Lauren Sherman Shares Her Journey To Puck, New Victoria’s Secret Book, & Fashion Week’s Value

Intelligent fashion analysis and scoops have been journalist Lauren Sherman’s forte for nearly two decades, through stints at Business of Fashion, Fashionista, Lucky, and Forbes. These days, we’re addicted to her dishy, whip-smart Puck newsletter, Line Sheet, and “Fashion People” podcast—not to mention the juicy Victoria’s Secret tell-all, Selling Sexy, which she co-authored with Chantal Fernandez, out in October. Without further ado, Sherman fills us in!

What drew you to Puck from BoF in 2023?
I was a big fan of Puck’s business model—essentially, I’m an employee of the company, I get a base salary, but I also get incentivized with subscriptions that I personally drive, and in other ways. It makes me feel like I’m a part-owner in the business, but don’t have the headaches of being an entrepreneur. I don’t want to run my own business, I don’t want to have to take care of people’s health insurance, that sort of thing. I also believe in the power of editing; I want an editor! Doing my own newsletter independently never crossed my mind. Throughout my career, I’ve gotten to follow and work at companies that do it right from a business model—and making money—perspective. Puck is about journalists being at the center of the business, and it’s 100 percent the right platform for me. I also want to help foster the future of journalism. Building new institutions is something I’ve been able to do at my past two jobs. I loved working at Fashionista and Business of Fashion, and I’m lucky I still get to do this work every day and do it in a way that I feel proud of. I’m not taking it for granted.

Lauren Sherman (Jeff Henrikson)

Does Puck’s structure empower—and incentivize—your reporting and scoop-chasing approach?
It’s less scoops-driven and more intel-driven. So it’s not about breaking every single story; instead, I’m offering insights and intel other people don’t have because I’ve just been doing this for so long and have lots of resources in different areas of the industry. It’s a direct-to-consumer culture today—celebrities talk directly with their fans on Instagram, brands sell directly to their consumers, and the rise of Substack all shows it’s very much about one-to-one relationships. It’s become fragmented. The challenge with direct-to-consumer is distribution. That’s why brands still sell at department stores, because it’s a good way to reach more people and learn more about your customer. I love the one-to-one experience: I send out an e-mail, people respond directly, I can start a dialogue. It’s a win-win across the board for me: I have this incredible team of editors that make my work great and help guide me, and I have the independence to drive what I’m covering.

Having that sort of editorial autonomy, plus resources and support, in a media job today is such a rarity!
There’s a lot of trust in me, the process, and the business model; not every organization can be set up like this, I think. We’re a roster of senior longtime journalists who’ve been doing this for many years; we have a sort of similar outlook on the industry and what we want to be doing right now. What it comes down to is, no matter what model you’re in, the price-value equation. Are you giving people something they can’t get anywhere else, that they feel is worthwhile? Puck’s model is proving to be a stable way and real opportunity for established journalists to keep doing that work—and also to entertain and delight and inform the reader. I feel like so much of what’s out there right now is just transactional, standardized, almost robotic. What Puck does well is…yes, we’re giving people intel they can’t get anywhere else, and that’s important, but we’re also letting them enjoy processing that information. I think that the art of journalism has been lost in a sea of data. 

The Line Sheet team keeps serving up incisive news and analysis on major corporate heavy hitters in both fashion and beauty, with a string of Estée Lauder bombshells! You must have these brands sweating a bit. What’s the secret sauce?
A huge shout-out to Rachel Strugatz, who worked at BoF and WWD before and is just the best beauty reporter in the business. All the credit goes to her on following Estée Lauder so closely, fleshing out a lot of that. I’ve been asked if I was restricted in my roles previously, and the answer is no; BoF strives to tell the truth and to tell it clearly. The difference here is, it’s about my voice, not the voice of a publication. It’s Puck’s sensibility, combined with the writers’ voices. If you looked closely at my BoF stories, they’re not that different from the actual content of my Puck work, but I’m encouraged to write in my own way. It’s not a Substack situation, where everybody has a totally different approach; everybody has a similar approach at Puck, but with personal expertise and ways of saying things. I think that’s what really hit a nerve. I’ve always been compelled to push back on corporations and share information that maybe they don’t want to be shared. My intention is always to give a clear, more transparent idea of what’s actually going on behind the scenes because I think that’s what’s interesting. Yes, I feel a lot of freedom in this job, but it’s more about coming into my own from an authority perspective and expressing that, yes, I do know this.

Your fashion creative director musical chairs analysis is all about refreshing—and often wild card—takes, like thinking Hedi Slimane ought to succeed Virginie Viard at Chanel.
Do I think that’s actually happening, 99 percent no. Do I think it should? Yes. This stuff has always been happening, and it’s okay to talk about it. When I took this job, that’s one of the big things I felt was important. Sports reporters talk about who might be traded to what team all the time, and there’s nothing wrong with that! I endeavor to ensure the information I’m publishing is correct. If I know someone is going to a house or leaving a house then I will say, “This is actually happening.” If I don’t know that, then I’ll say, “I don’t know, but this could be happening.” A lot of people refer to it as gossip, but I think it’s more so speculation—and speculating can actually give you a better sense of what is happening in the industry, and I think it’s fun, too. Whether or not Hedi ever goes to Chanel, it says a lot about the industry and about that situation, and whether or not he should go. Debating that is valuable to everyone.

Let’s talk about Selling Sexy, your first book project—a juicy tell-all about Victoria’s Secret—out in October. How long has that been in the works?
We sold the book in May 2021 and we started working on it in 2022 and 2023. And we’ve just been finishing it up this year. It’s my co-writer, Chantal Fernandez, who was talking to one of our sources. We had worked on many stories together about Victoria’s Secret. It’s a company that people inside the fashion industry care about, and that’s the audience I’ve been writing to for so many years, but then it also matters to people outside the industry—friends I grew up with are reaching out, it’s a topic and brand that’s relevant to them, too.

Selling Sexy by Lauren Sherman and Chantal Fernandez (Courtesy)

What was the writing process like?
I need a deadline, and you don’t get one with a book; that was hard for me. I’m a person who needs a lot of different things going on at once to be productive, so the hardest part was sitting down and writing. But once we did, having a partner with different strengths than you is helpful. There are things I’m good at and things Chantal is good at, and we were able to work together to make what I think is a formidable book.

Do you think you’ll write another book soon, or eventually?
Sure, but not for probably at least a decade. I have a lot of ideas; I would love to write a book about [former J.Crew CEO] Mickey Drexler. I feel like I wrote a book about [former Victoria’s Secret CEO] Les Wexner [with Selling Sexy] and Mickey is sort of his industry counterpart. I’ve learned so much about Mickey, from Mickey, over the years of covering the companies he’s built, so I’ll be sad if I’m not the person to do that book, but I just want someone to do it.

Let’s talk NYFW! What do you think could jazz things up a bit?
It’s the one subject where I don’t want to tell what I think, because I honestly don’t think what I think matters in this case! I don’t know the answer. What they should do and shouldn’t do was clear for a while—they needed to shorten it and tighten it up, and they basically did that. But to get the international trade to come back, I just don’t know if it’s possible. With Alaïa showing in New York, we’ll see how many European and Asian journalists come and press and trade and retailers and all that because Alaïa is such a hot brand that I do think it’s going to be valuable. But the center of the fashion industry is in Milan and Paris, it’s where the dominating companies are. So I don’t know what’s to be done. What I know is that fashion collectively needs to accept the fact that this isn’t what it used to be, and that’s okay. Would it be better if Marc Jacobs was closing the week and if Calvin [Klein] was back, if having all the big names—Calvin, Ralph [Lauren], Marc—on the calendar, would that give it a little bit more weight in terms of the four Fashion Weeks? Sure. But I also think the world has changed. The value 3of a Fashion Week is not what it once was.

So what is Fashion Week’s value now? Who are the shows actually for?
Fashion Week is now a consumer product, a networking tool, and a consumer marketing tool. It’s no longer valuable to the trade, and I think people are always going to criticize and complain about that no matter what. They’re never going to be happy about it!

What do you get out of fashion shows personally nowadays?
I think the value of fashion shows has diminished in some ways for the trade, and increased in other ways for people like me, reporters. The way people cover Fashion Weeks has changed, too. When I worked at Fashionista, it was about reviewing individual shows, and I rarely do anymore. People have their own opinions, can look online, they don’t need me to tell them what kind of dress or material. They need me to explain everything else that’s happening around the show.

You’re a true vet on the Fashion Month circuit! That’s becoming rarer over time…
I’ve gone to New York almost every Fashion Week since 2007; I think I missed one because of my kid. Europe I’ve gone to on and off; Paris mostly for the past decade, and I’ve started going to Milan much more frequently with this new job, which I’ve enjoyed. I honestly think Milan does the best job at organizing, keeping the calendar tight, and there’s a story every time you leave. But I don’t feel like a veteran. I think I’m someone who knows a lot of people because I’ve been doing this for so long, and I just show up. Showing up is the key to lasting. Sitting in those seats and talking to people is extremely valuable—sometimes, someone’s like, “Hey, here’s a scoop for you,” and sometimes we talk about our kids or vacations or whatever. It’s also incredibly valuable seeing who is or isn’t seated next to each other. That stuff is super important to me.

Showing up is so key. What keeps you engaged in fashion and fashion journalism through seismic industry shifts and downsizing?
I do love fashion, that’s the thing I haven’t lost. I haven’t been as enthusiastic as some editors—a lot of shows, I leave thinking they were absolutely terrible! But I love clothes. I believe in the power of clothes. It’s still valuable to see clothes in person to understand them, because creativity fuels the business. I don’t go to every single show; I’ll skip a Fashion Week occasionally, but I think seeing shows—and also going to showrooms to see clothes close-up—is important.

You must hear ample industry gossip. How much ultimately gets published versus kept in the vault?
This job is not about keeping it in the vault. It’s very rare that I sit on something that I think is important to talk about. It’s not about waiting. That’s the biggest difference being at Puck. Previously, there’s so much I was just sitting on; every publication has different needs and serves different readers in different ways. I’m definitely lucky to know and have trust with a lot of very senior people in the industry; therefore I’m able to get information most people wouldn’t have access to, and that’s why I often say, “This is a rumor, but this is why we should be talking about it.”

Does your intel come from mostly tidbits from established relationships or random tips?
It’s definitely a combo. I consistently check in and catch up with people, and I’ll also plant seeds in the newsletter—I think I’ve made it obvious that I will respond. Like, I put my phone number in the newsletter, which people think is funny. To be honest, it’s pretty normal for a reporter to share their phone number, so I don’t know if it’s that crazy! But I’m definitely constantly in contact with people, and I always was, I just think now there’s more incentive, because I’m publishing things much more frequently.

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