities documented that at the time of his outburst he was “just over the legal limit” for alcohol consumption.)

Faran Krentcil wrote “Does John Galliano Deserve His Comeback? A New Documentary Lets You Decide” for W Magazine when the Galliano High & Low documentary was released in 2024 and it is worth revisiting now. I also liked these two Instagram Reels by Amy Odell and will be reading her newsletter when she publishes it. One on the Met Gala and controversies and the other on the rage bait of it all.

I scrolled through a lot of the comments on Vogue, NYTimes Style and other Instagram posts about the announcement and most seem to be positive and supportive.

The questions I have:

• Timing: Is this why the theme was released so early? Either because of concern that it would leak or to see what people’s sentiment was? I doubt the latter was the case. But I looked back at post covid typical patterns, so 2022 through 2027. 2022 was an outlier because it was part of a two part series post pandemic. Karl Lagerfeld theme was announced in late September. Sleeping Beauties was announced in early November, Superfine was announced in early October, and Costume Art was announced in mid November. So why the July announcement? Usually 6-7 months out. Why the 9 month lead time?

• Controversy Committee?: If you needed to have a committee specifically to decide if this theme was too controversial, hurtful, and discuss potential issues that might arise is it still important to select this theme? The response to this might be — yes! The tension is the point. Rage bait, click bait…it’s all good for conversation and have dialogue.

• Why bury the announcement if you are into it: If you wanted to be so discreet to release on a Friday late afternoon/early evening eastern time in the summer, was it really so important to do this theme? Wouldn’t you want something that you were excited and proud to do and release when you would get the biggest awareness and visibility?

• Any other themes considered especially since the theme hasn’t typically been announced until much closer? Or would Anna Wintour not accept anything else?

• Another random thought: Will Zara or parent co Inditex be involved since Galliano is reworking the Zara archives as part of a two year partnership?

So…what do you think about the choice of John Galliano?

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Now on to lighter topics — weekends should be fun!

Field Notes

• Marin Highlights:

  • I was at Hero Shop on Tuesday to see the Valesque delivery. It was the day after the handbags arrived and styles were already selling out. The Spaghetti handbag sold out, and I’m the proud owner of one of them. Emily Holt told me that they will receive the Thea mini handbag in a mocha color later this season and more in late fall. The Dries Van Noten edit at Hero Shop has been amazing this season. A testament to both DVN and Holt’s excellent taste. Hero Shop also has the best Flore Flore assortment, they received The Row handbags this week (call the shop for those) and plenty of great denim has arrived too.

  • The new Varley shop is beautiful and so serene. The pieces that pop out are more in the athleisure category than in the performance workout gear. I think this store will do well in Marin, the store just opened. Love Shack Fancy had previously had a pop-up in the space.

• Making Waves in Cape Cod: Channel Check from Cape Cod via Angela Galvez who shared with me that Vanilla Waves was the hot spot on Main Street this summer. The merchandise looks like a mash-up of all the in-demand teen items. From mock neck sweatshirts á la Parke, embroidered sweatshirts like Dandy Worldwide, pajamas that feel like Roller Rabbit, and a spin on American prep like Dairy Boy inspired by Ralph Lauren. Vanilla Waves first started on Etsy before they opened their flagship location and I’m told that the store was packed, long lines and shoppers picking up this sweatshirt with the Madhappy style stitching on the hood.

Back To School — Beauty Beat

Urban Outfitters announced they were going deeper into beauty earlier this summer. This week PacSun shared that they are partnering with Ulta Beauty on new sets very similar to what Sephora sells in themed sets. This is smart for back to school because the Gen Z-Alpha teens appreciate the value pricing and ability to buy a lot of products for less money to test out. See PacSun x Ulta Beauty’s Lip Statement Set and the Glow Authority. These kits have also been popular birthday sets for teens to give each other.

This week I asked a guest editor to weigh in — my teen daughter! For the middle school set this is what she put together.

A collage my daughter designed with her backpack favorites and essentials

• Deodorant: Isn’t it obvious?

• Hairbrush: To detangle after P.E.

• Hair Ties: In case hair is in the way

• Tower 28 Spray: A refreshing mist during a hot day

• Kosas Concealer: To cover up any surprise pimples

• Benefit mascara: No one wants short lashes!

• Rare Beauty blush: Keeps you looking awake

• Sephora lash curler: Droopy lashes? No thanks!

• Aquaphor: Helps keep your lips nice and smooth

• Summer Fridays Lip Balm: Keeps your lips nice and shiny!

• Sol De Janeiro: Gives you a nice and long lasting scent

• Bath & Body Works hand cream: Dry hands? I’ll pass

• Touchland hand sanitizer: You really don’t know where other people’s hands have been

• Extra Gum: Your breath will smell great

• All in a cute makeup case. Coordinate with your pencil case.

A note about Giftful: I’ve also seen that in addition to using Pinterest, teens are also using Giftful to create wishlists for back to school, birthdays, holiday wish lists, etc. They can link all the items but it also shows how much the total is. Kids are using it to see what others want, to inspire their own wish lists or to purchase birthday presents etc.

Influencer Stories

This week the news feed has been all about the world of influencing. From drama, to business strategy, and the power of the smaller audiences.

• Of course there was the continuing saga of Nantucket influencers and Four Winds Craft Guild. I wrote about the story here.

• Bloomberg covered the data, trends, and insights of the micro-influencers. What I found most interesting, the average conversion rate for micro-influencers is 3.2 percent — almost triple for macro-influencers. I think this plays into why the combo of ShopMy x Substack does well for so many writers and creators on the platform. It was also interesting that many of the micro-influencers profiled do it as a side gig to their full-time work.

• My takeaway from this excellent article was that to stay relevant as an influencer you need to rage bait and always be mixing up what your rage bait niche is. Rebecca Jennings wrote for the Vulture.

• Tyler McCall wrote a lovely personal essay about influencers and particularly one influencer’s style who I have also seen come across my algorithm.

I’ve Been Influenced

What I’ve been influenced to buy lately:

• Not fashion or beauty, but I think this is an interesting retail angle of micro-micro influencing. These old school phones for kids. One parent bought for their kid in my son’s class and then mentioned it to other parents and it ballooned from there. Text chats and WhatsApps filled with kids phone lists (like the phone tree we had for snow days at my elementary school). Finally my son asked for one for his birthday to call his friends. He doesn’t have an iPhone. This had me thinking what a brilliant way to acquire a customer. Targeting class parents and spreading class by class. It is a lot of effort but it worked.

• Valesque bags. They sold out so fast last season and I’m wearing my Thea style a ton this summer, I bought it last spring. My new acquisitions include the big bag I’ve already started toting around and the Spaghetti handbag I bought before Hero Shop sold out. There aren’t many great handbag lines where you can buy 3 bags for less than $900.

• I’ve been a fan of Literary Sport and after seeing the latest collection I knew it was time to place an order. I’ve also made little investment in workout wear in a long time. Of course the pieces I’m attracted to are solid black. My favorites are this quarter zip that I’ll wear in the fall and winter especially on the sidelines of kids sports, and this cardigan that I’ve already been wearing this week as a light layer for pre/post workout and casual wear around the house. I’ve been influenced to try them since 2024 but sometimes it takes me awhile to finally purchase.

  When I first learned about Literary Sport in September 2024 I wrote:

  “Literary Sport appears to feel like The Row, High Sport and Tracksmith got together for a jog and brunch.” And I have a few more details to share. Literary Sport is scheduled to launch 9/27 (2024) direct to consumer with a select group of retailers in the future. They're primarily centered on "the pursuit of sport," with an emphasis on running apparel. With a twist – they're drawing inspiration from fashion, literature, and art to create clothes that look sleek while supporting your workout. I’m excited to check out as I’m always looking for fitness wear that's both functional and stylish. I love workout apparel that I don’t feel odd wearing all day (as I start the day with an intention to workout even if I have to slot it in at the end of the day.)”

• Lola Blankets — I first bought for my parents around the holidays and now both my kids have requested and they love to just nest up in it. Very cozy.

• When I first had the opportunity to try the brand “No Makeup Makeup” I wasn’t really sure I needed to try another foundation considering it isn’t an everyday item for me. But then I saw both Grace Atwood and Jess Graves mention (I always love Grace’s beauty and book recs and Jess I trust for a luxe edit) I figured I needed to give it a shot. I’m so glad I did. The No Makeup Makeup Foundation + Bursh* is unlike any other foundation I’ve tried — super light and more like a filter than a cover-up.

🛍️ Quick note: I write a lot (too much good stuff to share!) If you’re reading via email only, you may need to click through to the web version or read on the Substack app. I promise it will be worth it. 🛍️

Fashion Finds

• Jamie Haller newness since I’m really looking forward to visiting her shop next week on a little roadtrip I’m doing. I’m all about the high vamp ballet flats! The ballet flat that shows up everywhere, possibly thanks to Phoebe Philo. Desert boots, a new mid rise denim in black, and an asymmetrical button up. This could be a list of my uniform.

• Left on Friday launched the new Lo Lo Shortie — a low rise full coverage shorts bottom. For a two piece with more coverage just add their Tankini. I love the mix and match colors and coverage of Left on Friday. Plus their material is so great, especially for the price.

• Tory Burch added special hang tags to announce the shared collaboration and work with Marasim on their woven tote bags.

• I’ve been tracking the ringer t-shirts popping up and J.Crew created a New York version.

Beauty Finds

• Westman Atelier is launching a liquid foundation with 30 shades. I was going to look to compare it to the Vital Skincare Complexion Drops (I wear this) and it seems like they have discontinued this item.

• Agustinus Bader x L/Uniform on a collab built for the summer time traveler. Throw a hat on too to protect your investment in your face.

In My Feed

• Reformation’s IPO video filmed à la The Big Short bathtub scene, makes sense that a company that is known for the most engaging and some of the best retail marketing emails would do something out of the box here too. As of Friday night the Reformation stock closed +7.5 percent above the initial offering.

• How did women’s wear launch at Brooks Brothers? According to this piece of content from the brand it was thanks to Vogue and a women’s oxford button-down in pink. Almost 80 years later you can still buy this shirt.

• Top links of the week:

  • The most clicked items are a great mix of price points Good/Better/Best — the most clicked item is an item I was influenced to buy (Better price point), then the Uniqlo sweatshirt (Good price point), and the most comfortable high vamp ballet flats from Phoebe Philo (Best price point — tip I heard from Elyse Winter is to order a half size down).

  • The highest converting items — the top 2 were Target collabs. The Rosie Assoulin and Olivia Culpo. My favorite Left on Friday bathing suit and my new Valesque tote bag.

Made just for you — always. See you Tuesday

xx, Sarah Shapiro

Private Label Issue 27

Catching Up:

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